SANTA CRUZ, Laguna – Dumagat communities in Rizal province continue to face harassment from the Armed Forces of Philippines (AFP), according to Karapatan Rizal.

The human rights group said that elements of the AFP’s 80th Infantry Battalion have been conducting surveillance, house-to-house and interrogation campaigns in barangay Sta. Ines, Tanay municipality following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address.

Dumagat residents from the community participated in the SONA protests as part of the Laban Timog Katagalugan People’s Caravan from July 25 to 29.

On August 1, elements of the 80th IBPA interrogated the local Dumagat in the area, asking them why they joined the SONA protests and telling them not to participate in any protest activities. They also threatened to “abduct” those who would join or hold meetings in the area.

Soldiers also targeted Violeta Vertudez, the community’s former chieftain. Karapatan Rizal said that Vertudez has been frequently interrogated since August 2, causing her to “fear for her life.”

The latest incident occurred on August 19 when the 80th IBPA summoned the residents to the covered court and warned them that they “could be” charged with rebellion if they joined any future protest activities. They also gave the same warning if the community continued to allow visitors who did not ask for the military’s permission to enter.

“These incidents show a disturbing pattern of surveillance, intimidation, and harassment against the Dumagat people in Rizal,” said Karapatan Rizal spokesperson Saara Rapisora. “Their right to freely express themselves, to assemble peacefully, and to participate in humanitarian and advocacy work is being curtailed through threats and coercion. This climate of fear undermines not only the safety of indigenous peoples but also the democratic rights of all Filipinos.”

Republic Act No. 6968 defines the crime of rebellion as “committed by rising and taking arms against the Government.” Protest actions and other forms of peaceful assembly do not involve the use of arms.

The right to peaceful assembly is also guaranteed by the 1987 Constitution under the Bill of Rights.

Over four decades of struggling for land and rights

The ancestral land of the Dumgat people is found in Rizal and Quezon provinces, across the Sierra Madre mountain range. For decades, these communities faced environmental destruction, encroachment, and militarization.

The Dumagat community in Sta. Ines is being threatened by the construction of the Kaliwa Dam, a large dam project first proposed in 1979 as a solution to a supposed water crisis in Manila. However, people’s organizations have long stated that the dam will displace thousands of Agta-Dumagat-Remontado communities while also violating their rights to their ancestral domain.

The struggle against the construction of large dams in the Sierra Madre mountains dates as far back as 1986, with the establishment of Kaisahan ng mga Katutubo sa Sierra Madre.(KKSM) Dumagat communities continue to organize and protest against what they see as the destruction of their ancestral homes to this day.

Militarization and state attacks are not new to the Dumagat. In 2001, Dumagat leader Nicanor Delos Santos was gunned down reportedly by state forces in Antipolo City, Rizal. Delos Santos was one of the first leaders of the Dumagat community and was the spokesperson for KKSM.

The Rodrigo Duterte administration’s “whole-of-nation” approach also resulted in intensified military operations against Dumagat communities. On March 7, 2021, two Dumagat leaders from Brgy. Sta Ines, cousins Randy and Puroy Dela Cruz, were killed as part of the simultaneous military-police operations in the Southern Tagalog region.

Randy Dela Cruz’s wife Viole continues to receive threats and harassment from the military in an attempt to dissuade her from pursuing the legal case against them. Karapatan Rizal noted an incident last July 16 when police officers offered cash assistance in exchange for their silence.

“[These offers] are a desperate attempt by the Marcos-Duterte regime to save themselves from accountability, while stepping on the dignity and human rights of those left behind,” Rapisora said. “Instead of justice, the institutions who supposedly protect the people offer bribes and terror.”

Dela Cruz said that since then, the military continues to harass not only her but the entire community, blocking them from selling goods or venturing too far away from their homes. They were red-tagged for their supposed involvement with human rights organizations like Karapatan.

Despite the harassment, Karapatan Rizal said that the Dumagat people “continue to assert their dignity, defend their ancestral land in the Sierra Madre, and uphold their right to live in peace and without fear.” The group called on the Commission on Human Rights to “urgently look into these incidents” and stand with the Dumagat people of Rizal. (DAA, RVO)

Editor’s note: This article is updated to reflect the correct location of the incident, it is Tanay, not Taytay. We apologize for the mistake.