A group of activists in Mindanao slammed the government order to freeze the bank accounts of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines HARAN center in Davao City in an attempt to paralyze the organization.
In a statement, the Sandugo Movement of Moro and Indigenous Peoples for Self-Determination said the center is “simply performing their calling to participate in the establishment of a just and compassionate social order.”
The group said the organization has not violated any laws that would prompt the government’s Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze the group’s bank accounts and assets.
In a resolution dated March 12, the Anti-Money Laundering Council issued a freeze order on the assets of the Church-based organization based on allegations that the Protestant center’s assets have been “used to finance terrorism.”
UCCP’s HARAN, or “Home and Altar for Renewal, Action, and Nurture,” has been providing sanctuary to displaced indigenous people for more than eight years already.
The government’s National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict accused the church group of using the issue of the indigenous peoples to solicit foreign donations.
The task force claimed that the HARAN center serves as a training ground for young indigenous people to become communist rebels.
“For decades now, UCCP-Haran Center has been a known sanctuary for lumad people in southern Mindanao,” said Aya Santos of the Sandugo public information desk.
“Helping distressed indigenous people is not a crime. It is an act of faith and kindness,” said Santos.
