Rappler needs to apologize to IPs: PCOO exec

MANILA – Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy said online news site Rappler should issue an apology for supporting the narrative of Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army – National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) regarding the use of the term ‘lumad’ to refer to the Indigenous People (IP).

“Rappler owes our indigenous peoples an apology for being party to the unbearable Grief and Suffering they’ve had to endure in the hands of these communists terrorists… the word “LUMAD” is a word the CPP-NPA-NDF stripped of its real meaning and reinvented to mean ‘ALL TRIBES OF MINDANAO” to support their terrorist activities—not the least of which are the massive fundraising and extortion of non-government organizations and government organizations here and around the world,” Badoy said in a statement on Thursday.

Badoy said for years, the “deliberate killing of thousands upon thousands of our indigenous brothers and sisters—GENOCIDE, the destruction of their culture by the theft of their identity and the murder of THOUSANDS of their tribal leaders—just 3 of 17 unforgivable atrocities they have committed against our indigenous tribes were made easier and more convenient by that one despicable word, LUMAD”.

When Badoy issued her statement online explaining the implication of the term “lumad” to the IP communities nationwide, Rappler followed up with their own saying the former’s words were false.

IPs don’t want to be identified as lumads

Earlier this week, Badoy said the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), the body that represents and is tasked to care for and protect “our indigenous brothers and sisters”, crafted a resolution that seeks to denounce the use of the term lumad to refer to Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCS/IPS) particularly of Mindanao.

The resolution also enjoins the public to address ICCS/IPS by their respective affiliation or ethnolinguistic group.

It said the term ‘lumad’ is a Cebuano term meaning native.

“’Lumad’ referring to indigenous peoples of Mindanao was adopted by members the Lumad Mindanao People’s Federation (LMPF) on 26 June 1986 during its First Congress/Assembly in Kidapawan, Cotabato,” the resolution added.

Badoy said LMPF is an above ground organization of the CPP-NPA-NDF.

She said the terms “lumad” and “kalumaran” were then widely used to solicit foreign and local funding in finance generation activities of the terrorist group.

“Whereas, looking at the historical context of the term ‘lumad’ emerged, it is but just and proper to put order and in order to correct the injustice committed by the CPP-NDF-NPA and to put a stop to the corruption of the IP struggle, that this group condemns and denounces the use of the term ‘lumad’ to refer to the ICC/IP groups of the Philippines,” she added.

The NCIP resolution was signed by Commissioner Gaspar Cayat representing the indigenous peoples of Cordillera Administration Region and Region 1 (Ilocos); Commissioner Norberto Navarro representing the indigenous peoples of Region 2 (Cagayan Valley); Commissioner Rolandao Rivera representing Regions 3 (Central Luzon) and the rest of Luzon; Commissioner Jeorge Largado representing the IPs in the Island groups and the rest of Visayas; Commissioner Jennifer Pia S. Las representing IPs in Central Mindanao; Commissioner Dominador Gomez representing IPs of Northern and Western Mindanao; and Secretary Capuyan, NCIP Chair and Commissioner representing the IPs in Southern and Eastern Mindanao.

“The entire IP sector of the Philippines represented and heard. A far better representation than a blogsite known for its unethical brand of journalism that having them as Fact-checker is a joke of monumental proportions, don’t you think so?,” Badoy said.

Alcadev

Badoy said Rappler also claimed that she was wrong in claiming that Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV) taught their students how to become members of NPA, armed wing of the CPP.

“In fact, ALCADEV is a creation of the CPP-NPA-NDF that targeted senior high school indigenous children in Region 13,” she said.

ALCADEV, a supposed educational institution but recently proven to be not qualify to the Department of Education’s standards.

“It was the legal front, MAPASU that got funding from the hapless Belgian government who gave generously not knowing they were funding terrorism and the destruction of our indigenous peoples,” she said.

Rappler, in one of its fact-checking reports, said ALCADEV is ‘privately-owned and government regulated’.

“ALCADEV, when it existed, had NO government regulation at all. Their curriculum was the curriculum of the CPP-NPA-NDF –the PADEPA or the Pambansang Demokratikong Paaralan – a course that utilizes systematic brainwashing, radicalization and agitation of its recruits regarding Philippine history and the National situationer that will justify armed revolution as the only solution to the ills of society,” Badoy explained.

ALCADEV, she added, did not operate with licensed teachers, student registrations.

“Students there did not have SLN—Student Learner’s Number –meaning they were out of the school system so a LOT of them wasted precious years learning to be a CPP operative then when they decided to get back into the fold of the law, learned that all those years in that phoney school didn’t count for anything and that they would need to go back to square one,” she added.

Badoy said the “most heinous of all: ALCADEV made possible the kidnapping and trafficking of indigenous children for political propaganda and then too, to make them into child warriors.”

“Rappler, therefore, supports and propagates the propaganda lines of the CPP-NPA-NDF. In behalf of the IP of the Philippines, I demand that apology from Rappler,” she said.