HUNDREDS of tribal chieftains and Bais (women leaders) from six regions gathered at Almacen in Catalunan Pequeno, Davao City, from April 21 to 25 to discuss the plight of the indigenous people (IP) in different areas in Mindanao.
Dulphing Ogan, secretary-general for Kalumaran or Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao, said the conference dubbed as Dumalongdong Mindanaw aimed to consolidate issues and strengthen the unity of the IPs here.
Kalumaran or Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao (Kalumaran-Mindanao), the largest IP organization in the whole island, hosted the historic event.
Among the issues raised during the gathering, which focused on the ancestral domain of the IP, is the intrusion of the big foreign companies in their land due to expansion of plantations, hydropower plants, logging and mining.
Ogan said the projects have been driving the lumads away from their ancestral land, adding that it also destroys their environment, and gain large profit to the investors while most of them remain impoverished and landless.
He also said that the projects are not supposed to be the priority programs of the government, instead, genuine land reform that includes distribution of land, increasing agricultural outputs and addressing issues on land-use.
"Despite the disaster that destroyed several communities, the Aquino government is still hell-bent in pushing an environmental-destructive projects and ventures," Ogan said.
He said President Benigno Aquino III's government only shows itself as anti-indigenous people and destroyer of the environment.
Pasaka or Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao secretary-general, Kerlan Fanagel, cited several cases of human rights abuses committed against indigenous people in Mindanao.
The groups also expressed the need for the immediate resumption of the peace talks between the Government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. (ICT)