THERE is no truth to the report about the Matigsalog and Manobo series of tribal killings that allegedly have been happening in the entire Marilog area in Davao City since 2022.
The clarification was once again made during the Joint Declaration of Strengthening Customary Laws, Unity and Peace Press Briefing as provided by the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) in Marahan, Marilog District, on Tuesday morning, October 3, 2023.
In an open forum with other leaders and representatives from Matigsalog and Manobo, Datu Lipatuan Joel Unad, chairman of Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Conference for Peace and Development, emphasized that the issue circulating on digital spaces, particularly on social media is baseless and non-existent because IP killings are not in their practices and culture.
“Emotional ko sa kadto na mga istorya. Wala na sa amoang kultura ang patyanay. Kaniadto pa, wala mi konsepto na magpaagasay og dugo (I was emotional because of those stories. The killings are not in our culture. Since then, we do not have this concept of bloody war),” he said.
To recall, during the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) congressional budget hearing, it was said that certain leaders from Manobo organized a group called Bagani or warriors against the Matigsalogs.
In a statement, leaders from both tribes debunked the open-ended allegations saying that there is no conflict between them because Manobo and Matigsalog in the community are both related by blood – a result of inter-marriage between Manobo and Matigsalog.
In fact, Obu-Manuvu tribe had a separate Certificate of Ancestral Domain or CADT within Marilog Proper. They have been organizing Bagani as part of their traditional way of defending their ancestral domain, culture, conservation area, against radicalization to fight the government and the observance of law and order and policies of government and not for killing the Matigsalog community.
The only root causes of the tribal killings in the entire Marilog Proper, particularly in Barangay Baganihan, Barangay Salumay, Barangay Buda, Sitio Namnam, and Sitio Pamuhatan are the land selling and reselling, buying, and land grabbing. DEF