NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews/03 Oct) — Presidential Proclamation 1966 s. 2009 declares the month of October every year as National indigenous Peoples Month. In Mindanao, the indigenous people are generally known as lumad.

The lumad are the descendants of the free and proud people of the island who refused to join the religious fold of the Muslims and, later, of the Christians and continued to maintain their beliefs and practices, their socioeconomic and political life in their respective territories. History tells us that joining the Muslims provided the Lumad greater security and protection from their enemies. Joining the Christians, on the other hand, gave them access to educational, economic and political opportunities that might improve their economic and social well being. To remain a free people proved costly at the end because it eventually dispossessed them of their possessions and pushed them into the margin of society.

Consider the Mamanwa. The Mamanwa are dark-skinned with kinky hair but are much taller and with well-proportioned body than their Aeta counterpart in Panay and Zambales. Nomadic, they used to occupy and roam the mountain ranges of the Surigao and Agusan provinces. They were literally dependent on the bounty of nature, satisfying their basic needs from what they could harvest from the forests and capture from the rivers. They never permanently settled but stayed temporarily in an area in huts without walls for as long as the bounty of nature still met their needs. After a while, they would roam again in a cluster of 3–10 families to another place enjoying life that is free from the trappings of a more sophisticated community. They were peace-loving people who resolved conflicts among themselves through the mediation and counsel of the eldest member of their community.

After the Second World War, however, the landscape of Mindanao has experienced tremendous changes, especially in Surigao-Agusan mountain ranges. Miners have cut across and dug mountains to extract gold, nickel, cobalt, copper, iron ores and other minerals; and loggers, legal and illegal have felled trees and secured their concessions with heavily armed guards. The Mamanwa could no longer thread freely in their former hunting grounds and have been restricted in the peripheral areas of the forests learning to survive through slash and burn farming from the lowlanders. They have resorted to trading with the people in the lowlands – selling or exchanging rattan poles and fruits, tubers, bamboo shoots, orchids, deer, wild pigs, monkeys and birds with corn grits, salted fish and some canned goods. Unschooled they are always at the losing end of the barter. The lowlanders look down at them and pejoratively called them Kongking because of their scaly black skin and kinky hair.

When Martial Law was declared, the New People’s Army (NPA) for some time ruled the jungles of Surigao and Agusan. The Mamanwa, because of their familiarity with the terrains, were hired or forced to become guides by the military and the NPAs in pursuing each other and became primary victims in armed encounters and life-threatening suspicion from both sides of the warring parties. As a result the Mamanwa were ultimately forced out from their shrinking paradise. With no employable skills, they have been reduced to begging for food and clothing from the lowlanders who despise them. Anyway, some kind souls had taken pity of them and hired their men as farm hands or their women as house helpers. But their benefactors complained that they lacked initiative, motivation and concentration in what they were doing. In short, they were perceived as lazy and unreliable. They would accordingly escape work now and then pursuing and connecting with relatives in their wandering. The nomad in their blood refused a settled life. Disoriented, they keep on moving without definite purpose and direction except to survive out from the kindness and help of people they met along the way.

The passage, of R.A. 8371, otherwise known as the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997, restored to some 1900 Mamanwa their forest land through the issuance of a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) on 22 September 2006. The Mamanwa’s ancestral domain covers an area of 49, 870 hectares located in the municipalities of Claver, Gigaquit, Bacuag, Alegria, and Tubod, all in the province of Surigao del Norte. Under the provisions of CADT, the Mamanwa beneficiaries, as land owners, are responsible in the development, control, utilization and collective management of their ancestral domain on the condition that said land resource cannot be sold, disposed or destroyed in any way.

Unfortunately, for the Mamanwa, their return to their homeland has been compromised by the surge of some 20 or more mining firms or mine claimants within the domain, in addition to those already entrenched earlier in the area, particularly upon the passage and implementation of the controversial Philippine Mining Act of 1995 (R.A.7942). Under the IPRA, the natives were entitled to a royalty of one percent of the gross income of each mining firm operating within their territory. This has not been done. One firm shrewdly managed to ink an agreement with the tribal chieftain to grant P500,000/annum to the tribe people and their host communities. Notwithstanding that this in violation of the IPRA, only P200, 000 so far has been released to the beneficiaries and their host communities. Meanwhile, the Mamanwa homeland is now crisscrossed by mining roads, bulldozed, opened, and dug again and here and there for the precious minerals, destroying biodiversity and the natural environment, and displacing some of the natives from their farm lands. Recently, the military have occupied areas in their ancestral domain to protect mining investors reportedly from the harassment of the NPA rebels. The Mamanwa, who have begun to settle in their recovered land, are forced once again to mass evacuate intro the lowland for their safety.

An NGO is reportedly assisting Mamanwa families live a settled community life somewhere in Taganito, Surigao del Norte. Mamanwa children are taught the rudiments of education and the adults, hygiene, sanitation, nutrition and improved farming methods and employable skills to enable them to join the labor force or generate self-employment. If the approach succeed this would save the Mamanwa from the indignity of living at the mercy of other people. And yet this benevolent intervention may yet ultimately lead to their ultimate assimilation into the mainstream of society and erase once and for all what little cultural heritage that is left in them. (MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan is retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental.)

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/11 October) – An anti-mining and human rights activist died a day after he was ambushed in Montevista town in Compostela Valley.

Jimmy P. Sayman, a Mandaya farmer from Barangay Ngan in Compostela town, was shot by two unidentified gunmen around 5:45am on Monday.

According to a report released by the Police Regional Office 11, Sayman was riding his motorcycle along the national highway in Purok 6-A, Brgy. San Jose Poblacion in Montevista when the suspects aboard a black motorcycle shot him once.

