IP leader killed in Surigao del Sur ambush

Initial reports from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) said the group of Datu Hawudon Jumar Bucales was traveling to Brgy. San Isidro when they were allegedly ambushed by armed men believed to be members of the Communist Terrorist Group-New People’s Army (CTG-NPA) at around 1:30 p.m. (Shutterstock photo)

MANILA – An indigenous peoples (IP) leader and his companions were killed on Sunday afternoon in an ambush by suspected communist rebels in Lianga, Surigao del Sur.

Initial reports from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) said the group of Datu Hawudon Jumar Bucales was traveling to Brgy. San Isidro when they were allegedly ambushed by armed men believed to be members of the Communist Terrorist Group-New People’s Army (CTG-NPA) at around 1:30 p.m.

Bucales is the Indigenous People Mandatory Representative (IPMR) of Lianga, Surigao del Sur.

He supported the passage of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, saying it will help IP communities ward off continuing harassments, extortion, and killings perpetrated by communist rebels.

Bucales previously released statements against the NPA and other party-list groups and led the closure of Lumad schools in Surigao del Sur.

Last month, Bucales and Datu Rico Maca challenged Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Eufemia Cullamat to go to Surigao del Sur and conduct an investigation on the killings done by the NPA to the members of her tribe.

Bucales joined NCIP Chairperson Allen Capuyan and NCIP 13 Regional Director Marlon P. Bosantog in the inter-agency visits of IP communities in Region 13 last August and September.

He also joined the opening ceremony of the Department of Education schools that replaced lumad schools and the Tribal Filipino Program in Surigao del Sur, which he personally dismantled and closed in 2017.

Last Saturday, a relative of Datu Rico Maca, also one of NTF-ELCAC’s supporters, Ariel Guinsod Maca, was also killed.

They are already the 11th and 12th IP killings by the NPA in San Miguel, Surigao del Sur alone and only since March this year.