Fugitive anti-mining tribal leader joins NPA

B'laan anti-mining leader Daguil Capeon in this image grabbed from a National Democratic Front video in which he explains why he has decided to join the New People's Army. (image grab from video by NDF Farsouth Mindanao Region)

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InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines -- (UPDATE - 12:26 p.m.) A B’laan tribal leader long wanted for leading attacks against employees and security personnel of Sagittarius Mines Inc. has joined forces with the New People’s Army.

In a video posted by the communist-led rebel group, Daguil Capeon said the failure of the government to look into the cause of their resistance to SMI’s continuing incursion into their ancestral lands prompted him and his group to seek alliance with the NPA.

“It pains us in our heart that we are being driven out from our lands,” Capeon said in Bisaya in a 21-minutevideo clip posted in YouTube by the National Democratic Front’s Farsouth Mindanao Region.

B'laan anti-mining leader Daguil Capeon in this image grabbed from a National Democratic Front video in which he explains why he has decided to join the New People's Army. (image grab from video by NDF Farsouth Mindanao Region)

An M-16 Armalite rifle rested on a makeshift table in front of Capeon while a staff with an NPA flag stood behind him.

For family and way of life

Capeon’s pregnant wife and two children were killed in a military raid in October last year in Kimlawis village of Kiblawan town in Davao del Sur.

His brother was also killed in another military raid three  months later.

The Philippine military has branded Capeon and his group as bandits.

But Capeon said they are fighting for and defending their legitimate right to their way of life.

He said SMI’s operations have torn their tribe apart into warring factions of pro-

and anti-mining camps that have been killing each other as the mining firm benefits from the division.

Capeon also scored the military for deploying soldiers to their tribal area without their consent.

The former SMI employee said they decided to join the revolutionary movement for the sake of their next generation.

“We were forced to take arms because if we won’t fight, they will take away our land,” he explained.

Capeon used to work for SMI as community relations organizer but became disillusioned when he realized mining would destroy the forests where their tribe has lived for centuries and, eventually, displaced them.

“The mountains are our biggest market. The forests have everything we need. We never had debts,” he narrated.

He recalled the moments he shared with his slain wife Juvy.

“She was very thoughtful and generous. We had plans for our children, especially our eldest,” Capeon recalled.

He said the death of his wife and brother would serve as an inspiration in his fight against SMI.

He also called on other tribes to resist mining and appealed to his fellow B’laans to understand their resistance.

“Let us not be fooled by mining,” he said.

“We are doing this for the sake of future generations,” Capeon said. “We will not only lose our tradition.  We will lose our environment (because of mining).”

Denial

In an interview with ABS-CBN Socsksargen, SMI spokesman John Arnaldo denied any company role in the deployment of government troops to the B’laan’s tribal area.

“They (soldiers) are there upon the request of the communities,” Arnaldo claimed.

SMI owns the Tampakan copper and gold project, reputedly host to Asia's largest untapped copper deposits.

In the TV same report, Colonel Marcos Norman Flores, commander of the Army’s 1002rnd Brigade, said the alleged militarization in the hinterlands of Tampakan in South Cotabato and Kiblawan in Davao del Sur “is never true.”

“He (Capeon) should understand our role,” Flores said, adding that the B’laan warrior had taken the “wrong path.”

The Army's 10th Infantry Division said the announcement that Capeon had formally joined the NPA did not come as a surprise but acknowledged this made the B’laan a “very potential threat.”

Major General Ariel Bernardo, 10th ID commander, said in a phone interview that they had been receiving information about Capeon’s joining the rebels since mid-2012.

And even before this, he said, they believe the tribal leader already had links to the communist underground.

"Actually ever since …  last year … may mga report na na ganyan and even ang website ng NPA sinasabi nila na sumanib na kaya ... ngayon formally sinabi na nila (there have been reports about that and even the NPA website has said he had joined them … now they are formally saying so). All the while we're looking at him na meron siyang (that he already had a) linkage," Bernardo said. "That's what we're saying ever since.”

Bernardo said the Army has stepped up efforts to secure B'laan communities, acknowledging that Capeon and the rebels were recruiting members of the tribe.

Several warrants of arrest have been issued against Capeon, including for murder.

Bernardo said his troops are continuously pursuing Capeon and the NPA in their area of operations as he denied allegations they were protecting mining companies.

"We are there for area security but we'd like also to guard against infiltration of the NPA in B'laan communities," he said. (with a report from Abigail Kwok, InterAksyon.com)

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