More than a decade has passed but justice remains elusive.

CAGAYAN DE ORO — The 2015 Lianga Massacre reflects the continuing struggle of Lumad communities.

The Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (Katribu), an alliance of Indigenous peoples organizations, stressed this point as various groups commemorated on September 1 the killing of Emerito Samarca, executive director of the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development Incorporated (Alcadev), as well as Lumad leaders Dionel Campos and Datu Juvello Sinzo in Sitio Han-ayan, Barangay Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur, 11 years ago.

More than a decade has passed but justice remains elusive for the victims of the massacre allegedly perpetrated by paramilitary group Magahat-Bagani with the alleged knowledge of the Philippine military operating in the area.

Read: ‘Soldiers watched as paramilitary attacked us’

Three leaders of Magahat-Bagani were identified as primary suspects, namely Bobby Tejero, Loloy Tejero, and Margarito Layno. Twenty-three other members of the said paramilitary group were also reportedly implicated.

In 2022, one of the Tejero brothers accused of killing the Alcadev executive director was reportedly arrested by authorities. In an Inquirer report, the leader of Magahat-Bagani who allegedly led the September 1, 2015, attack in Lianga, Surigao del Sur, also surrendered to the authorities. 

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Eufemia Cullamat who witnessed the incident said that Army officials and personnel allegedly involved should also be held accountable. “It is very clear to us that their killings were due to our efforts to improve our lives and communities while protecting and defending our ancestral lands.”

Cullamat is a cousin of Campos and a niece of Datu Sinzo. She was at the wake of her deceased father when armed paramilitary forces entered the area and ordered them to leave, prompting them to settle in a basketball court. Her cousin Campos was allegedly shot in front of many people.

“Katribu demands accountability for the perpetrators of the Lianga Massacre and all killings of Indigenous Peoples,” the group said in a statement.

Concerned groups said that human rights violations against the Lumad continue despite calls to stop Lumad killings following the bloody 2015 massacre, recounting the killing of Willy Rodriguez, Lenie Rivas, and 12-year-old Angel Rivas—also known as the 2021 Lianga Massacre—who were tagged by the military as members of the New People’s Army (NPA).

They also recalled the case of Lumad youth Obello Bay-ao and Elioterio Ugking who were allegedly killed by members of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (Cafgu), an auxiliary force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), in 2017 and 2025, respectively.

In June, Lumad woman Nenita Buscada was killed by members of the Philippine Army’s 88th Infantry Battalion in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, after they mistook her and her husband as NPA members. The couple reportedly went to a forested area to gather wood and sell it to buy school supplies for their children.

The Lumad struggle for their rights to their ancestral lands also continues, as in the case of the Gulinsao clan that has kept asserting ownership of the land within a government property in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, as well as the pushback of the Kirinteken-Ilentungen Menuvu against the establishment of a perimeter fence by a banana plantation company within what they claimed as part of their ancestral domain in Don Carlos town, also in Bukidnon.

Katribu said that the repression against the Lumad extends to those who stand with them. The group called for justice for the killing of Lumad school teachers Chad Booc and Gelejurain Ngujo II—part of the New Bataan 5 allegedly massacred in Davao de Oro—and criticized the conviction of former lawmakers Satur Ocampo and France Castro, as well as Lumad volunteer teachers, following their humanitarian mission in 2018 that aimed to rescue Lumad students who allegedly faced harassment by a paramilitary group in Talaingod, Davao del Norte.

Castro said that the 2015 Lianga Massacre is a precursor to the attacks on Lumad schools, of which more than 200 were closed during the Rodrigo Duterte administration, according to the Save Our Schools (SOS) Network, a coalition of various organizations advocating for children’s right to education.

“They close down schools, kill teachers, and arrest defenders because an educated, organized Lumad community is the biggest obstacle to the plunder of their resources,” she said in a statement.

The 2015 Lianga Massacre happened during the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III. (DAA)