On the first anniversary of the unjust conviction of the Talaingod 13, ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio renewed the urgent call to overturn the baseless verdict against former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo, ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, and 11 Lumad teachers and human rights advocates. The case, which stemmed from a 2018 humanitarian mission to rescue Lumad students and teachers threatened by the state-backed paramilitary group Alamara, stands as a stark symbol of the ongoing state repression against Indigenous Peoples and their supporters.
“One year of injustice is one year too long.” Tinio stated. “Rep. France Castro, Satur Ocampo, and their companions are not criminals. They are heroes who risked their own safety to rescue Lumad children from the terror of state-backed paramilitary groups. Their only ‘crime’ was to defend the right to education and life.”
The wrongful conviction for “other forms of child abuse” highlights the weaponization of the law to silence dissent. The National Solidarity Mission in 2018 was a direct response to the forcible closure of a Salugpungan school in Talaingod, Davao del Norte, where Alamara forces were threatening the lives of students and teachers.
“Gawa-gawa at malisyoso ang kasong ito mula pa sa simula. Ito ay paraan ng nakaraang Duterte administration para takutin ang sinumang tumutulong sa mga Lumad na ipagtanggol ang kanilang lupang ninuno at karapatan sa edukasyon,” Tinio stressed. “Hindi dapat pinarurusahan ang pagiging makabayan at makatao. Ang tunay na dapat managot ay si Duterte, ang NTF-ELCAC, at ang paramilitar na Alamara na nagpasara sa mga paaralan at naghasik ng lagim sa mga komunidad ng Lumad sa Talaingod.”
Tinio noted that the forcible closure of over 200 lumad schools in Mindanao was directly ordered by former President Rodrigo Duterte, who one threatened to bomb the schools for allegedly training students to become armed rebels, an allegation that has never been proven by government. “Duterte deserves to stand before the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity not just for the thousands of killings he ordered in the name of his fake war on drugs, for which he is currently on trial, but also for war against the lumad schools and communities that likewise led to gross human rights violations.”
ACT Teachers Partylist holds the Duterte and Marcos administrations accountable for fostering a climate of impunity where activists, educators, and indigenous leaders are vilified and criminalized. The systematic attacks on Lumad schools and communities are directly linked to the state’s drive to clear ancestral lands for large-scale foreign mining, logging, and plantation interests.
“Teacher France, Ka Satur, and the rest of the Talaingod 13 came to the aid of lumad students and teachers whose lives and safety were threatened by the Alamara paramilitary group. For the court to rule that they endangered children while doing so is a gross miscarriage of justice. We demand that the Court of Appeals mmediately reverse the conviction.
Justice for the Talaingod 13 is a step towards justice for all victims of state terror,” Tinio concluded. #
