In
commemoration of the Aug 9 Int'l Indigenous Peoples Day
IPs protest against worsening human rights
violations under GMA's term
On
this year's United Nations-declared International Day for the
Indigenous Peoples, various indigenous peoples' organizations
in the country protested against human rights violations against
their ranks and pointed a warning finger at the Arroyo administration.
According to the indigenous leaders, "The tribal war rages
on against the government's programs that promote 'development
aggression' and militarization in our communities. This has
become a battle for survival for us. We will not endure another
death from our ranks."
Nationwide protest
Tribes from Southern Tagalog, Central Luzon stormed various
national government agencies in Manila today to hold protest
actions and dialogues in commemoration of the Indigenous Peoples
Month, an annual event led by the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong
Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP).
Bringing with them snake-like effigy of the president, KAMP
said "Pres. Arroyo is like a snake to the indigenous peoples.
She slithers through our communities with high-flying 'development'
projects, and then stings us with her lethal armed forces."
A press conference was also held today in Davao City by Lumad
leaders from Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao (KALUMARAN)
and the Federation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao
(PASAKA).
Tomorrow, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance will co-sponsor a
consultation-dialogue on the Second International Decade of
the World's Indigenous Peoples to popularize the United Nation's
Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Rights and the
Second Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples.
Also, TUMANDUK, an organization of indigenous peoples in Panay
Is., will hold a forum on large-scale mining and hold a picket-dialogue
at the Provincial Capitol of Capiz.
Not
for IP rights
In Manila, KAMP together with Bigkis at Lakas ng Katutubo ng
Timog Katagalugan (BALATIK) and Central Luzon Aeta Association
(CLAA) slammed the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples
(NCIP) "for purporting to be champion of indigenous peoples'
rights."
"Major provisions of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act
(IPRA) have only deceived my indigenous brethren and made them
believe that there is hope for compromise between the indigenous
peoples' land rights and the business groups' profiteering agenda,"
Himapd Mangumalas, KAMP national spokesperson, said.
KAMP explained, "Even before, we have asked this agency
to intervene when big foreign and local business corporations
encroach into our territories. We have likewise asked NCIP to
intercede in the deployment of military and other State forces
in our communities. Apparently, the IPRA Law has no teeth when
compared to the agenda of the business enterprises and the military."
The Southern Tagalog group, BALATIK, assailed NCIP for taking
"a weak stand against the Arroyo's national economic programs,
resulting to the wanton distribution and exploitation of our
ancestral domain which still abound in mineral and forest resources."
In Davao, Secretary General of Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao
(KALUMARAN), Dulphing Ogan, asserted, "We are not opposed
to development. We are opposed to 'so-called development' that
benefits big foreign and business firms at the expense of our
ancestral territories, life and culture which is bound with
it."
"President Arroyo's SONA was filled with numerous statements
about infrastructure and development projects, especially in
Mindanao and the home of fellow IPs in the Cordillera, but only
the big people sanctioned by Pres. Arroyo will benefit from
these projects," added CARAGA-based Norma Capuyan, adhoc
committee member of BAI, an indigenous women's organization.
"The situation of indigenous people with regard to human
rights and cultural and territorial integrity has only worsened
since the UN declaration of the first International Decade for
the World's Indigenous Peoples. What then can we expect from
NCIP's implementation of the Second International Decade?"
Ogan said.
Challenge
to new environment chief: Oppose anti-environment economic policies
"We have for years wrestled with the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR) to stop all destructive development
projects located in indigenous territories, but to no avail,"
Mangumalas explained.
"It's a 'wait-and-see' if former Manila Mayor Lito Atienza
has enough backbone to oppose the mining and other development
initiatives of the Arroyo government in lieu of environmental
protection and respect for IP rights. Otherwise, he had just
confirmed that he is 'but a pawn' in Arroyo's deadly game of
economic development".
Pres. Arroyo recently hailed Lito Atienza as chief of DENR.
Atienza's appointment was met with criticisms from environment
groups.
KAMP denounced the agency's "task to make legitimate the
plunder of natural resources by granting full access and control
to transnational corporations over the lands of the indigenous
peoples." The IPs further assailed DENR for shrugging off
the social costs of large-scale mining to IP communities.
Of the 24 identified priority projects of the Arroyo government
for mining development, 18 encompass indigenous lands: 10 in
Mindanao, six in Cordillera/Northern Luzon, and one each in
Palawan and Mindoro Islands.
