Arrest of Lumad datus, teachers and students condemned
On 15 February, armed security agents of the Duterte government raided an indigenous Lumad school inside the campus of the University of San Carlos in Cebu City and took into custody 26 students, teachers and community elders. Local police filed charges of child abuse, child trafficking, kidnapping and serious illegal detention against teachers Chad Booc and Roshelle Mae Porcadella, datus Benito Bay-ao and Segundo Milong, and students Jomar Binag, Esmelito Oribawan and Moddie Mansumoy-at.
Read more: Arrest of Lumad datus, teachers and students condemned
Dutch missionary ordered to leave the Philippines
The Duterte government ordered the immediate expulsion from the Philippines of Otto Rudolf de Vries, a Roman Catholic missionary from the Netherlands, due to the missionary’s involvement in “illegal political activities”. De Vries has been given 30 days to leave the country. De Vries was informed of the order on 3 February 2021 when he went to the Bureau of Immigration to renew his visa.
Read more: Dutch missionary ordered to leave the Philippines
AFP bombs villages in Quezon and Cordilleras
The Armed Forces of the Philippines has been conducting aerial attacks in scores of rural villages in the southern Quezon-Bondoc peninsula and the Cordillera region, both in Luzon, since the start of January 2021, forcing tens of thousands of villagers to evacuate.
Barangay development funds is military pork barrel, says CPP
The Communist Party of the Philippines asserted on 14 February that the PhP 16.4 billion (US$ 336.4 million) Barangay Development Program funds of the Duterte government’s National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) is nothing but military pork barrel -- discretionary funds subject to corruption by military officials.
Read more: Barangay development funds is military pork barrel, says CPP