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Kalinga tribal leader, peacemaker slain

Activists blame GMA’s Oplan Bantay Laya

BAGUIO CITY (June 9) — Regional political organizations in the Cordillera pointed to the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) for the violent killing of Malbong tribe leader Pangat Rafael Markus Bangit, 47, from Tabuk, Kalinga. Activists likewise blamed Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL) as the culprit behind the killings.

Bangit was gunned down at around 7:30 last night at the Pines restaurant in San Isidro in Echague, Isabela, by unidentified bonnet-clad men on board a van. Bangit and his son Banna were on board an ordinary GL bus to Baguio City when chanced upon by the assailant after dinner. The younger Bangit was unhurt while Gloria Casuga, principal of the Quezon National High School in Quezon town, also in Isabela was also shot at after she screamed at the fatal shooting of Bangit.

Peacemaker, tribal mediator

Bangit served as a local mediator in local tribal conflicts, not only in his native Tomiangan but also in other provinces. As an authority in tribal mediation and conflict resolution, he co-authored a handbook on bodong and became a lecturer on tribal conflict resolution.

“Isuna ket mangay-ayat ti talna ken kappia,” (He loves peace and order) CPA Secretary-general Windel Bolinget says of Bangit.

Arroyo, accountable

Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA), in a statement, “holds the US-Arroyo regime accountable” for the cold-blooded murder of Bangit. Likewise, in a separate statement, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) where Bangit worked up to his death, holds the state accountable for its gross violation of human rights.

The CPA statement said the state has become a mass murderer, killing all who threaten it, and demanded that “the killings must stop and justice must be served to all victims and their families.”

“We denounce the killing of Markus Bangit both as a political crime and a crime against humanity. It is another barbaric act by a government that perpetuates itself in power through the might of the gun barrel. Many others among us activists remain under heavy surveillance and in imminent danger of assassination by the death squads of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s government,” the CPA statement says.

Among Cordi’s finest sons

At the time of his death, Bangit was a bodong (peacepact) holder of the Dangtalan tribe in Pasil, with whom his own Malbong tribe in Tomiangan has forged a bodong. He was also the coordinator of the CPA Elders’ Desk and the secretary-general of the Bodong Pongor’s Organization, now the Binodngan People’s Organization (BPO), a tribal elders’ federation, also affiliated with the CPA.

Bangit held several other positions not only in Kalinga, but also in the Cordillera region. He was with the CPA regional secretariat, after serving for several years as secretary-general of the CPA-Kalinga chapter. He also served Bayan Muna as provincial coordinator for Kalinga until 2004.

In his native barangay Dupag in Tabuk to which Tomiangan administratively belong, Bangit served as its first barangay secretary and later became a councilman.

“With the death of Rafael Markus Bangit, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance and its allied organizations – indeed, the Cordillera mass movement as a whole – lost one of its most highly committed and valuable leaders,” Joan Carling said.

According to human rights advocates, Bangit is the 679th victim of state terrorism since 2001. Lately, he performed an uggayam (native chant) at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City when human rights advocates held a tribute to desapericidos and all victims of human rights violations.
OBL, culprit

An indignation rally in Baguio City today assailed GMA’s systematic attack on the people’s movement.

The national political center Bagong Alyansang makabaya (Bayan) said in a primer on the killings of activists that at least four regions, Central Luzon, Bicol, Eastern Visayas and Southern Mindanao are listed in the priority areas in the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Oplan Bantay Laya.

However, although Cordillera and the other northern Luzon regions Ilocos and Cagayan were not in the list, killings also take place in Ilocos Sur, La Union, Isabela and Abra provinces.

OBL, according to Bayan, aims to destroy the Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) alleged political infrastructure and its alleged legal fronts.

A Cordillera human rights advocate revealed that under OBL, the military and its hired hitmen will “liquidate five activist per week”. # Lyn V. Ramo for NORDIS, with reports from PIC-CPA

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