- Land disputes on IP lands in Marilog already claimed 13 lives: DCPO
THE CITY police director ordered to intensify its security and anti-criminality campaign in Marilog District after recording 13 killing incidents involving members of indigenous peoples in the area.
Col Alberto Lupaz, Davao City Police Office director, said they are closely tracking the suspects, ready to handcuff them as soon as the warrant of arrest comes out.
The DCPO Task Force Yutang Kability recorded 13 deaths from December 2016 to July 1, 2023, due to disputes in the ancestral domain claims.
Lupaz ordered Major Nelson Violan, the Marilog Police Station commander, to launch checkpoints with the City Mobile Force Company and coordinate with the military to prevent more lives from being lost.
Recently, Lupaz and Police Regional Office XI director Brig Gen Alden Delvo gathered
hundreds of IPs, tribal leaders, and barangay officials for the Indigenous People’s Forum.
The forum discussed issues such as land conflict, updates on the task force’s investigation into the killings, and the steps to bring back order and peace in Marilog District.
“We are here because of misguidance. [Like a land] it was bought by the first buyer [he/she did not take care of the land] and with that, the seller believed he would never come back and sell it again. So that’s where our problem started,” Delvo said.
“Hopefully the NCIP (National Commission on Indigenous Peoples) will also answer what the rights of the Ubu-Manuvu and Matigsalug tribes are,” he added.
“We have a lot of development here, our migrants have brought development,” he further said. “Now let us make this people’s forum solve this problem in Marilog.”
