There is nothing for the military to crow about for killing Jevilyn Cullamat, youngest daughter of Bayan Muna Rep. Eufemia Cullamat, because she was a non-combatant medic in a New People’s Army (NPA) group in Mindanao.
Independent Rep. Edcel Lagman made this observation as he chided the Armed Forces of the Philippines for the publicity stunt over the slaying of the 22-year-old Lumad during an alleged encounter in Marihatag, Surigao del Sur on Sunday.
“Elements of the military whose faces have been blurred in a photograph triumphantly preening over the obviously posed lifeless body of the young rebel with a cause whom they have slain in an encounter are the terrorists of the oppressed and beleaguered indigenous peoples of Mindanao, like the long-suffering Lumad,” lamented Lagman.
He said, “The propaganda photo with the dead 22-year old Jevilyn Cullamat cradling a planted firearm speaks a thousand words of the terrorism and depravity of state agents, and the culpable neglect and discrimination of government which impel people to resist the errant and abusive policies of the authorities.”
According to Lagman the young Cullamat “was a member of the Lumad people who was identified by the military as a medic, not a combatant, in an NPA outfit.”
The government media disclosed that she was a member of the “armed unit of the Northeastern Regional Committee Guerrilla Front 19 Platoon and “served as a medic.”
“Also evidently planted was the array of assorted firearms reportedly recovered from the encounter when no one else was killed except Cullamat,” noted Lagman.
Earlier, Bayan Muna Rep. Cullamat slammed the AFP for distributing photographs of her slain daughter as part of the “military propaganda”.