Peace pact signed between AFP, tribal chiefs in Bukidnon

CAMP BANCASI, Butuan City – Field commanders of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and tribal chieftains, including their respective sectoral datus (sectoral leaders), signed a peace pact Saturday that committed all parties to condemn violence and raise a strong commitment to promote peace and development in Northern Mindanao, particularly in Bukidnon and Gingoog City.

In ceremonies held in Malaybalay, Bukidnon, leaders of the Higaonon, Talaandig and Umayamnon tribes and the Army’s Eighth Infantry Battalion (8th IB), 403rd Infantry Brigade (403rd IB) of the AFPs’ Fourth Infantry (Diamond) Division (4th ID) signed the historic agreement.

Before the signing of the peace pact, a ritual was conducted where 71 tribal chieftain and native’s sectoral datus (leaders) from Kalabugao Plains, Mount Kitanglad Range, Impasugong and upper Pulangi and ancestral territories in the Agusan, Bukidnon, Misamis and Davao participated in a solemn program to vow in bringing lasting solutions to the conflicts of highland people and villagers.

“This peace pact is really a big help in our peace and development program in Mindanao,” said Capt. Joe Patrick A. Martinez, regional Army spokesman of the 4th ID, quoting the statement of Maj. Gen. Oscar T. Lactao, commanding general of the AFP’s Northeastern and Northern Mindanao 4th ID.

The peace pact, dubbed as “Panaghiusa hu mga kasundaluhan daw hu mga Lumad (Unity of the soldiers and the indigenous peoples), also encouraged other tribes in Mindanao to do the same in an effort to finally achieve the elusive peace in the country’s second largest island.

According to the tribal leaders, they have long sought the military and local government units’ (LGUs’) help in their quest for lasting peace in ancestral territories that have been desecrated by the New People’s Army (NPA), armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) for a long time.

Lyco-Lyco Pintuan, one of the elders of the Higaonon tribe who recounted his ordeal with the rebels, expressed gratitude to the LGU and military’s response to the Indigenous People (IP’s) woes.

“These insurgents violated the rights of the lumads by building encampments in our ancestral lands, recruiting the IP youth, forcibly organizing the people as NPA supporters, compelling them unnecessarily to evacuate their territories and become internally displaced persons (IDP’s) and coercing them to join mass protests in town centers,” said Pintuan.