SunStar
+ May 16, 2021 The Lumad 7, including volunteer teacher Chad Booc, were released on May 13, 2021 after three months of illegal detention under police custody. The Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Davao del Norte found insufficient evidence, lack of probable cause and lack of territorial jurisdiction on the charges filed against them.
The dismissal of the trumped-up charges and the release of the Lumad 7 from illegal detention by the police are victories of the people, particularly of the Lumad in their struggle for the right to education and self-determination. We laud the Lumad students and their teachers for remaining steadfast in the struggle despite the intensifying state attacks and persecution against the Lumad Bakwit Schools and their communities. This victory is a validation of the Lumad and the peoples’ strength to fight the tyrannical US-Duterte regime.