Photo: Anti-Mining Activists March In Mindanao

Anti-mining activists and church leaders march at downtown Cagayan de Oro City on Thursday, October 23, 2008 to protest the continued entry of mining operations in the ancestral domain of the indigenous peoples in Mindanao. The protest is part of the Integrity of Creation Solidarity week that kicked-off October 19 and will culminate on Oct. 24.

The activity is a gathering of communities affected by mining and support groups to discuss the issues affecting their communities. The Grupong Laya also performed before a huge crowd at Gaston Park in Cagayan De Oro during the Yuta ug Kalinaw Concert in support to the cause of the protesters. (AKP Images / Keith Bacongco)

Tribal Groups Assail Military In Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 7, 2008) – Tribal groups on Saturday accused the Philippine military of trying to block investigations by independent human rights organizations of alleged abuses by soldiers and of the plight of people displaced by clashes between the government and communist and Muslim insurgents in Mindanao.

The groups also charged the military with human-rights abuses and extrajudicial killings of political activists and tribesmen suspected of aiding communist rebels. A tribal leader, Datu Monico Cayog, accused the military, too, of campaigning to ban militant groups from entering communities in the provinces.

Cayog, deputy chairman of the independent PASAKA Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao, claimed that the commander of the military’s Civil Relations Group, Maj. Medel Aguilar, urged villagers to ban such groups in their communities.

The Philippine military has repeatedly accused the left-leaning organizations, including PASAKA, as fronts of the New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines, which broke off peace talks with Manila in 2004. These organizations have denied that they are supporting the rebels.

Cayog said the alleged abuses by soldiers had been made public after their victims, mostly indigenous people, sought help from the militant groups and human rights organizations in Mindanao.

“Aguilar is merely afraid when human rights groups enter poor rural villages because their [soldiers] crimes are exposed,” he added.

Cayog said military operations against insurgents in Mindanao have displaced thousands of people, especially in Compostela Valley and nearby provinces, where there are indigenous tribes.

“We are not the ones who terrorize these communities. We do not torture or harass these people. We are the ones who rehabilitate the people and communities which suffer from military atrocities,” he said.

Cayog said banning these groups in civilian communities and refugee areas would deprive many people of medical and humanitarian services.

“When the government is able to genuinely provide basic social services to the majority of the poor Filipinos in the rural areas, when no human-rights violations shall ever befall civilians, then perhaps there would be no reason for us to go to them,” he said.

NPA rebels have stepped up their attacks on government and military targets in Mindanao and killed more than two dozen targets in recent weeks. On Thursday, insurgents ambushed a government patrol, wounding at least five militiamen in Davao del Sur’s Matanao town.

Rebel leaders broke off peace talks after accusing President Gloria Arroyo of reneging on a deal that would lead to the release of all political detainees and respect for human rights and a stop to all extrajudicial killings of activists, among other allegations. (Mindanao Examiner)

Seized Canadians, Filipino Surveyors Of Swiss Mining Firm Freed In Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / June 5, 2008) – Tribesmen seized two Canadians and four Filipino surveyors of a Swiss mining firm, but freed them later on a remote village in Mindanao after divesting them of their equipment and money.

The Canadians Deth Triesen, 23, and Andrei Argamomob, 45, were freed late Tuesday afternoon along with their Filipino assistants Madong Turo, Johnny Malid Abundio Tanedo and Loreto Blanco in the town of Kiblawan in Davao del Sur province.

“Police forces are now tracking down the suspects,” Chief Inspector Querubin Simeon Manalang, the regional police spokesman, told the Mindanao Examiner.

The six are workers of the Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI), in Tampakan town in Davao del Sur.

Manalang said three B’laan tribesmen seized the surveyors after flagging down their vehicle on a remote Kiblawan village of Tacub. “They were briefly held, about two and a half hours, after the bandits thought the victims were carrying huge amount of money and freed them unharmed,” Manalang said.

He said the natives also confiscated the surveyor' geophysics equipment and computers, but returned them to its owners later Tuesday after a series of negotiations.

Manalang said many armed groups are also operating in the province, including the communist New People's Army (NPA), which had previously attacked the SMI.

