(Screengrab from Salugpungan/Kodao Phils video)
A militant lawmaker is lashing out at the Department of Education for shutting down 55 schools in the Davao Region linked by the military to communist rebels.
Bayan Muna Rep. Eufemia Cullamat singled out Davao City DepEd officer in charge Evelyn Fetalvero and Education Secretary Leonor Briones for suspending the schools, operated and owned by the Salugpungan Ta’ Tanu Igkanogon Community Learning Centers.
She called the order unjust and a gross disrespect to Lumad children’s right to education.
“Hindi makatarungan ang pag-issue ng DepEd na suspendihin ang permit to operate ng 55 paaralan ng Salugpungan sa Davao Region at malaking paglapastangan sa karapatan sa edukasyon ng mga kabataang lumad,” she said.
Cullamat, a Lumad Manobo leader, said schoolchildren were being taught “genuine culture, respect for ancestral lands and protection of the environment,” and in the process had learned about the intrusion of big corporations into mining, logging and other activities destroying their ancestral lands.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines claims the Lumad children were being taught to how to handle firearms and ambush military personnel.
DepEd Region 11 on Monday clarified that it merely suspended the permits to operate of the 55 schools on July 12, and that there was no closure order.
Spokesman Jenielito Atillo told reporters a permit suspension did not mean stoppage or total closure, contrary to the claim of the Save Our Schools (SOS) Network, which counts the Salungpungan schools as members.
“It is not true that we are closing the schools. It is just a suspension order and we are giving five days show-cause period for them to present their answer on the allegations thrown to them,” Atillo said.
The order was given to Salugpungan executive director Maria Eugenia Nolasco, who must submit a written explanation on the allegations of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon that the schools are linked to the communist rebellion.
Atillo however said students of the Salugpungan schools were “welcome to transfer to DepEd-run schools.” (PressONE.ph)