Group: BARMM IP Code fails to protect non-Moro tribes
TACURONG CITY—Teduray leader Ramon Lupos, 60, was one of the remaining non-Moro IP leaders in Barangay Limpogo in Datu Hoffer town of Maguindanao del Sur, until he was killed, a member of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) said.
Lupos, whose beheaded body was found in his hut in Datu Hoffer on Sept. 30, was the 102nd non-Moro IP killed since the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in 2019, according to Climate Conflict Action (CCA), an independent nongovernmental organization that gathers and analyzes climate and conflict data to collaborate with affected communities.
BTA Member of Parliament Froilyn Mendoza, who represents the non-Moro IP in the Bangsamoro, also said that in the town of Datu Hoffer alone, Lupos was the 20th non-Moro IP member killed since 2000.
Mendoza called on the authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice and stop the senseless and unabated killings of IP leaders in the region.
“Ang Katarungan para kay Timuay Ramon Lupos ay katarungan para sa buong pamayanang katutubo (Justice for Timuay Ramon Lupos is justice rendered for the IP communities),” Mendoza said in a statement.
CCA put to task the police, military and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity for the continued killing of non-Moro IPs in the region.
Systemic violence
The peace monitor noted that the BARMM’s Indigenous Peoples Code “failed to protect” those it claims to defend, and neither has the entire security infrastructure of the Philippine government nor the leaders and custodians of the Bangsamoro government.
“Each killing is a reminder that promises of protection remain empty and justice remains out of reach,” said the independent peace monitor previously known as International Alert Philippines.
CCA also pointed out that the violence against the non-Moro IPs in the Bangsamoro region “is not random (but) systemic,” a “diabolical act designed to sow fear, drive the Teduray away from their ancestral lands, erase their identity and elicit another round of revenge killings.”
“The blood from this act of violence against the non-Moro IPs is on the hands not only of the perpetrators but also of all those who allowed this to happen,” the CCA said.
Bangsamoro Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua condemned the merciless killing, calling it an “affront to peace, justice and human dignity.”
“Walang puwang ang ganitong uri ng karahasan sa Bangsamoro (This type of violence has no place in Bangsamoro),” Macacua said.
He admitted that non-Moro IPs in the region continued to endure injustices even as he vowed to deliver justice.
Macacua ordered law enforcement and security agencies in the region to conduct a thorough and swift investigation to bring the perpetrators behind bars.
“As we honor the life of Mr. Ramon Lupos, we reaffirm our solemn commitment that justice will be relentlessly pursued, not only for him and his family, but for all Indigenous Peoples who long for peace, dignity and protection in our homeland,” Macacua said.