B'laan tribesmen are opposing the mining operations in the province, saying, it is destroying their ancestral lands.

Police have already identified two of the three tribesmen who held the surveyors as Yot Salute and Pokok Betil.

In January, communist rebels raided the mining firm in Tampakan town and torched buildings and equipment.

The NPA accused SMI of plunder, land grabbing and environment destruction and said the attack was a punishment. The rebels said the raid was in response to a longstanding demand of indigenous people to put a stop to the firm's operations in the area.

Indigenous tribes were protesting the operation of the SMI, saying, the mining activities allegedly encroached into ancestral lands and caused pollution in rivers and streams in Tampakan, which is considered a watershed area. But it is believed to be one of the world's "best new large-scale copper gold mines," with an estimated 11.6 million tons of copper and 14.6 million ounces of gold.

SMI is partly owned by Xstrata, one of the world's largest mining companies based in Switzerland.

Rebel forces have previously raided other mining firms in Mindanao which refused to pay illegal taxation.

In March, more than 50 rebels also raided the Apex Mining Company in Maco town in nearby province of Compostela Valley. The NPA said it was a punishment for the firm's failure to pay so-called "revolutionary" taxes and for environment destruction.

Gunmen disarmed the firm's security guards and torched mining equipment.

Apex is partly owned by international mining company called Crew Gold Corporation based in London and has interests in Lefa Corridor Gold Project in Guinea; Nalunaq Gold Mine in Greenland; and the Maco Gold Mine in the Philippines.

Last year, NPA forces also attacked a private coal mining firm, the MG Mining Company, in Raja Kabunsuan village in Surigao del Sur's Lingig town.

The Philippines' largest Muslim rebel group, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, also warned mining firms to stay away from ancestral lands in Mindanao.

MILF rebels have previously attacked and killed 13 Filipino miners working for the Calgary-based TVI in Zamboanga del Norte province after they ignored warnings to stop operation in Mount Canatuan in Siocon town, a sacred altar to an indigenous tribe called the Subanon whose ancestors settled in the area centuries ago.

The Philippines is estimated to have at least US$1 trillion unexploited treasure trove of minerals and is promoting the rejuvenation of the mining sector to boost the economy and cut its budget deficit and debt. (Mindanao Examiner)

Christmas for the Lumads

A Solidarity Campaign Project of the Solidarity Action Group for Indigenous Peoples (SAGIP)PASAKA Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao.

Someday at Christmas we’ll see a land with no hungry children, no empty hand...

SHARE the JOY and PEACE of Christmas...

SUPPORT PROJECT HELP!

H- Health
During the SAGIP medical missions this year many lumads (especially coming from Ata Manobo and Matigsalug Tribe) were diagnosed and almost 95% were positive of various illnesses mainly tuberculosis, malaria (falsifarum & vivax), scabies, kwashiorkor (severe malnutrition), parasitism, goiter, anemia, etc. Measles, vomiting and diarrhea had taken the lives of more than 20 lumad children in the tribal villages of Talaingod this year. Unabated logging had caused the loss of valuable herbs used in indigenous healing by the Baylan (doctor-priest).

DONATE medicines for these diseases. PROVIDE iodized salt, vitamins and clothings. JOIN medical missions and SHARE your medical skills if you are a health professional/ worker.

E- Environment

Traditionally, Lumads are hunters and gatherers. Big logging concessions, plantations and dams, however have now rendered most forestlands and rivers--- their hunting grounds--- denuded. Breeding habitats for the binaw (deer), the takubong (forest rats), and the baboy ihalas (wild boars) are constricting.

DO YOUR SHARE in reforesting the highlands. DONATE seeds (of hardwood varieties, or fruit tress like durian, native rambutan, mango, jackfruit and seeds of vegetables or food crops).

L- Literacy

The battle against illiteracy is starting at the community-level. More and more lumad organizations under PASAKA are now putting up literacy programs run by native community based teachers. Despite the reported high literacy rate of the country, illiteracy pervades most in the tribal/ lumad hinterland communities. These existing literacy schools (only one graded & formal) teach lumad children the 3Rs in the context of their culture and struggle.

