Wednesday, October 15, 2008 NGOs hit for taking advantage of lumads
LUMADS in Mindanao slammed various sectors anew over claims that they are simply being used by sectors coming from the non-government organizations (NGOs), the church, and even some politicians.
"We have been taken advantage of," said Datu Lipatuan Joel Unad, chair of the Mindanao Indigenous People's Council for Peace and Development, in a press conference Tuesday at the Philippine Information Agency.
Unad said these groups have been imposing upon the tribes, instead of listening to their pleas. He cited that some NGOs, church groups, and even politicians have been riding on the issues that they raise.
Unad cited one example wherein some groups have been instigating their group to simply seek for self-determination rather than to talk for peace.
"They want us to be anti-government, anti-military," Unad said.
The lumad group also hit on groups that have blurred the lines between the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) and their clamor for ancestral domain.
Clarifying that the two are not one and the same, Unad said their clamor for their ancestral domain is not equivalent to a clamor for self-determination.
A forum among members of the lumad leaders throughout Mindanao is slated later this month with the final date to be announced soon. (CPM0