The assailants escaped towards Compostela town.

Sayman, 48, secretary general of the Comval Farmers Association (CFA), managed to ask for help from the people near the ambush site.

He was brought to Compostela Valley Provincial Hospital where he received initial treatment before he was transferred to Davao Regional Hospital in Tagum City, Davao del Norte where he died at 2:20pm Tuesday.

In a statement issued before Sayman died, CFA vice chairperson Noli Villanueva said the group condemned the incident.

He said Saypan stood against the human rights abuses allegedly committed by the 66th Infantry Battalion, and opposed the entry of Agusan Petroleum and Minerals Corporation.

The group renewed its call to President Rodrigo Duterte to pull out the military from their community and hold them accountable for the alleged human rights abuses, among them, the harassment of their leaders.

“It is outrageous that this happened while we are celebrating peasant and indigenous month this October, a peasant and a lumad like Jimmy Saypan who defended his farmland and ancestral land suffered this brutalities. It is also ironic that as the new administration is forwarding peace efforts the AFP officials and personnel in the ground remain to be rabid butchers,” he said.

The group claimed that the attack was “a form of silencing our leader.”

Duterte said on September 22 in Cagayan de Oro City that he wanted the military to take full control of paramilitary units.

“But you know, I have noticed from many reports that the government-backed para-military units are still operating. I am now ordering the Army to take full control itong mga Bagani command,” he said.

He said the presence of the paramilitary groups would undermine the peace process between the government and the National Democratic Front.

“The paramilitary men operating especially with firearms issued by the government that would undermine the peace process and of course, it would be also a crime if you do that, especially a couple na namatay sa Kitaotao (in Bukidnon). Mahinto na sana ito, because we are really trying our best to come up with a—with a peaceful country,” he said. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/11 October) – Beauty queens turned social entrepreneurs from the Bagobo-Klata tribe in Baguio District here have ventured into a business that will promote their culture and traditional coffee in the local market.

Reigning “Hiyas ng Kadayawan” Inna B. Garcia and her business partner Kessia D. Tar, who held the crown in 2014, started the coffee venture “Kape Netibo,” a traditional coffee made from a mixture of Excelsa variety and corn, barely a month ago with hopes to uplift the livelihood of the other Lumads.

A graduate of BS Accounting Technology at the Ateneo de Davao University, Tar said they chose to invest in the city’s coffee future because it is “something sustainable and a basic need for some people.”

She said that by selling coffee they hope to lessen the dependence of the Lumad on government and enable them to stand on their own feet one day.

The two, who are also community leaders, got the permission from the Bagobo Tribal Council to market their traditional coffee.

“They are supportive, excited, and thankful for this new venture,” she said.

Tar added that coffee and corn abound in the hinterland communities of Tamayong, Calinan, Baguio District, and Tambobong where most of the Lumad from the city live off the land as farmers.

She said they buy coffee from the Lumad at P130 a kilo, almost twice the price of P80 a kilo offered by merchants in downtown Davao.

Aside from the premium price, she said they give Lumad a 30-percent share for every coffee sold, which comes in packs of 150 grams for P85.

She said selling “Kape Netibo” is a way of promoting their identity as Lumad, as she pointed out that there are no popular native products in the city that they could claim as their own despite the city’s tourism pitch on the diverse cultures of indigenous peoples.

Garcia, a graduate of marketing from the Philippine Women’s College added that they are planning to introduce “Kape Netibo” as a pasalubong item in the city.

Tar said they hope to further improve the quality of their coffee and production capacity, as they envision to see “Kape Netibo” being offered in coffee shops.

Thelonious S. Trimmel, chief of party of the Agricultural Cooperative Development International-Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI-VOCA), told a press conference on October 3 that the quality of coffee from Mindanao can compete with the specialty products of other coffee-growing nations like Brazil, Colombia, and even Ethiopia, in Africa, known as “the birthplace of coffee.”

He said they need to educate farmers on post-harvest handling and processing so they can improve on quality with coffee exports of other countries.

“We need to work on improving productivity and quality of coffee. They can compete in specialty Arabica and fine Robusta market,” he said.

ACDI-VOCA provides assistance such as technology and training on best practices to farmers, he said.

He said ACDI-VOCA implements the four-year USDA-financed Mindanao Productivity in Agricultural Commerce and Trade project, which is designed “to increase the income of the 10,600 smallholder cacao, coconut, and coffee farm families in Southern and Western Mindanao.”

Department of Trade and Industry-Compostela Valley director Siegred Balleque said that 65 percent of the 25,000 metric tons of the total production in the market is produced in Mindanao.

“We should make sure that we have the best coffee and one of the best in the world,” he said.

The Philippine Coffee Board Inc. will hold the 9th Coffee Summit on October 12-13 at the SMX Convention Center here.

Ted Lingle, founder of the Coffee Quality Institute and the promoter of Quality coffee will be among the international speakers.

Last June, Lingle visited the country to hear out the farmers and processors and made some review on the quality of the Philippine coffee.

“You have some best kept secrets here,” the press briefer quoted Lingle.

He encouraged farmers in the city “to learn the language of quality, which is the language of coffee. In the international coffee trade language, coffee is graded using a 100-point scale, with 80 being called Specialty grade.” (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)

QUEZON, Bukidnon (MindaNews/24 October) — There seems to be a new “game in town” among the Bukidnon Lumads these days.  It is a “game” that is a continuation of centuries of struggles of  the indigenous people who are desperately claiming back their right to self-determination.

