Tribal group continues fight for ancestral domain

MEMBERS of the Manobo-Pulangihon tribe members belonging to the Tribal Indigenous Oppressed Group Association (Tindoga) continue to stake claim on their ancestral domain at Botong, Quezon, Bukidnon, despite the threats and harassment that some of them experienced recently.

According to Tindoga, a few of their members were fired at on April 23, 2014 by armed men causing displacement of Tindoga’s members who are claiming for their ancestral domain.

Church groups, indigenous people’s rights defenders, peasant activists, students and community-based health workers formed a solidarity mission called “Pakighiusa” to aid the indigenous people who were victims of violence through the conduct of a medical and fact-finding mission, feeding program and debriefing for the children on May 5 and 6.

Rev. Fr. Christopher Ablon, spokesperson of Karapatan (Alliance for the advancement of People’s Rights), said the armed men were alleged security guards from Dagohoy Security Agency and about 200 hired workers of Pablo “Poling” Lorenzo III, who claimed ownership of Rancho Montalvan, were on-board several 6-wheeler trucks.

Witnesses claimed the guards didn’t wear uniforms, but wore black long sleeves and ski masks or shirts to cover their faces instead.

“An armed man, identified as Jun Zapanta ordered the people to vacate the place. Bae Liling Agdahan, together with the MMS sisters negotiated for the armed men to back off, but they were determined to drive them away. They started to shoot indiscriminately and the goons forcibly destroyed all the shanties and houses in the area,” he said.

Even though the men were masked, they were still identified because some of them are relatives of the victims.

Twenty-four shanties were already installed by Tindoga around 3 p.m. before the 50 armed men arrived, with their faces covered, carrying high-powered rifles and farm tools on April 23.

Karapatan recorded two cases of frustrated extrajudicial killings (EJK); one case of threat, harassment, intimidation (strafing/indiscriminate firing) that affected 145 families; 23 cases of destruction of properties; five cases of divestment of properties; and one case of the 145 families of Tindoga and seven other clans/claimants of a violation of their collective rights to the land.

Datu Santiano “Andong” Agdahan, chairperson of Tindoga, said, “Not one government official from Quezon town or the province visited the Manobo-Pulangihon until now.

Renato Anglao of Tindoga clarified that there are eight claimants of the land. They were divided into two teams. Team A has four clans and that they wanted to have the land rented out to interested farmers. Team B, which Tindoga is a part of, does not want to have the land rented out, saying “it is their ancestral land and they have their right of it.”

Kalumbay spokesperson Datu Jomorito Goaynon said that he was also in the picket rally together with Tindoga members.

Citing the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA), Goaynon said that “dili man pwede paabangan ang ancestral domain (the ancestral domain isn't for rent).”

He lamented that even it is in the Constitution, the NCIP violated it.

“Paglabag sa kanilang (IPs) karapatan sa lupa ang ginawa ng NCIP, Rancho Montalvan, LGU at ng pulis,” Tyrone Beyer, policy advocacy officer of the Philippines Task Force for Indigenous People’s Rights (TFIP), said.

In the 623 hectares that the IPs claimed to be their ancestral domain, the NCIP said that only 60 hectares of the land were arable.

“Sa CADT, hindi dapat diktahan ng NCIP ang mga IPs. Ang mga IPs dapat ang mag-identify kung anong arable land para sa kanila,” Beyer said.

Beyer said his group can help with the widespread information dissemination at the national and international level through the United Nations’ permanent forums of IPs.” (Lynyrd Alexsei N. Corrales/XU-DevComm Intern)

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