SEND lumad children to literacy school. SPONSOR community literacy programs. SPARE your used/unused notebooks, pencils/ ballpens, pad papers, erasers, chalk, crayons, used clothings, etc. HELP us publish SAGIP’s literacy reading-writing-arithmetic manuals.

P- Production

Long before environmentalism became a fad, lumads already practiced environmentally-sound farming techniques. But the onslaught of logging, mining and other destructive projects have threatened their food security.

HELP lumads increased food production. DONATE farm tools such as bolo, lagaraw, guna, bairan/limbas, etc. SHARE your skills on agriculture.

TARGET BENEFICIARIES OF THIS RELIEF DRIVE/ PROJECT:
1.Ata Manobo tribe in Talaingod, Davao del Norte (Org: Salupongan ta Tanu Igkanugon)

2.Matigsalug in Sitio Bermuda, Naboc, Monkayo, Compostela Valley (Org: NABOKASA)

TARGET DATES for the CHRISTMAS with the Lumads Program in the Area:December 15, 2007 and December 22, 2007

SEND your DONATIONS to:Solidarity Action Group for Indigenous PeoplesOffice: Diakonia Center, IFI Compound, F. Torres St., Davao CityContact telephone #s: 305-0824/ 09286059209 or mail us at yutangkabilin@yahoo.com.

Look for May for inquiries.

In the first Christmas, Jesus manifested his total solidarity with the poor (He was born in an animal’s shelter and wrapped in swaddling clothes), the persecuted (He was the main target of the mass murder of “the innocents”), and the refugees of this world (He was a refugee early in life, Mary and Joseph took him to Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod)Dr. Robinson Montalba

Grant Us Our Ancestral Domain, Tribal Leader Asks

KABASALAN, Zamboanga Sibugay (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 11, 2007) – A tribal leader said granting the indigenous people’s legitimate claims for their ancestral domain would be an effective tool for empowerment.

Wilfredo Sanggayan, an indigenous people (IP) representative to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Legislative Council) of Sibugay province, said the other way of looking at the several ancestral domain claims is to view it as a tool of empowering the indigenous peoples.

Sanggayan is the first Lumad representative to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan nationwide.

Zamboanga Sibugay is also the first province throughout the country to have IP representative to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan. Compostela Valley province is second.

“By granting the indigenous peoples their legitimate claims for their ancestral domains is to allow them to manage and govern themselves,” Sanggayan said.

Some 35 tribal leaders last week appealed to the concerned government agencies “to respect their legitimate claims of ancestral domain in this region.”

In a recent assembly held at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University, these tribal leaders also slammed what they called government “discrimination” against the rights of the Subanons in the peninsula.

The tribal conference dubbed “Glumpuk Nog Kobogolalanan Sog Pigsungan Nog Nawan (Assembly of Tribal Traditional Leaders of Zamboanga Peninsula) was part of the activities for the Mindanao Week of Peace, which started on November 29 and ended on December 5.

Early this month, Subanons from the three villages of Zamboanga City staged protest actions before government centers here.

“Our ancestral land is our kingdom where we have the chance to self-governance,” Sanggayan said, adding that part of his priority initiatives as Lumad representative to the provincial board is to undertake the titling of some 14 identified ancestral lands in Sibugay.

The provincial office of the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) also held a seminar here last week about the rights of the IP to ancestral domains.

Margarita Baya, officer-in-charge of NCIP provincial office, said “we need to help the Lumad in reclaiming their lands.”

“Gani, dili na yutang kabilin ang gusto nato bawi-on kundili yutang nabilin (In fact, it is no longer the ancestral land that we wanted but just a portion of that land),” Baya told this writer in jest.

There are four ancestral domain claims that are now pending at NCIP. These claims are from the towns of Siay, Naga, Roseller T. Lim, and Kabasalan, comprising at least 80,000 hectares of land of the province.

Another priority initiative that will benefit the indigenous peoples in the province, according to Sanggayan, is the establishment of Sibugay Indigenous Peoples Economic Zone Cum Indigenous Park and Living Museum.

“But as of now, we are now working for the recognition of Lumad representatives to the 14 local Sangguniang of the province,” Sanggayan said.

