Source: Lumad Voices / written and published via Tri-Peoples Journal on October 20, 2016.
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| Timuay Alim Bandara enumerates the reasons why the number of killed indigenous leaders continuously rise in the country at the IP leaders consultation on the Independent IP Voice in the Peace Processes in Davao City on August 28. |
As the country
commemorates yet another month of the Indigenous Peoples (IP), several Lumad
groups continue to demand for their right to self-determination in the peace
processes between the government and the revolutionary groups of the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and
the Communist Party of the Philippines-National Peoples’ Army-National Democratic
Front (CNN).
Prof. Rodelio
Ambangan, an Erumanen ne Menuvu leader emphasized the importance unity among
indigenous peoples in the context of peace processes in the series of
consultations with indigenous leaders on the independent IP voice in the peace
processes held in Cotabato City, Davao City and San Francisco, Agusan del Sur
on August and September.
“We need to put up a unified and strong stand through
a consolidated indigenous peoples constituency with the support from local,
regional, national and international civil society in demanding that our right
to self-determination as distinct peoples are recognized, respected and upheld
in the peace processes”, shared Prof. Ambangan.
The consultations gathered perspectives and specified
demands of the indigenous peoples in conflict areas on the Mindanao peace
processes.
Timuay Alim Bandara, a Teduray leader
pointed out how their rights were made part of the concession in peace
negotiations where they remain invisible and without a voice.
“We are not just victims of war.
We are also victims of peace because for decades since
the establishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the provisions
of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA were not implemented simply because
we are inside an autonomous region that is a product of the (GRP-MNLF) peace
process”, shared Timuay Bandara.
Indigenous Peoples in the Bangsamoro
With their experience being left
behind in the peace process, the indigenous peoples in the ARMM began engaging
the GPH-MILF peace process when the peace panels first explored the issue of
ancestral domain on April 2005. They sent their position paper to both panels demanding
that “the Bangsamoro shall recognize the Teduray, Lambangian and Dulangan
Manobo territory within the Bangsamoro nation”.
However, when the GPH-MILF’s
Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) was circulated on August
5, 2008, it provided that the core of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity shall
constitute the present geographic area of the ARMM including in it is more than
200,000-hectare ancestral domains of the Teduray, Lambangian and Dulangan
Manobo. The BJE shall also have the sole authority and responsibility for the
land use, development, conservation and disposition of the natural resources
within.
The failure of the MOA-AD signing
due to the Supreme Court’s decision against it sparked clashes between the government
and MILF’s armed forces which left parts of the indigenous peoples’ ancestral
domain particularly in communities at the Mt. Firis complex as battle fields.
When the exploratory talks
between the GPH and MILF resumed in 2012, the indigenous peoples in ARMM went
beyond sending position papers to active engagement. On May 3, some IP leaders
met and discussed their sentiments on the peace process with then chairperson
of the GPH peace panel, Miriam C. Ferrer.
They also provided input on
ensuring the protection of indigenous peoples’ rights to the two IP
commissioners of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission when the Bangsamoro Basic
Law (BBL) was being drafted in 2014.
Full Inclusion of IPRA in the BBL
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| Timuay Santos Magay Unsad reads the position paper during the Congressional Public Hearing on the Bangsamoro Basic Law in Nuro Municipal Gymnasium, Nuro, Upi, Maguindanao on October 22, 2014. |
When President Aquino submitted
the BBL draft law to the Congress on September 10, 2014, both houses formed an
adhoc committee on the BBL launched and launched public consultations from
October that year until the early months of 2015. The indigenous peoples took
the opportunity to voice out their call for the full recognition of their
rights as mandated in the IPRA in the context of the GPH-MILF peace process.
Timuay Santos Unsad presented the legislative agenda of the full
inclusion of the IPRA in the BBL to the members of the Committee on the
National Cultural Communities and Indigenous Peoples of the House of
Representatives on its congressional public consultation on the BBL in Upi,
Maguindanao on October 22, 2014. He emphasized that the assertion by Indigenous
Peoples of their collective rights through peaceful dialogue and lobbying
resulted to the passing of the IPRA in 1997.