This was my realization as I stood on a hill in Purok 7 of Barangay Botong, Quezon, Bukidnon where I and my anthropology students recently visited for a short fieldwork. This hill and its surrounding area was once upon a time referred to by the Pulangihon Manobo as Bagalbal, meaning the place for rituals. Long before the dawn of the conquest era that brought outsiders to the archipelago and eventually to Bukidnon, the lumads in this place lived at the plains of Quezon and went to Bagalbal for important rituals.

One can easily understand why Bagalbal is an ideal site for rituals. Being on top of a hill, one has a commanding view of Pulangi River, the undulating hills surrounding it – including another elevated space they called Imbatong, another ritual site.  Yonder  to the north – very clearly seen on a clear day – is what is referred to as the Salakot Hill easily visible across the camps of Central Mindanao University in Musuan.  Before it was named after a hat, this small mountain was referred to by the Lumad as Taini-Apo-Puhak and Pinoys can easily guess why it was named as such; such a name is from the mythological story handed down by the ancestors of this location to their descendants.

The  town of Quezon in fact, used to have an indigenous name – Kiokong, meaning mushroom. A mythological narrative of the Lumads of this place refers to a time when there was a major floor that hit this area; the residents evacuated to a hill which was shaped like a mushroom.  One can still see the hill these days very close to the center of the town.

In Bagalbal today reside more than a hundred households headed by their chieftain, Datu Agdahan Santiano Jr. or known here as Datu Antong, a highly principled and articulate chieftain.  Around 2008, his family and clan used to live in the village of Lumitao, now part of barangay Salawagan which is part of Quezon.  At that time, they realized that their children will only have a future if they can reclaim part of the land that was taken away from them by a migrant-settler with the family name of Montalban who found a way to take over ownership of their ancestors’ land to set up a ranch to raise cows.  This was the time when the whole province of Bukidnon – following one of the thrusts of the American colonial government – opened up Bukinon for corporate investments, including the raising of cows.

Montalban eventally turned over the ranch to a nephew, Pablo Lorenzo, who has not only kept the ranch but has also planted the area to sugar cane, the main cash crop of Quezon and nearby municipalities of southern Bukidnon.  Eventually – in order to protect his business interests – Lorenzo run for vice mayor in Quezon and won.  He fenced the entire area with barbed wire in order to protect his landed estate from “squatters”, especially the Lumads.  A former ritual area – sacred to the memory of the Pulangihon Manobos – thus became the site of greedy capitalist ventures.

But a shift took place in the consciousness of the descendants of the chieftains with whom Montalban entered into some kind of “negotiation”. As far as Datu Andong can remember from the stories handed down by their elders, his ancestors only “lent” the land to Montalban with a fee of 50 centavos per hectare per year; there was no sale involved and they thought Montalban would use the land only for temporary use. The only reason why they did not claim back the land was because they were afraid to return to the land, as the cows there – according to Montalban – were “ferocious, and would eat people alive”. This was the kind of story told to them that made them afraid to claim back the land. In time, the “man-eating cows” would be replaced by gun-toting armed guards, which today the Lumads would refer to in its English term – “goons”.

In 2008, Datu Andong and his clan of around 20 households could not anymore postpone their wish to claim the land. This led to what is now a common phenomenon across the province which has given rise to a new shift in Bukidnon’s Lumad struggle.  With some help from other well-meaning outsiders expressing solidarity with them, they were able to organize the Tribal INDigenous Oppressed Group or TINDOGA (Cebuano for Let it Stand Up). By the fact that the indigenous people’s organization is in English belie the fact of outsiders’ support for their struggle.
As the Lumads became more desperate – owing to the need to have land where they could cultivate food crops to survive as well as send their children to school – two years later in 2010, they began to penetrate Bagalbal along with their relatives who were living in sitio Miaray, also part of barangay Botongan.  They reclaimed part of the land outside the wired property of Lorenzo. This naturally alarmed Lorenzo and his armed guards.

The ensuing events are then predictable, repeating the thousands of stories that have taken place among the Lumads across the country, especially in Mindanao.  This story has the same plot – powerful outsiders take over Lumad land, find a way to get government bureaucracy to support their claim dislocating the Lumad from their ancestral abode, mobilize State armed forces to protect them and supplement these with their own goons, harass the Lumads who resist this colonization and once no intervention from the State occurs, violence erupts.  The only differences are the names of the places where the stories occur, the key people involved, the number of casualties and the outcome of the encounters.

In the case of the Pulangihon Manobos in Bagalbal, there are marked differences in the details of their resistance.  In many upland areas, Lumads out of death threats involved give up their resistance and ultimately lose their rightful land claims. But for Datu Andong and his clan, they are not giving up their claim.  They approached their local LGU officials even if most of them sided with Lorenzo.  The NCIP tried their best to facilitate the issuance of their CADT over a measly 663 hectares; however the NCIP officials have been inutile in implementing fully IPRA and help defend the Lumads’ rights. Thus Lorenzo and his goons continue to harass them, even as the barbed write fence continues to impinge on the little remaining land cultivated by the Lumads. At times, Lorenzo’s guards even push cows outside their property to destroy the food crops of the Lumad.