Fourteen of the 16 towns of this province need Lumad representatives to the local Sangguniang as mandated by Republic Act 8371, also known as “The Indigenous People's Rights Act of 1997”, according to Sanggayan.

RA 8371 mandates that “indigenous peoples shall be represented in all Sangguniang at all levels whose representatives shall be selected in accordance with the customs and traditions of the indigenous people concerned.”

Signed into law on October 29, 1997 by then President Fidel Ramos, the IPRA underwent many years of legislative study and deliberation before it became a law.It is the result of various consultations, consolidated bills related to ancestral domains and lands, and international agreements on the recognition of land/domain rights of the IPs.

In general, the IPRA seeks to recognize, promote and protect the rights of the IPs. These include the Right to Ancestral Domain and Lands; Right to Self-Governance and Empowerment; Social Justice and Human Rights; and the Right to Cultural Integrity.

Sanggayan pointed out that 14 of the 16 towns of Sibugay are inhabited by indigenous peoples with the Subanen tribe as the largest group.

The Subanen numbered around 1.3 million as of 2000 census scattered mostly in the provinces of Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Misamis Occidental, and Zamboanga City.

At present, according to Sanggayan, there are 11 local government units who had passed an ordinance recognizing the indigenous representatives to their respective Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

“But only seven of the 11 have formally accepted and installed an IP representative as a member of their local councils,” Sanggayan, who earned the distinction as the first IP representative to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan throughout the country, lamented.

”We will continue to reiterate our request to the different local government officials concerned concerning the representation of the indigenous people in the council as mandated by RA 8371,” Sanggayan said. “We are only asking what is due us.” (Antonio Manaytay)

Tribesmen Say Mining Destroy Sacred Lands In Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 15 Aug) – Lumad tribesmen on Wednesday slaughtered a white chicken in ritual to protest the destruction of their ancestral land by mining activities in the southern Philippines.

Datu Monico Cayog, the group’s leader, said mining activities have destroyed their lands and polluted rivers and mountain springs in Mindanao where large scale mining are going on.

The indigenous people, composed mostly of Manobo, Bagobo, Umayamnon, Blaan Lumad tribes, are members of the Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao under the larger group called PASAKA.

They were protesting also the government’s liberal mining policies and accused authorities of human rights violations against the indigenous tribes.

“The white chicken symbolizes the peace that we demand, while the blood symbolizes death to all destructive projects in their communities, particularly mining, logging, dams and militarization that resulted in uncountable human rights abuses perpetrated against the Lumads,” Cayog said.

He said human rights abuses perpetrated against indigenous tribes escalate due to mining activities and other government projects in their communities without public consultations.

“These projects are coupled with militarization, since the government knows that the Lumads protest these destructive projects. Genuine development will only be achieved thought nationalized industrialization which is free from the encroachment of foreign or local firms which only want to plunder our natural resources,” he said.

Norma Capuyan, chairperson of the Apo Sandawa Lumadnong Panaghiusa Cotabato (ASLPC), also denounced the transfer of the Philippine Mining Development Corporation (PMDC) in the direct control of President Gloria Arroyo.

“Out of the 18 mining priority areas in Mindanao, at least 16 are inside ancestral domains of the indigenous peoples. The influx of mining companies is thus tantamount to the death of indigenous communities which depend greatly on their ancestral land for survival,” Capuyan said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

Capuyan said that aside from mining activities, commercial and illegal logging also caused the deforestation of many Lumad communities in Mindanao, such as Ata-Manobo ancestral lands in Davao Del Norte province.

She said the ongoing construction of the Tudaya hydro-power plant in Mount Apo, a protected area, is also threatening the denudation of Bagobo and Manobo communities.

Dolphing Ogan, secretary general of the group KALUMARAN, a federation of Lumad organizations in Mindanao, said the deteriorating situation has affected the political, socio-economic and rich culture of the indigenous people.

“The Lumad people are suffering from blatant neglect from the government due to the absence of education, health and other basic social services in our communities.”

“We are grabbed of our ancestral land which is the material base of our socio-cultural, economic, and political life. Appallingly, we are also tagged as rebels or enemies of state every time we defend the mere right to our land and life,” Ogan said.

There are at least 18 indigenous tribes in Mindanao.