The Societies Verbi Divini (SVD) Philippines Southern Province and the University of San Carlos (USC) have raised concern over the alleged rescue operation conducted by the Police Regional Office 7 (PRO-7) inside the Talamban campus of USC.
SunStar PRO 7 ‘rescues’ 19 indigenous minors from Cebu retreat house
RESCUED FROM RETREAT HOUSE. Jomar Binag, 21, of Poblacion, Compostela Valley, Davao de Oro, is arrested by members of the Police Regional Office 7 Monday, Feb. 15, 2021 for his role in the alleged kidnapping and trafficking of 19 minors whom police rescued in an operation at the retreat house of the University of San Carlos-Talamban Campus in Cebu City. Six other people were arrested in the Monday morning operation prompted by complaints from the minors’ worried parents. (PHOTO BY BENJIE TALISIC)
+ February 15, 2021 A TOTAL of 19 minors were rescued from the University of San Carlos (USC) retreat house through an operation done by the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7, Women and Children Protection Center Visayas Field Office 7, the Department of Social Welfare and Development 7 and the Municipal Social Welfare and Services on Feb. 15, 2021.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
MANILA – There is no need to rescue the Lumad students at the University of San Carlos-Talamban in Cebu City as they are about to go back into their communities.
This is the statement of the University of San Carlos-Talamban (USC) and Societas Verbi Divini (SVD) Philippines Southern Province, host of the Lumad
bakwit (evacuees) school after members of the Philippine National Police Regional Office 7, along with members of the local social welfare and development department entered the retreat house where Lumad students were being housed on Feb. 15, Monday.
Due to the COVID-19 lockdown imposed last year, students were not able to return to their communities. But with the government’s easing of travel restrictions, the university said plans have been made for their return. Four of the delegates, in fact, have already returned to their respective communities.
SunStar
Editorial Cartoon by John Gilbert Manantan
+ February 15, 2021 WHAT could be a more blatant lie than the official narrative of a “rescue” when children were screaming in resistance?
Yesterday morning, a police Swat team accompanied social welfare agents in a supposed rescue operation of over 30 children who were allegedly kept in a facility managed by a religious order. Some trick of fate, the conduct was fed live in not a few social media accounts of news organizations, one of those by Benjie Talisic of SunStar Superbalita, and therefore unfolded before thousands of viewers.
The alleged facility turned out to be recognizably the retreat house at the University of San Carlos (USC) Talamban Campus.
SunStar
+ February 15, 2021 WE ISSUE this Joint Statement to clarify the surrounding facts relative to the presence of policemen at the Talamban Campus of University of San Carlos this morning, Feb. 15, that to us is a serious concern.
To recall, the Societas Verbi Divini (SVD) Philippines Southern Province supported the Archdiocese of Cebu-Commission on Social Advocacies (Cosa) project of a bakwit school program with Save Our Schools (SOS) Network.
For this, the SVD hosted last March 11, 2020 the delegation of 42 students accompanied by five teachers and three community elders (Datu), after four other educational institutions in Cebu hosted the same.
The delgation was housed at the SVD-owned retreat house, accessible through USC-Talamban Campus. The delegation was supposed to complete their modular schooling on April 3, 2020 after which, they would have returned to their respective indigenous communities.