The story does not end here, and certainly this narrative is not limited to Bagalbal. Nearby in Purok Likong, in barangay Lumintao, Quezon, close to 30 Pulangihon Manobos have penetrated another landed estate.  If the “owner” of this piece of land brings in armed goons, blood will flow as the Lumads are not going to vacate the spot they have now reclaimed.  This is one more story to add to the stories about the Lumads in Sumilao, inside the campus of CMU and other hot spots of Bukidnon in which the original owners of the vast rich lands of Bukidnon will no longer tolerate the whims of the rich and mighty.  They are resisting fiercely and with every resistance, they are re-writing the narrative of contemporary Bukidnon history.
[Redemptorist Brother Karl Gaspar is Academic Dean of the Redemptorists’ St. Alphonsus Theological and Mission Institute (SATMI) in Davao City and a professor of Anthropology at the Ateneo de Davao University. He is author of several books, including Desperately Seeking God’s Saving Action: Yolanda Survivors’ Hope Beyond Heartbreaking Lamentations, and two books on Davao’s history launched in December 2015 — Davao in the Pre-Conquest Era and the Age of Colonization and Si Menda u gang Baganin’ng gitahapan nga mao si Mangulayon. He writes two columns for MindaNews, one in English (A Sojourner’s Views) and the other in Binisaya (Panaw-Lantaw)]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/23 November) — Two progressive lawmakers have called attention to what they said are continuing attacks against Lumad or indigenous peoples in Mindanao.

In a statement Wednesday, ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro said that since October 11, students and teachers of Center and Lumad Advocacy and Services (CLANS) in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat had been “harassed and intimidated” by government officials.

Castro said the alleged harassment and intimidation was committed by Palimbang Mayor Abubacar Maulana, representatives from the Education, Social Welfare and Development and Local Government departments, Philippine Marines and Philippine National Police.

“Due to this continuing harassment, about 1,003 students including adult learners were affected and have stop schooling…,” he said.

CLANS is a community school for Dulangan Manobos in Palimbang.

Castro urged Education Secretary Leonor Briones to reprimand DepEd Region 12 director Pudja Acub and other officials involved in the alleged intimidation.

He said Briones should prove her advocacy for alternative education and learning systems “by standing for the Lumads and exacting accountability from her colleagues in the cabinet for the actions of their local officials against the Lumad school.”

“The new Secretary should scrap DepEd Memo 221 that legalizes the military encampment in schools because this only brings terror to students, teachers, and to the communities who had been deprived of their right to education for so long,” he added. 

In a privilege speech on impunity on Monday, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate also cited the reported continuing attacks against Lumad under Oplan Bayanihan, the counterinsurgency program that started under the Aquino III administration.

Zarate said a teacher and Lumad leader from CLANS approached Congress last week to seek assistance for their plight.

He said the reported harassment was disturbing because justice had not been rendered for Lumad victims like Emerito Samarca, Dionel Campos and Bello Sinzo.

The lawmaker was referring to three Lumad leaders in Surigao del Sur who were killed by alleged paramilitary men late last year.

The 54-year old Samarca was executive director of the Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development while Campos was chair of the Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod, a Lumad organization protesting mining operations, land conversions and plantations.

Karapatan-Caraga in a statement on September 1 last year, narrated that at around 4 a.m. “known elements” of the Magahat-Bagani “opened fire” at Campos and Sinzo “as community members in Km. 16, Han-ayan, Barangay Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur were roused from bed and forced to gather in the middle of the community early this morning.”

The Magahat-Bagani are also Lumad. (MindaNews)

The worsening human rights violations in Mindanao have been disregarded by the Duterte government despite the unilateral ceasefire of the GRP and his declaration of support to the peace talks. The relentless military operations of government troops in the rural communities have resulted in the encampment of community schools, extra-judicial killings, harassment and vilification involving community teachers, peasants and lumad leaders of progressive organizations. These operations are being justified by the Duterte government through the continued implementation of Oplan Bayanihan and in the guise of community peace and development program (COPD).

On the other hand, trumped-up charges, surveillance and harassment continue to haunt activists, Lumad teachers and peace advocates in urban centers who incessantly called for the pull-out of military forces in the rural communities. The case of Amy Pond who is on hospital arrest at the Southern Philippines Mindanao Center (SPMC) was the classic example of trumped-up charges perpetrated by military assets. Pond is a teacher and curriculum developer of the Salugpongan Ta Tanu Igkanugon and former Southern Mindanao Coordinator of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines was arrested in Cebu City last August 19, 2016.

Since July 2016, there are at least eight cases of extra-judicial killings and two enforced disappearances have been recorded. The military personnel from the 39^th, 68^th, 66^th and 46^th Infantry Battalions are responsible of these extra-judicial killings occurred in Southern Mindanao region. One of these cases, was the killing of environmental anti-mining activist Joselito Pasaporte in Compostela Valley province last October 13. On the other hand, the enforced disappearances of Dabis Mogul and Macky Bael both environmental activists in Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat early on December has something to do with their environmental advocacy against the Consunji company who is currently expanding their mango plantation and mining operations.

The continued vilification and harassment of parents and teachers of the Center for Lumad Advocacy and Services (CLANS) in the municipality of Palimbang has resulted in the disruption of classes of hundreds of Dulangan Manobo school children. The local government of Palimbang, Dep Ed and DSWD officials in collaboration with the PNP and elements of the 6^th Marine Battalion Landing Team had made public statement against CLANS linking with the NPA.

In Zamboanga Peninsula, the Subanen communities were forced to attend community assemblies initiated by the 53^rd Infantry Battalion. They were subjected to interrogation and accused as NPA rebels in the area. Military troops are also camping the communities and conduct surveillance on community activities including farming.

In Caraga region and Northern Mindanao regions, the 29^th, 23^rd, 36^th, 75^th Infantry Battalions and AFP Special Forces have continue to wreak havoc in Manobo, Talaandig, Mamanwa and Banwaon communities. These military forces used and encamped in community health centers, barangay hall, day care centers.

