Lt. Col. Jovily Carmel Cabading’s service as the first woman commander of a Philippine Army battalion is nothing to be proud of, according to the progressive women’s group Gabriela–Southern Mindanao. Lt. Cabading ended her two-year “tour of duty” as 60th IB commander on February 6. The battalion operates in Davao del Norte under the 10th ID’s command.

Cabading’s 60th IB leadership from 2024 to 2026 boasted of the “surrender” of 412 New People’s Army (NPA) fighters in the province. Her term followed two years after Davao del Norte was officially declared “insurgency-free” in June 2022 and the Davao Region in September 2022.

The 10th ID flaunted Lt. Cabading’s “historic run” as battalion head. The military used the occasion to glorify women’s role in the fascist institution.

Gabriela–Southern Mindanao took the opposite view. The group said women who consciously serve as instruments of oppression against fellow women, youth, and the people does not deserve recognition or pride. It said the state and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), which included Cabading, forcibly shut down the Lumad schools in Davao del Norte and neighboring areas in the region.

“They killed the dreams of Lumad youth who aspire to rise from poverty and lack of education,” the group added. According to Save Our Schools Network Mindanao, the AFP and the government closed at least 200 Lumad schools built by communities.

The group said military units stationed in Davao del Norte are notorious for gross human rights violations. These include numerous cases of red-tagging and harassment of Lumad people that caused repeated evacuations, rape of women and minors, criminal charges against farmers and activists, forced surrenders, and killings.

“This prevailing system deliberately silences women and youth,” said Gabriela–Southern Mindanao. The AFP does this while brazenly defending corrupt bureaucrat-capitalists, big landlords, and multinational corporations that plunder ancestral lands and destroy the environment and livelihood of the Lumad and working masses.