This is an act of injustice that ignores the human rights situation in the country and must be overturned.

The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) condemns the conviction of former Bayan Muna Partylist Rep. Satur Ocampo, ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro and 11 others for child abuse. Seasoned activists Ocampo and Castro, the volunteer teachers of Lumad schools, and their colleagues in fact deserve praise for their defense of the human rights of indigenous people school children. They helped the Lumad students evacuate from military harassment and threat of violence in the Salugpungan Lumad school located in Talaingod, Davao del Norte on November 28, 2018.

Anyone who keeps abreast with the news in the country knows that the government, especially under Rodrigo Duterte, relentlessly attacked and tried to close down the Lumad schools. In 2015 for instance, Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (or Alcadev) executive director Emerito Samarca, Lumad leader Dionel Campos and his cousin Aurelio Sinzo were even massacred right inside a Lumad school.

The military has perpetrated numerous human rights violations against the Lumad, especially targeting the schools that they built to cope with the government’s neglect of indigenous peoples Activists and human rights organizations from Metro Manila and other parts of the country have repeatedly held solidarity and fact-finding missions to help the Lumad escape military hassments and defend their very existence.

In many instances, the Lumad have walked for hours at night, without much preparation, and been driven further to the mountains for fear of being harassed, threatened, imprisoned, abducted or killed due to the deployment of military forces in their areas.

Thus, the July 2 decision of the Tagum City Regional Trial Court (RTC) – finding Ocampo, Castro and 11 others guilty and sentencing them to four- to six-year imprisonment and payment of P10,000 civil indemnity and P10,000 moral damages to each of the 14 minors in whose name the case was filed – is itself a form of injustice.

The conviction of Ocampo, Castro and 11 others should be overturned in the soonest possible time. The Lumad have the right to leave or evacuate from military harassments and all the threats that the military poses to them.

The case filed against Ocampo, Castro and 11 others should be evaluated in the context of the state of human rights in the country. The country’s courts should uphold human rights and not attack activists, volunteers and other do-gooders who defend human rights. They should not allow themselves to be used as weapons by the government in its crusade against human rights.