Cordi youth joins 'Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya

HUNDREDS of youth and students from different provinces of the Cordillera region join this year’s Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya.

In Baguio City alone, at least 80 participants – composing of students from different high schools and universities – traveled in batches to participate in the Lakbayan.

The youth contingents of the Cordillera launched a discussion on the Cordillera Youth Situation on September 1 and have attended the International Indigenous Youth Conference the next day. They have also engaged in immersion activities with the different regions such as Cagayan Valley, Central Visayas, Mindanao, Southern Tagalog among others.

Also, the Cordillera youth actively participated in protests and mobilizations conducted in DepED, CHED, NCIP and different mining and energy companies.

Started in 2015, Lakbayan served as convergence of resistance for the national minorities to demand justice and respect for their basic human

rights. This has been a means to bring the issues faced by the indigenous communities in the north towards the political center of the country.

“For this year’s Lakbayan, the Cordilleran youth brings with them the dissent and condemnation for the US-Duterte regime’s fascist and anti-people attacks such as the Oplan Kapayapaan, the Oplan Tokhang, Martial law in Mindanao, the continuous plunder of resources and militarization of the indigenous communities,” said Nedlloyd.

According to Tuguinay, the youth group pledges to carry on the militant tradition of the Cordillera people and take part on the intensified struggle of the national minorities for self-determination.

“As youth, it is our mandate to safeguard the integrity of the Igorot’s long history of resistance and to advance the peoples struggle”, said Tuguinay. PR