Meantime, a total of 426 political prisoners continue to languish in jail. They are political dissenters and activists who have been slapped with false criminal charges or whose political acts of rebellion have been criminalized. While a majority of them were detained under the Arroyo and Aquino regimes, they will certainly serve as the Duterte government’s “prisoners of conscience” if they continue to suffer the injustice of wrongful detention. President Duterte had been correct in offering a general amnesty for these political prisoners but it is apparent that sections in the AFP leadership are in vehement opposition to this sincere move on the part of the president.

Moreover,  the appointment of the newly installed Armed Forces chief Lt. Gen. Eduardo Año who is known to the aggressive arrests and killing of the members and leaders of progressive organization including Jonas Burgos is likewise seen to aggravate the rising number of human rights violations.

We urge President Rodrigo Duterte as the Commander in Chief of the AFP to rein in his military forces against its utter disregard and sabotage of the ongoing peace process. The continuation and intensification of Oplan Bayanihan clearly promotes the legacy of the dreaded Aquino Regime which left a trail of blood spilled by activists, rights advocates, and community leaders.

President Duterte should not squander his political capital by pandering to rightist and hawkish forces in his administration. He should realize that his anti-imperialist rhetoric should translate, among others, into the scrapping of Oplan Bayanihan which had been patterned after the 2009 United States Counterinsurgency Guide. Oplan Bayanihan stands opposite to a just and lasting peace!

We demand to President Duterte to uphold previously-signed agreements in the GPH-NDFP peace negotiations. The breakthroughs he has made in the peace process must be sustained by remaining sincere, desisting from laying down preconditions, and, as he had promised, keeping his ears on the ground.

As an alliance of human rights groups in Mindanao, we in Barug Katungod Mindanao call on President Duterte to:

• Scrap Oplan Bayanihan
• Genuinely uphold the unilateral ceasefire; order troops back to their barracks
• Stop deceptive Peace and Development Outreach Programs (PDOP)  and Reengineered Special Operations Teams (RSOTs)
• Pull out AFP troops from communities, schools, and civilian premises
• Release political prisoners without preconditions; general amnesty now
• Support and sustain the GPH-NDFP peace talks!

(Statement of Bishop Felixberto Calang of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, main convenor of Sowing the Seeds of Peace in Mindanao and observer in the GRP-NDFP Peace Talks)

ROME, Italy (MindaNews/ 20 January) — We welcome the high level of optimism that marked the opening of the talks in Rome yesterday. As observers in the peace talks, we express our gratitude to the Royal Norwegian Government for facilitating the process. We appreciate Special Envoy Elisabeth Slattum’s emphasis of highlighting the common goals of the peace process. We believe that consistent with these common goals come commitments and obligations.

As President Duterte’s ‘steady hand’ of guidance in the talks was stressed by DFA Sec. Perfecto Yasay and OPAPP Sec. Jesus Dureza, we were actually expecting a last-minute release of political prisoners in congruence with the CARHRIHL and the spirit of the 1st and 2nd round of talks.

We are hoping that this 3rd round will bring about the realization of the release of political prisoners as this is a critical issue in the sustainability of the process.

We are aware that despite the high level of optimism during the opening of the talks, there are strong undercurrents that affect the smooth direction of the talks. The realization of PPs releases, the cessation of militarization especially in Lumad and peasant communities in Mindanao, and issues related to the unilateral and bilateral ceasefires, need to be appropriately addressed at this juncture of the talks. For now, these issues appear to affect the relevant focus needed for the discussion and eventual signing of the SER.

As a people’s movement for a just and lasting peace, we at Sowing the Seeds of Peace in Mindanao are encouraging both parties to hurdle the snags in the current round of talks and give focus on the SER. We congratulate both the GRP and the NDFP, with the facilitation of the RNG, for bringing about the fruition of this 3rd round of talks. We share in the optimism and commitment of RNG Manila Ambassador Erik Forner that “we are in this for the long haul.”

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 18 March) —   Something quite historic took place in the Board room of the Finster Building at Ateneo de Davao University last Wednesday, 15 March 2017. No, it was not the celebration of the 496^th year since Magellan occupied what they later referred to as “Islas Filipinas” (which was to be remembered the following day, 16 March), nor to commemorate William Shakespeare’s reference to the assassination of Julius Cesar in the year 44 BCE in his play with name of the Roman Emperor.

It was far more modest, but for those of us constituting the Department of Anthropology of the Ateneo de Davao and the ADDU-Ateneo Institute of Anthropology (ADDU-AIA), something historically wonderful happened that day.  We finally produced the person who would be the first graduate of the M.A. Anthropology course of ADDU which was founded around five years ago. This person is Marites “Matet” T. Gonzalo. And to our pride, this person is a bonafide Lumad, a Tagakolu from the uplands of  Malita, Davao Occidental, the Tagakolu  homeland in Mindanao.

While the science of Anthropology is not exclusively the study of indigenous peoples, but being located in Mindanao, ADDU-AIA, the Lumad communities have a special place in the hearts and minds of those of us in this Department. And to our delight, the first person to publicly, successfully defend her M.A. thesis, comes from and has worked with her very own people. Thus the title of her thesis: “Ang “Kolu” ug ang Pakigbisog sa Pagpatunhay sa “pagka-Tagakolu.”

Yes, Ms. Gonzalo wrote her thesis in Mindanawon-Cebuano (as distinct from the tal Cebuano-Bisaya spoken in Central Visayas and mainly the rural areas of Mindanao). And during her actual defense, most of the questions and answers were in this language, although English and Pilipino inevitably were also spoken, along with the Tagakolu language. For if one reads her thesis, one encounters all four languages inter-mingling with each other.

