A/HRC/44/22 66. The indigenous Lumad peoples have for decades been caught in a tug of war between the army and NPA.98 Accusations based on perceived affiliation with one side or other are common, and often precede arbitrary detention, as well as threats, violence and killings by both State and non-State actors.99 Further issues arise from the role of private mining and logging companies, infrastructure projects, and large-scale agribusiness on ancestral lands, and in the implementation of the land distribution programme for peasant farmers.100 67. Various controversial large-scale projects to which indigenous communities have not consented remain pending, including the Kaliwa dam project in Quezon. State officials have publicly expressed exasperation with the process and threatened to push projects through. In other cases, companies continue to operate without appropriate consent from the communities, such as in Luzon, where a Commission on Human Rights inquiry found, in 2011, that the OceanaGold mining company was responsible for the illegal demolition of 200 houses and violent eviction of residents.101 68. The establishment of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit in 1987, “force multipliers” in 2006102 and other armed groups led to an increase in extrajudicial killings and other violence against those perceived to be anti-Government, pro-NPA or antibusiness. In 2012, the Human Rights Committee urged the State to disband and disarm all “private armies, vigilante groups and ‘force multipliers’”. 103 Such armed groups have, however, continued to proliferate, and to act with apparent impunity. 69. Land and environmental rights defenders feature prominently among the documented killings of human rights defenders, particularly in Mindanao, Negros Island, the Cordillera Administrative Region, and Palawan and Bataan Provinces. Information provided by civil society and the Commission on Human Rights suggests widespread impunity for such killings. 70. In one emblematic case, an investigation by the Commission found that the killing by the military of tribal leader Datu Victor Danyan – one of eight Lumad killed in Lake Sebu in South Cotabato in December 2017 – amounted to a human rights violation. To date, however, there has been no accountability, with the army stating that the killing occurred during an encounter with NPA. 104 Mr. Danyan had refused to consent to renewing an authorization for a coffee plantation. Similarly, veteran peasant leader and land reform advocate Nora Apique was shot and killed on 31 March 2020 by unidentified assailants on her way home in San Miguel, Surigao del Sur Province. 71. As many indigenous communities are geographically isolated, and lack adequate access to basic social services, they rely heavily on civil society support. The emphasis on national security, intelligence-gathering and red-tagging in the execution of Executive Order No. 70, however, has hampered local civil society, including church groups, from tending to the humanitarian needs of the communities for fear of being portrayed as NPA affiliates. 72. Teachers and students of indigenous community learning centres run by nongovernmental organizations have also long been attacked and harassed. On 25 February 2019, several banners were posted outside a school in North Cotabato Province, accusing it of links with NPA. On 12 July 2019, the Government closed 54 such schools in Mindanao, pointing to complaints that the schools were teaching violent extremism. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has expressed concerns about the closures. 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 14 Global Terrorism Index 2019, available from https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-terrorismindex-2019. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22567&LangID=E. The President’s mid-term report to the people (2019). See www.scribd.com/document/389045428/Commission-on-Human-Rights-Resolution-onOceanaGold-in-the-Philippines. See also www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25850&LangID=E. See 1987 Executive Order No. 264, and 2006 Executive Order No. 546. CCPR/C/PHL/CO/4, para. 14. See www.pna.gov.ph/index.php/articles/1018556.