Indigenous peoples, 2

THE RIGHTS and dignity of every human being is of eternal value, Jesus of Nazareth taught. Children are the most important in the Kingdom, he said, and whoever accepts a child accepts him. Anyone who hurts a child or drives a child from him or abuses a child ought to be held seriously accountable, according to His millstone statement. (Matt.18:1-7)

In Mindanao, there are many indigenous groups that are aboriginal people of the island inhabiting their ancestral lands for thousands of years.

I mention their names to give them their identity, recognition, and respect. They are the Subanen, B’laan, Mandaya, Higaonon, Banwaon, Talaandig, Ubo, Manobo, T’boli, Tiruray, Bagobo, Tagakaolo, Dibabawon, Manguangan and Mansaka . They are collectively known as the People of the Earth, or Lumad Peoples.

Although a few Philippine officials object to them being called Lumad since the most nationalistic think that the word is the same as communist.

“Lumad” is a word associated with the Communist Party and its armed wing the New People’s Army,” the government’s National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) said in the order issued on March 4, 2021.

However, Archbishop J ose Cabantan of Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao disputed this and said the order was branding the indigenous people as insurgents and rebels.

“The [NCIP’s] order only reveals its members’ ignorance as to how the struggles of the Lumad have unfolded in Mindanao over the last sixty years,” he said. “It arose without an ideological agenda, let alone that of the Communist movement.”

It arose out of a united people’s concern to defend the rights of the Lumad from the perspective of a Christian faith that is concerned with the least of our brothers and sisters, victimized by both a repressive state and businesses interested in usurping the Lumads’ ancestral domains for profit,” he said.

All in all, the indigenous people are estimated to comprise fifteen percent of the country’s total population of about 100 million ( Journal of Philippine Statistics, 2008: 92).

As many as 71 indigenous leaders have been killed by paramilitary groups in recent years. They are tasked to drive the people from their ancestral lands so that mining corporations and palm-oil plantation owned by agri- corporations can continue to move in and take the land for their mining and plantations and they are destroying the environment and remaining forests in the process.

All this is against Philippine law, the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997. The law is supposed to protect the rights of the indigenous people. However, like many laws in the Philippines, they don’t apply to the rich and powerful politicians and their business cronies.

Some big business corporations supported by their “elected” cronies and puppets in government work to grab the forests, minerals, water, land and resources of the indigenous people and grow incredibly rich.

Indigenous peoples need honest rulers of integrity who believe in the rule of law and are supported by an enlightened public that support and live the values of goodness, justice, and the their rights.