It is to the credit of universities like ADDU that it has embraced the ramifications of a post-colonial academic requirements, which has been affirmed by Dep-Ed’s mother-tongue based thrust. Why privilege only Filipino when there are other dominant languages spoken by millions of citizens in this country. Eventually, perhaps not only will theses and dissertations be written only in English, Filipino and even Cebuano (in its various appropriatons) but also Ilokano, Bikol, Waray and who knows – in Tausug, Meranao, Maguindanao, Bagobo-Tagabaya, Subanen, Mandaya and so many others. For after all, if one uses Tagakolu, the Kalagans and Mandayas can very well understand the text.

One significance of what Ms Gonzalo accomplished is that she made it possible for us today to have a glimpse of the lives of contemporary Tagakolu, by understanding fully the symbolic meaning of the Kolu (the area around the headwaters or watershed). Kolu of course is related to the common Austronesian word – ulo (head) – and surprise, it also means head (as in headwaters!). The ethnographic aspects of their lives documented a century ago by the American anthropologist, Fay Cooper Cole (who in 1905 wrote “The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao) have survived where the kolu remains intact.  But as Ms. Gonzalo is “an insider” and has “the native’s point of view”, can speak Tagakolu and has grown up in this landscape, she could stand on Cooper Cole’s shoulder and add more layers of truth to projecting the Tagakolu’s identity.

Truly this is the challenge for Mindanawon anthropologists today, which has been pointed out in many fora and conferences. We cannot rely anymore on ethnographies researched and textualized during the colonial period and/or in the post-independence period but still done from the “colonial lens.” These have to be updated; many of the findings that had little grounding needed to be debunked. There is richness in our Lumad communities’ cultures – labeled mostly as indigenous knowledge, skills and practices (IKSP) – that have not been uncovered by past studies.

Ms Gonzalo, of course, is not the person to pioneer these efforts. There have been already research studies and publications on the Lumads in Mindanao that have tried to follow ethnographic methodologies much more “haom” (fitted) today following, post-colonial and post-structural theoretical frameworks. The literature is expanding, and thankfully most are now Filipinos, pioneered by the likes of E.A. Manuel and Marcelo Maceda and later to include Dr. Linda Burton, Dr. Eric Casiňo, Dr/Fr. Albert Alejo S.J., Dr. Macario Tiu, Atty./Dr. Gus Gatmaytan,  Fr. Rafael Tianero O.M.I., Mr. Manny Nabayra and others. But they are non-Lumad.

It is in this sense that Dr. Vel Suminguit (a Subanen, now professor at Central Mindanao University) and Ms Gonzalo could be considered trailblazers in this movement of Lumad youth  going to school all the way to graduate studies and doing very well in the field of Anthropology.  Of course, there are others in parts of Luzon (especially Batanes and the Cordillera) and Moro scholars from Mindanao. But for the Lumads of Mindanao, there still are only a few.

But right now at ADDU-AIA, we have five more scholars who are Mandayas and Bagobo-Tagabawa. And more are interested. At the Pamulaan Institute of the University of SouthEastern Philippines (USEP), there have been A.B. Applied Anthropology graduates. And for sure, across the colleges and universities in Mindanao, a growing number of Lumad youth are enrolled in the basic education courses, senior high and taking up college degrees. In time, the number of Lumad scholars studying Anthropology and related social sciences, could further expand.

When that happens, the procedure of seeking Free, Prior, Informed Consent (FPIC) before any scholar could enter a Lumad area and conduct a research study may have to change. Because the scholar is a Lumad person, which means he or she shares the right to give his/her consent.  (MindaViews is the opinion section of Mindanews. Bro. Karl M. Gaspar CSsR is Academic Dean and Professor at the St. Alphonsus Theological and Mission Institute in Davao City, teaches Anthropology at the Ateneo de Davao University and is a member of the Redemptorist Itinerant Mission Team (RIMT). An author of several books,  Gaspar recently launched his latest, “A Hundred Years of Gratitude,” in celebration of his 70th birthday and 30th year as a Redemptorist Brother).

MARAMAG, Bukidnon (MindaNews / 02 Abril) —  Sa pag-usbaw sa adlaw, kapin 90 ka estudyanteng Lumad ang gapaninguha nga makakat-on og bag-ong kahibalo gikan sa ilang tunghaan, ang Mindanao Tribal School, Incorporated (MTSI), sa Panadtalan, Maramag, Bukidnon.

Usa niini ang katorse anyos nga magtutungha nga si Hasmine Rose Omos, usa ka Manobo gikan sa Kiminait, Pangantucan, Bukidnon. Naggikan man siya sa layo nga dapit apan gipili niyang motungha sa MTSI, tungod kay wala siya gi tarong og tratar sa iyang kanhing tunghaan.

Makita sa panit ni Hasmine ang timaan sa iyahang pagbulad sa init sa adlaw. Gipangko niya iyahang buhok ug migawas ang matoud niyang kaanyag. Unang mitungha sa Sinangguyan National High School kon SNHS si Hasmine pagsugod sa klase sa tuig 2016.

Apan mibalhin siya sa MTSI bulan sa Agosto tungod sa mga diskriminasyon. Matod niya gisaway siya ug gikatawan sa iyang “pagka Manobo”, “pagkapangag” ug “pagkabugason”. Tungod kay wala siyay kaila nga ka tribu sa maong eskwelahan, wala niya napagawas ang iyang gibati. Sa pagkakaron, mga higala na ni Jasmine ang mga estudyante sa MTSI ug nalingaw siya sa ilang praktis sa sayaw.

