Atom Araullo decries being red-tagged over Lumad children docu: ‘I was surprised the response is to discredit the students’

Atom Araullo has admitted that he was surprised when he was red-tagged after releasing his documentary on Lumad children last year.

In an episode of “The Howie Severino Podcast,” the journalist opened up about what it was like to face such controversy after the airing of “Ang Iskul Kong Bakwit,” his documentary on Lumad children who struggled to find a better life in Manila.

“I didn’t expect it to be controversial at all. Honestly, we only wanted to highlight the incredible courage and resiliency of these students who have seen so many terrible things and yet have chosen to persevere,” said Atom.

“Nagpunta sa Maynila, nag-aaral pa rin (they went to Manila, still studying), and who are speaking out to bring attention to the plight of indigenous people in Mindanao,” he added.

“I deliberately chose to let the students tell the stories themselves. With as little voice overs as possible,” said Atom.

“I didn’t even have a cutaway in the interview because I felt that this was a story that should be narrated through their perspective. It wasn’t exactly a first-person documentary but it was a deliberate choice to let them tell us their experience.”

When “Ang Iskul Kong Bakwit” was released in August 2020, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and some indigenous peoples (IP) leaders condemned it.

According to a PEP.ph report, the NTF-ELCAC said the documentary was “replete with gross inaccuracies and outright lies” while the IP leaders said it was “biased.”

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines defended Atom and denounced the government attacks against him and the documentary.

The journalist addressed the allegations, saying the documentary also showed the side of the government.

“We definitely included the point of view of, say, the [Department of Education] in the story. The DepEd said that there’s no need for schools because they were setting up their own schools under the national government,” said Atom.

“We also included the often repeated denial of security forces who say that, you know, they have nothing to do with it. Wala silang (they have no) deliberate attempt to intimidate nor harm indigenous people. It’s just a tribal war between different factions of the Lumad,” he said.

“I feel like even if I included a whole portion [where] you said the different point of view, if ultimately the end product is perceived to be sympathetic to the Lumad students, they still won’t be happy. That’s just how the way the cookie crumbles, I think.”

Atom said that for the longest time, he had wanted to do a story on the Lumad because they were one of the most marginalized people in the country and the violence they endured was “well documented.”

“So I was surprised that instead of saying, ‘okay, this is a problem and let’s work on this. We want to get to the bottom of things’ and so on, the response from national officials is to basically discredit the students and say that they’re just inventing things,” he said.

“And by extension, castigating me for giving them a platform,” he added.

“I found that so ironic ... ‘bakit (why)? What are you so afraid of?’ It’s not often that these children get their voices heard actually. So ultimately … I said maybe this is the price to pay. This is what you have to deal with if you handle controversial topics.” – Kaela Malig/RC, GMA News