On the military’s treatment of Jevilyn Cullamat’s remains

On the military’s treatment of Jevilyn Cullamat’s remains

Rep. Lagman

Statement of Rep. Edcel C. Lagman

December 2020

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.

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.

Cullamat was a member of the Lumad people who was identified by the military as a medic, not a combatant, in an NPA outfit. Also evidently planted was the array of assorted firearms reportedly recovered from the encounter when no one else was killed except Cullamat.