Ang Grade 7 nga magtutungha isa sa mga mananayaw sa Maramag didto sa Kaamulan 2017 tigi sa street dancing. Mga piling estudyante sa MTSI ug Bukidnon National School of Home Industries kon BNSHI ang gipasayaw sa lungsod.

Gisaulog sa Kaamulan ang mga kinaiya ug tradisyon sa pito ka tribo nga lumolupyo sa lalawigan: ang Bukidnon, Higaonon, Talaandig, Manobo, Matigsalug, Tigwahanon ug Umayamnon.

Migahin og badyet nga dili moubos lima ka milyon (P5 million) ang Provincial Government sa Bukidnon (PGB) alang sa Kaamulan, nga gibahin-bahin sa lain-laing mga kalihokan sugod Pebrero uno hangtod Marso baynte-sinko, matud pa ni Hansel Echavez, Supervising Administrative Officer sa Public Affairs Information and Assistance (PAIA).

Posibli pod nadugangan ang maong pondo sa kita sa mga booth ug ubang donasyon.

Diskriminasyon

Sumala pa ni Mervill Antillas, school Administrator-Disciplinarian sa MTSI, usa ang diskriminasyon sa mga rason nganong dili na ganahan og tungha ang kabataang lumad sa mga eskwelahan.

Kini usab ang nakapaaghat kang Datu Salimbangon Magdalino Pandian Sr. o Datu Mayda nga itukod ang MTSI sa tuig 2006.Indigenous peoples mandatory representative sa hawanan sa Sangguniang Panlalawigan si Datu Mayda, nga mipanaw na niadtong tuig 2015.

Nabulahan ang mga kabataang Lumad sama ni Hasmine sa pagtukod sa MTSI.

Apan sa pagbalhin niya sa eskwelahan, nasinati niya ang daghang kakulangon nga nakaperhuwesyo sa ilahang pagtungha bisan paman nga didto niya nailhan ang iyang mga higala.

Mga kakulangon

Human sobra napulo ka tuig sa pagkatukod sa MTSI dili ikalimod nga daghan pa gihapon ang mga kakulangon ug mga hagit nga nasinati ang mga magtutungha ug mga magtutudlo.

Matud kang Hasmine numero uno nga problema ang kakulangon sa school supplies. Dako gihapon nga sagubangon ang kakulangon sa permanente nga mga magtutudlo. Sa MTSI, tulo ka klase ang dungan nga mogamit sa lawak nga walay dingding. Ang resulta, si Hasmine ug ang iyang mga kauban dili maka focus sa ilang leksyon tungod sa kasaba.

“Kung hangin kaayo ug moulan dili mi makaklase,” dugang pa sa trese anyos nga si Lady Gean Tutupan, classmate ni Hasmine.

Depensa pud ni Antillas, dili malikayan nga ma-late sa klase ang mga volunteer nga magtutudlo tungod kay wala pud silay kwarta para deritso makaduty.

Matud usab sa taga Valencia nga si Nezie Joy M. Pore, usa pod ka volunteer teacher, maglisud siya pagpadayon kay kapos pod sila sa kwarta. Apan tinguha gyud niya nga mopadayon. Adlaw-adlaw gakadumduman niya ang mga estudyante nga gabaklay og usa ka oras aron lang makatungha.

”Dili nako ma-take nga dili moanhi kay kabalo ko nga naa sila,” dugang pa niya.

Uyon si Pore nga saulogon ang Kaamulan aron ma-ilhan ang kultura sa tribu. Apan, pabor siya nga mas hatagan ug bili ang edukasyon sa mga lumad. Matud niya, ang Kaamulan “party-party” lang sa kultura.

Dugang pa niya, unsaon pa ang pagpromote kung wala na ang kultura sa tribu.

Sa MTSI, gitudlo ang mga subject sama sa kultura sa mga lumad, tribal language, customary law, ug indigenous MAPEH nga sakop sa Indigenous Peoples Curriculum.

Mao usab kini ang nakitan ni Raquel Sante, usa ka Higaonon nga naa sa Grade 9 sa tunghaan.

“Diri ko ni eskwela kay mabuhi ang among kultura,” matud pa niya.

Sa dormitoryo nga gidunar sa Global UGrad Scholars of the Philippines Alumni Association gapuyo si Raquel kay sa Bulonay, Impasugong pa man siya naggikan.

Wala siyay bayad sa dormitoryo apan iya-iya sila og dala’g kunsomo. Bisan sa dormitoryo, duna gihapoy kakulangon. Matud pa ni Tutupan, usa ka Manobo nga taga Bagongbayan, Kadingilan, walay tubig ug kuryente sa dormitoryo.

Limitado’ng suporta

Gihatagan ang MTSI sa lokal nga pagagamhanan sa Maramag og mga plywood, balas ug atop alang sa pagtukod sa ilahang mga classrooms apan kulang pa kini matud ni Antillas.

Kay pribado man nga tunghaan ang MTSI, limitado ang maabag sa munisipyo, matud pa ni Maramag Municipal Planning and Development Office Coordinator Gilbert Babasol.

Ang MTSI, dugang pa niya, dili apil sa mga prayoridad nga tagaan og Special Education Fund sa Municipal School Board. Daghan usab ang mga publikong tunghaan sa lungsod nga nanginahanglan og dugang pasilidad, dugang paniya.

Mao usab kini ang ponto ni Antonio Velez, 56, usa ka Manobo, Legislative Administrator sa Indigenous People Mandatory Representative office ug kanhing magtutudlo sa MTSI.

Maglisod ang DepEd og tabang sa ilaha kay lagi pribado man kini. Gipili sa MTSI nga magpabiling pribado aron dili mawala ang pagka Lumad niini, matud pa sa ilang mga kaulohan.