Dumagat and Remontado tribes also appealed against the construction
of Laiban Dam, a project of the Arroyo government to allegedly
solve the water crisis in Metro Manila. "The cause of opposing
the large dam has taken the life of my husband, but my children
and I persist. We have to defend our lands because we live from
it," Adeling Delos Santos, wife of slain Remontado leader
Nicanor Delos Santos, explained.
Laiban Dam is one of the seven large dams planned by the Arroyo
government that are operating or are to be constructed indigenous
communities. The others include San Roque Multi-purpose Dam
Project in the boundaries of Bengut-Pangasinan, Matuno Dam in
Ifugao, Casecnan Dam in Nueva Vizcaya, Pan-ay River Dam in Panay,
and the Pulangi hydropower and Saug Multipurpose dams in Mindanao.
"'Development aggression,' which results to the ravage
of our territories and the sell-out of the country's natural
resources, is made possible through the rubberstamp of the DENR."
Mangumalas added. DENR is the main agency tasked to provide
environmental clearance certificates prior the implementation
of infrastructure and other programs in the country.
"We refuse to be treated as collateral damage," KAMP
declared. "We refuse to give up our rights to our lands."
Is
land so lethal?
"Wherever there are big mining, agri-business, logging,
and infrastructure projects such as dams in our areas, they
are accompanied by heavy military operations with the objective
of 'neutralizing' any opposition to the project. When we act
to defend our ancestral territories, the Arroyo government ushers
in a seeming open policy for human rights violations and political
repression," explained Ogan, a Lumad leader.
Neutralization is a by-term of the State policy, Oplan Bantay
Laya, a counterinsurgency program of the Arroyo government that
has met wide condemnation having included in its targets unarmed
civilians belonging to legal organizations. Local and international
human rights groups, including the United Nations and European
Commission, and the government-initiated Melo Commission had
earlier singled out State forces like the military and policy
for perpetrating the recent spate of extra-judicial killings
in the country.
Mangumalas' group underscored the Human Security Act, which
they believe is the "legalized version of the Oplan Bantay
Laya, promoting a culture of impunity seemingly tolerated by
the Arroyo government"; this, they say, "will hasten
the disenfranchisement of indigenous peoples' ancestral lands."
Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Watch-Philippines has monitored
130 killings perpetrated against indigenous peoples whom actively
defended their rights to lands and resources. The killings cited
reportedly occurred under Pres. Arroyo's term.
The said number includes the massacre of nine Kalinga people
last June 25 after elements from the Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) indiscriminately
fired at their residential community in Sitio Malapiat, Rizal,
Kalinga. "The perpetrators, who were part of a demolition
team allegedly sanctioned by the town mayor, were not able to
show the residents any demolition order. The victims did not
expect any eviction because the land dispute covering 2,934-hectare
agricultural estate was still pending in court," Mangumalas
cited. Local news reported that the PNP-Kalinga described the
shootout as an encounter with the rebel groups.
Cayog likewise recounted the March bombing incident in Ata-Manobo
communities in Talaingod, Davao Del Norte which led to the injury
of three children and displaced 1,008 individuals. The military
initially denied the incident but later said the bombings were
done in the context of a "legitimate encounter."
"We were never immune to the spate of extra-judicial killings,"
Mangumalas added. "In fact, we had been treated as 'economic
terrorists' because we oppose large-scale mining, large dams
and other so-called development programs. Undeniably, these
will result to the forcible evacuation of our people from our
communities."
"The only reason why some of us are still in living in
our ancestral lands is because we have struggled against the
many disenfranchisement schemes of the government and foreign
investors. With the Hitlerian anti-terrorism law in place, even
our right to defend our lives and our ancestral land is labeled
a crime," Cayog reiterated.
"We, indigenous peoples, must continue to defend our ancestral
territories and our right to self-determination. Land is our
life. Without it, our whole way of life is lost. The UN declaration
of the Second International Decade of the World's Indigenous
People is a result of the long struggle of indigenous people
worldwide. We must continue this struggle, relying principally
on our own strength to defend our land and our life," the
indigenous leaders declared.
They further called on the Arroyo government to heed the recommendations
of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on indigenous peoples,
Prof. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, who, in his two visits to the Philippines,
noted an increasing trend in the human rights violations against
indigenous peoples.
References:
Mr. Himpad Mangumalas, national spokesperson for KAMP
Mr. Dulphing Ogan, Secretary General of KALUMARAN
Datu Monico Cayog, Secretary General of PASAKA
(BACK TO TOP)
