PRIVILEGE SPEECH
Hon. RACHEL ZOZOBRADO
City Councilor
May 6, 2008

Honorable Vice Mayor Sara Z. Duterte, my Esteemed Colleagues in the 15th Council of the City of Davao, Department Heads, Barangay Officials, Sanggunian Employees, our friends in the media, Maayong Adlaw sa inyong tanan.

Just like the Honorable Kaloy Bello, I wish to speak up on a matter that has been out in the open since last week but has in fact been a lingering problem since time immemorial. I am rising on personal privilege and on behalf of a marginalized sector in our society---the IP's or the Indigenous People.

44-year old Dominador Diarog used to be the tribal chieftain of the Bagobo-Klata tribe until unidentified armed men took his life away at 9:15 in the evening of April 29, 2008. As per reports from Tugbok Precinct Commander Ireneo Dalugdog, Diarog and his family were inside their home in Manuel Guianga when their house was strafed by unknown gunmen, resulting to multiple gunshot wounds in the different parts of his body. During the same incident, his wife Emily as well as two of his ten children, an 8-year old and a 4-year, were also hit and had gunshot wounds in their body. Diarog and his family were immediately brought to the hospital but he did not survive.

Several Accusations and speculations have cropped out blaming different groups of suspects.

Neighbors and other witnesses allegedly told the police that one of the suspects in Diarog's murder, has offered to pay P50,000 for a 2-hectare lot owned by Diarog's family sometime in August 2007

Allegedly, Diarog refused saying "dili ko kay wala na man mi kapuy'an...." The same group allegedly followed up the offer in December 2007 and got the same negative response. In January this year, the suspect came back, this time with three armed men in tow and told Diarog that the P50,000 for the 2-hectare lot is ready. Allegedly, Diarog declined the offer once again. Thereafter, there were several attempts to burn down Diarog’s farmhouse; until their house was finally gutted by fire on April 20, 2008.

Then there is the statement that the Diarogs were allegedly members one supporters of the military and this could have angered the NPA’s, thus leading to the tragic April 29, 2008 incident.

Different angles, different speculation. One thing is certain, a total of 17 empty M-14 bullets were recovered from the area where the Diarog family was strafed. And a man, Datu Dominador Diarog, is dead.

Dominador Diarog belongs to an indigenous tribe that make up the tri-people of Davao and Mindanao. It is thus our responsibility not only as Dabawenyos but as a people to seek the truth behind the murder of Diarog and the wounding of his family. However, let us also be careful that while we seek justice for what happened to the Diarog family, we must not speculate. Thus, just like Councilor Bello did a few minutes ago, we call on a proper and impartial investigation so as not to put blame on the innocent.

In the meantime, let this incident be an eye opener on the plight of our lumads, on what they have to go through to protect their land. Let us all endeavor to adopt policies for the protection of the ancestral domain. For only then will justice be truly achieved, and then, perhaps, Datu Dominador Diarog shall not have died in vain.