“Kami ang Biktima!”
- Cleve Sta. Ana
- Jul 14
- 4 min read
Rurelyn Bay-ao still remembers life in the Haran Bakwit center, where hundreds of families from the indigenous people’s communities across Southern Mindanao were housed, allegedly for their protection against militarization.
“It was like a hamlet,” she says. “Everything we do must go through the administrators [of the bakwit center].” She also recalls how the organizers boasted about the steady stream of funding from international NGOs and local solidarity networks. Yet all she and her fellow evacuees received individually were “isang tabo ng bigas kada linggo, at isang Bioderm kada buwan.” (One dipper of rice per week, and one Bioderm [bar of soap] per month.) Despite feeling the injustice of this, she kept her silence then.
Now in her early twenties and a graduating college student, Rurelyn no longer wants to be silent.
On July 11, she posted a message on Facebook directed at the group Hustisya! (Victims United for Justice), a network of supposed human rights victims. Breaking her silence, she exclaimed, “Kami ang biktima!” (We are the victims!)
“Kung sino man po ang dapat sumusigaw ng hustisya… kami ‘yun. Dahil kami ang biktima ninyo. You deserve to be in jail. Hindi makatao at makatarungan ang ginawa ninyo. Para kayong sirang plakang paulit-ulit.”
(Whoever should be crying out for justice… it’s us. Because we are your victims. You deserve to be in jail. What you did was inhumane and unjust. You are like a broken record on repeat.)
Without consent
In an exclusive interview with Kontra Kwento, Rurelyn explained what pushed her to speak out.
“I posted that because I got angry—they refuse to take accountability, and they continue to claim they’re innocent. Anyone would be angry if their own children or grandchildren were taken without consent.”
Rurelyn’s post refers to the infamous case involving former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and former ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, who, in 2018, were intercepted at a police checkpoint in Talaingod, Davao del Norte. They were transporting 14 minors who were then students from Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon Community Learning Schools Inc. (Salugpungan) without parental consent. The Department of Social Welfare and Development confirmed that the minors were taken without coordination, and child abuse charges were later filed against the two lawmakers and their 16 other companions.
Thirteen of the accused were convicted of child abuse by the Regional Trial Court Branch 30 in Tagum City. The decision sentenced them to four to six years imprisonment for violating Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.
Aside from Ocampo and Castro, also found guilty were Ma. Eugenia Victoria Nolasco, Jesus Madamo, Meriro Poquita, Maricel Andagkit, Marcial Rendon, Marianie Aga, Jenevive Paraba, Nerhaya Talledo, Ma. Concepcion Ibarra, Nerfa Awing and Wingwing Daunsay.
Hustisya! called to defend Ocampo and Castro against what they describe as a “blatant attack to human rights defenders.” Hustisya! Claims to be an alliance of families and supporters of alleged victims of political killings and state repression. It frequently releases statements blaming state forces for human rights violations and labels counterinsurgency efforts as part of a broader campaign of terror.
However, Rurelyn, as a Lumad herself, sees it differently. “Justice must be served, and they must face the decision of this case,” Rurelyn said. “They broke not only the law, but the customary laws of the Lumad. No more IP children should suffer the same abuse.”
Close to home
The case hits close to home for Rurelyn, who believes the children taken from their families during the incident would have ended up in Haran, had law enforcement not intervened. She didn’t want the children to experience the same conditions she endured in the bakwit center.
According to her, the people behind the Haran bakwit center and the convicted individuals of the Talaingod incident are the same—either members of the Communist Party of the Philippines, or they adhere to the violent armed struggle of the New People’s Army.
For Rurelyn, all of them have lost moral ground. “I came from a front organization of the CPP since I was young,” she said. “Before, I believed the CPP was the real government. But as I grew older, I realized I was being used—not for the benefit of my fellow IPs, but for their own gain.”
She recalled the countless times she was used for propaganda, paraded in local and international fora to gain sympathy and support from unsuspecting advocates across the globe. She claimed that organizers, or “IP rights activists” as they call themselves, raise funds to sustain the operations of the bakwit center.
On August 6, 2024, a Senate hearing presided over by Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa emphasized that combating student radicalization by communist groups is a “moral imperative” and a “national security concern.” During the hearing, a former Salugpungan student testified that the school normalized the NPA’s armed violence, which eventually led him and others to join the rebel group. Two former high-ranking CPP leaders from Southern Mindanao also revealed that funds meant for a bakwit center were also used to support NPA operations in the region.
Meanwhile, the conditions inside Haran, she said, remained deplorable.
Back in Talaingod, several of her family members died in armed encounters after joining the NPA, thinking it was the only way to advance their struggle for self-determination and protection of their ancestral domain. She now views the entire cycle as a deliberate manipulation of indigenous communities by the CPP.
Her former friends and fellow activists from Haran and Salugpungan have since accused her of being used and paid by the state to discredit their organizations.
Her response: “No, I am not being paid to speak the truth,” she added. “Everyone knows the truth. And it will eventually come out."
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