Alcadev: Lumad school under the gun

Slain Alcadev head Emerito Samarca, in the 2014 graduation. (Photo from the Facebook account of Alcadev, Inc/Bulatlat.com)
Slain Alcadev head Emerito Samarca, in the 2014 graduation. (Photo from the Facebook account of Alcadev, Inc/Bulatlat.com)

By BULATLAT.COM

The cold-blooded killing on Sept. 1 of Emerito Samarca, the executive director of the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development, Inc. (Alcadev) by the paramilitary group Magahat-Bagani Force is the latest in the attacks against the alternative boarding school in Surigao del Sur.

Alcadev was established in 2004 by the Manobo group Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod (Persevering Struggle for the Next Generation) in the subvillage of Han-ayan, in Diatagon village, Lianga. It had produced hundreds of secondary school graduates from the ranks of the Lumads and served as a symbol of the collective effort for education of the hinterland Manobo communities.

Alcadev and the alternative primary schools run by the Tribal Filipino Program for Surigao del Sur (Trifpss) have also been consistently targeted by harassment operations by military and paramilitary units, which called the learning centers “schools of the New People’s Army (NPA).”

Bulatlat.com is reposting articles through the years about Alcadev, the persistent attacks against the school and the surrounding communities – and their recurring evacuation – which show the struggle of the indigenous peoples in defense of their ancestral lands in Andap Valley.

2005
Troops force Manobos to flee Andap Valley
A rights watch group reports of hundreds of Manobo families evacuating their villages in Andap Valley, Surigao del Sur following relentless military operations against the NPA.
Fist part
Second part

2007
Surigao del Sur children want to go home for Christmas

2009
Under the Gun

First part: School for tribal children in Surigao bears the brunt of militarization

2nd part: School helps build Lumad communities to military’s consternation
3rd part: Lumad school rises amid conflict, military atrocities
Sidebar: The pattern of military atrocities in Lianga

Groups, DepEd worried over militarization of Lumad school

Military threat remains as displaced Lumad returns home to defaced homes, damaged crops

In Caraga region, a brutal push for investments

Lumad school carry on with pedagogical work amid continuing threats

2010
A fulfilled promise of providing education for Lumads

2012
Advocacy group for indigenous peoples pushes agenda for education
Groups hold confab in defense of schools for indigenous children

2014
Schools under siege

Militarization triggers evacuation of 2,000 Lumads in Surigao del Sur
(https://www.bulatlat.com)

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  1. They murder a teacher? How brave they are …

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