Lawmaker reiterates call to end war

By Dolly Yasa

 

BACOLOD City – House Minority Leader Joseph Stephen “Caraps” Paduano said the death of the daughter of Bayan Muna Representative Eufemia Cullamat is a testimony to the unending but meaningless war among Filipinos.

Paduano, himself a former top ranking leader of the New People’s Army who led a breakaway rebel group here, condoled with the Cullamat family.

Military reports claimed that Jevilyn Campos Cullamat, who allegedly served as a medic for the NPA, was killed in an encounter with the Philippine Army’s 3rd Special Forces Battalion (3SFBn) last Nov 28, 2020.

“Naway magsilbing aral ito sa ating lahat, na ang pagtahak sa landas ng dahas ay hindi magdadala sa atin ng minimithing kapayapaan,” Paduano said.

The minority leader said he’s been calling for an end to “the ruthless and futile war in our country, especially in the countryside, that victimizes the small farmers and farm workers; the innocent Lumads (indigenous people) whose only dream is to live peacefully.”

“Unfortunately, they always become the unwilling victims of these protracted and unending war.”

The death of Cullamat’s daughter only reminds us that “itong walang katuturan na gyera sa loob ng limang dekada ay sumira na ng maraming buhay, lalo na ng mga kabataan,” Paduano emphasized.

As we grieve for our fallen soldiers in the battlefield, we sympathize with the lumads, farm workers, and others who have been victims of the decades-long battle, he added.