“The IPRA is by far the best legislation for the
affected tribes because it recognizes their birth rights without which they
lose their identity. These rights are: the right to ownership/stewardship of
Ancestral Domains and the natural resources found within or the right to
indigenous territory; the right to freely govern themselves according to their
customary laws and traditions or the right to self-governance; and the right to
determine the best path to development of their Ancestral Domains that
preserves their culture and resources for unborn generations…under the same
legal framework where the Philippine State cannot lay claim to their Ancestral
Domains as having been public land, their Domains and the natural resources
found there cannot be a concession obtained through peace negotiations”, read
Timuay Santos.
In the same Congressional public consultation in
Midsayap on October 25, 2014, the leaders of the indigenous political structure of
13 Erumanen ne Menuvu tribes (Gempa ne Kemal te Kelindaan ne Erumanen ne Menuvu
of Cotabato) demanded that their two communities be excluded from the proposed
territory of the Bangsamoro.
Datu Brunz Babelon presented that
the barangays of Manarapan in Carmen and Simbuhay in Kabacan are part of their
614,000-hectare ancestral domain but were included in proposed Bangsamoro
territory. Brgy. Manarapan already has a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title
(CADT) while Brgy. Simbuhay has a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADC).
“Palihog ayaw mi iapil (Please do not include us)”, he demanded the
recognition and respect of their ancestral domains.
The Rise of IP Killings in 2015
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| Bae Magdalena Suhat shares experience of communities in times of armed conflict in one of the workshops at the IP leaders consultation on Independent IP Voice in the Peace Processes in Davao City on August 28. |
With advantage terrains conducive
for guerrilla warfare, indigenous communities have become unwilling hosts to
rebel camps and fronts for years since the rebellions started in the country. Trapped
in between contending forces, indigenous peoples find themselves the subject of
suspicions, harassments, threats, sexual violence and violent attacks by both
camps. Often times, armed groups seek to involve indigenous peoples in their insurgency
and counter-insurgency campaigns, causing anxiety, fear and death even to their
own people. Traditional tribal defense forces such as the bagani were also
turned into paramilitary forces to carry out extrajudicial killings to those
who are suspected to be supporters of enemies.
The killings of indigenous
leaders and rights defenders in conflict areas continue to rise in an alarming
rate in 2015. At most 100 indigenous peoples have been killed protecting their
homes and their lands over the last three years in the country.
On September 1, 2015, three
indigenous peoples were killed by the Magahat-Bagani paramilitary forces in
Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur. Few days before the killings, the same
paramilitary group harassed and forced the indigenous peoples to leave their
community.
Between April 19 and June 24 this
year, 9 Higaonon were killed in their own community in Purok 9, Sitio Patag,
South Poblacion, Maramag, Bukidnon. One of them was four-year old, Etoy Hulagno.
They were members of the Dokit-Daguiwaas clan that lays claim to that
particular part of the joint Matigsalog-Manobo-Higaonon ancestral domain. The
case remained unresolved and displaced 80 families presently.
Bae Magdalena Herbilla, a
Tinananen leader from Arakan, Cotabato shared in the indigenous leaders’ consultation
in Davao City that the conflict situation haven’t only disrupted their
livelihood and also spread the culture of violence among their people.
“We can’t work peacefully because
of the encounters. Without food and services, it is difficult to send our
children to school. This makes them easy to be recruited by the both the
government and the rebel forces because of the incentives they offer”, Bae
Herbilla added.
Independent Peace Panel
The lack of real representation of IPs in the peace talks have long been
a pressing issue in the context of advancing the right to self-determination in
the peace processes even though peace panels in peace processes have their own
indigenous peoples’ representatives.
In their experience, indigenous peoples in the ARMM engaged the IP
representatives of both panels in the GPH-MILF peace process only to be
disappointed by their decisions which are mandated by their respective
principals and not by the IP they supposedly represent.
“To have a neutral, legitimate and independent indigenous peoples’ peace
panel is the answer in making our agenda credible”, shared Timuay Leticio
Datuwata, a Lambangian leader.
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