It is precisely this vulnerability that prompted the Archdiocese of Cebu to extend help to the Lumad children from Manobo and Mansaka tribes in Mindanao whose communities where subjected to intense militarization. Subsequently, it was the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) that accommodated the Lumad children in their retreat center inside the main academic campus of the University of San Carlos in Talamban, Cebu City. The Commission of Social Advocacies of the Archdiocese of Cebu considered the Bakwit school as a “celebration of dialogue and an act of solidarity to our Lumad brothers and sisters whose communities (and) schools were bombed and militarized.”

Religious institutions have always been regarded as sanctuaries for people who need a place to secure their minds, bodies, and spirits. Against any common sense, the police raided the retreat house on the pretext that the children were held against their own will. Worse, they claimed that the children were given “child warrior training.” This claim was rendered ridiculous. We salute Anne Suico, a Social Worker Officer of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Cebu City attesting that in their interview with the children, the latter never mentioned about being indoctrinated and nothing about training to be child warriors. Sulat at basa lang ang tinuturo ng mga guardian nila.”

Being rescued gives you a feeling of relief or elation. It was not in the Lumad children’s case. As the February 15, 2021 editorial of Sunstar Cebu narrated: “This was not so in the police operation, as the videos showed. The minors, some of them clad in ethnic clothes, cowered in the corners of the room, screaming. A boy who took videos of the incident was accosted by the polices, brought outside and handcuffed. Another was constrained by four policemen and carried out of the room… It did not help that the social workers assured the children that they were being ‘rescued.’ Everyone scurried across the room in resistance; terrified calls for help rang out.”

A traumatic event is usually defined as a “scary, dangerous, or violent happening.” Childhood trauma is described as “an event experienced by a child that threatens their life or bodily integrity.” This system has long become barbaric against the children. The Lumad children have already suffered the psychological effects of trauma from aerial bombings and wide array of human rights violations in their respective communities by the soldiers and para-military forces. The police raid masquerading as a rescue operation inside a religious institution again triggered child traumatic stress. The Center for Child Trauma Assessment, Services, and Intervention in Chicago, United States, states that “child traumatic stress occurs when children and adolescents are exposed to traumatic events or traumatic or traumatic situations that overwhelm their ability to cope.” The SVD added that “no rescue need ever be conducted because the presence of the Lumads in the retreat house was for their welfare and well-being, and all throughout, they were nurtured, cared for, and treated with their best interest in mind.”

The Philippines has signed and ratified the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990. It is a legally binding international agreement setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of every child, regardless of their race, religion or abilities.

The obsession to end the long running insurgency problem of the country has blinded the present government in its obligation to international human rights conventions and statutes. Worse, even the state’s social services are slowly being tailored to fit into the whole counter-insurgency program of the government through the DSWD. The government has gradually weaponized the social services against the perceived enemies of the state.

With the unbridled accolades and support of the president to “his soldiers and policemen,” the latter have been slowly transformed into institutions that also want to lord over the people, including the children. We call on our fellow social workers to promote, uphold, and defend the rights of the children especially during this most trying times.