Teduray tribe joins One Million Signatures for Peace

DAVAO CITY – Tired of armed conflicts, more than a thousand Indigenous Peoples (IPs) belonging to the Teduray tribe showed up at the municipal gymnasium in the town of Upi in Maguindanao province last Saturday to sign up for the One Million Signatures Campaign for Peace.

The signature drive, spearheaded by the Office of the Regional Governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), aims to generate at least one million signatures from individuals, organizations and institutions nationwide to support the ongoing peace process between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and to underscore the call to end all wars in Mindanao.

“Peace is vital to the lives of IPs in Mindanao,” said Hilario Tanzo, the Deputy Regional Governor for the IPs in ARMM, who led the tribal people together with Upi Mayor Ramon Piang Sr. and other officials of the municipality.

“Move away the IPs from their lands and you kill them. It’s the wars that continually dislocate the IPs from their ancestral homes,” Tanzo pointed out.

He also emphasized the current calls of IP communities for peace. “The call of the IPs now is to continue the peace talks and no more wars.”

Mayor Piang recalled the difficult times that the town of Upi had experienced due to armed conflicts: The worst war in the 1970’s up to 1974, the conflict against the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and with the MILF in the recent years.