Midumili sila nga malangkob sa estandard sa DepEd kay dili kuno kini sensitibo sa ilahang kultura taliwala sa Indigenous Peoples Education kon IPED.

Uban sa mga nakitang problema ni Redemptorist Brother Carlito Gaspar, usa ka aktibong manunulat kabahin sa Lumad sa MindaNews ug inilang anthropologist mao ang DepEd Curriculum, teacher’s training, ug mga material nga ginagamit sa eskwelahan.

Usa pa pod sa iyahang nakita nga problema mao ang mga magtutudlo nga ibutang sa DepEd sa MTSI. Pipila pa lang man ang ming-graduwar sa kursong education gikan sa lumad nga pwedeng mutudlo niini.

Matod pa niya, mawala ang ilahang pagka-Lumad nga eskwelahan kung ilahang mga magtutudlo dili pamilyar sa panginabuhi ug linggwahe sa mga lumad.

Lakang sa DepEd

Apan matud pa sa DepEd, naa ra sa hunahuna sa MTSI nga mawala ang ilang pagka Lumad kon malangkob sila sa IPED.

Ang DepEd Order No. 62 garekognisar sa katungod sa mga Indigenous People kon mga lumad sa “culturally rooted basic education” nga nagahatag ug giya sa DepEd kabahin sa ilahang pakig-hinglabot sa Indigenous Peoples Education kon IPEd.

Pero kini matod ni Antillas wala gayud nakatabang sa MTSI.

Dako ang pagtuo niya nga bisan paman sila pribado, angay gihapon silang matabangan sa gobyerno tungod kay nakasulat sa D.O No.62 ang pagtabang sa edukasyon sa mga lumad pribado man kini o pampubliko.

Mihangyo na ang MTSI sa gobyerno pinaagi sa DepEd nga paga-gahinan sila og ensaktong badyet, bisan sweldo para lamang sa mga LET passers nilang mga magtutudlo. Apan kutob lamang daw sila sa pasalig kay hangtod karon wala pa gihapon kini nahitabo.

Gisulayan sa Ipalambo og kuha ang tubag ni IPED head Edwin Gurrea apan wala niya gitubag ang hangyo sa makighinabi. Hangtod karon gapaabot pa ang MTSI sa ayuda nga gisaad sa probinsya ug sa DepEd, aron masolusyonan na ang problema sa kakulangon sa himan.

Matud pa ni Sunny Ray Amit, chief education supervisor sa School Governance and Operations Division sa DepEd-Bukidnon, dunay mga requirements aron maka benepisyo sa gisaad nga mga prebelihiyo sa D.O. 62 nga wala na pasa sa MTSI.

Dugang pa niya ang mga requirements sama sa IP curriculum sa MTSI, enrollment list, learner preference number, qualification sa mga magtutudlo, listahan sa mga gadumala, ug ang ilang pagtake sa National Achievement Test (NAT).

Aduna nay mga lakang ang gobyerno aron matabangan ang mga Lumad sa edukasyon ug pagpreserba sa ilahang kultura. Sama niani ang pagpasa sa Republic Act No. 8371 kon Indigenous Peoples Rights Act ug ang DepEd Order No. 62 s. 2011 kon National Indigenous Peoples Education Policy Framework.

Dugang pa ni Amit, ang katungod sa mga Lumad sa edukasyon aduna poy lakip nga responsibilidad.

“Kinahanglan nila mopasa sa kinahanglanong papeles aron sila matabangan,” dugang pa niya.

Edukasyon o festival?

Usa sa mga lakang sa lokal nga pagagamhanan ang tinuig nilang paggahin ug dakong badyet alang sa pagpreserba sa kultura sa lumad pinaagi sa Kaamulan.

Pero matod pa kang Bro. Gaspar, mas makatabang sa mga Lumad ang paggahin og saktong badyet alang sa ilahang edukasyon.

“Unsa may mas importante mag sayaw-sayaw ka sa dalan o naay edukasyon ang mga lumad nga mga bata so that later they’d be better citizens and we can make leaders out of them?” matod pa niya.

Siya mikatawa ug miingon, “it’s a case bitaw unsa may nauna, ang kariton o ang kabaw.”

Dugang pa niya, ang mga lumad nga tunghaan magtudlo sa mga lumad nga kabataan kabahin sa sugilanon sa ilahang kultura, tradisyon, pagtuo, kanta, sayaw, ug uban pang mga indigenous knowledge.

Kung kini buhi, angay ang probinsya mag Kaamulan festival kay aduna gayuy maikapakita ang mga Lumad mahitungod sa ilahang kultura nga ilahang nakaplagan sa ilahang pag-eskwela.

Nakapangutana si Antillas usahay ngano nga kung panahon sa Kaamulan, dali kaayo ang gobyerno makapagawas ug badyet, pero kung MTSI ang mangayo, maglisod sila.

Pero dili siya babag sa pagpagawas sa maong badyet tungod kay ang Kaamulan parte sa kalihokan sa probinsya ug kinahanglan man gyud magpagawas ug badyet ang gobyerno.

Apan kung papilion siya kung asa ang mas angayan  gahinan og pundo, dapat sa eskwelahan kuno.

“Kay ang eskwelahan o tribal school dili man nga pipila lang ka mga tao ang maka-benefit kung dili ang tanan nga mga kabataan nga Lumad nga pobre nga gustong ma-edukar,” dugang pa niya.

Matud niya kung natabangan sila sa edukasyon, kana nga butang dili gyud makawat o mawala sa ilaha.

“Mauna ang usa ka bahandi nga ilang madala-dala, magamit nila alang sa ilahang pagpanginabuhi,” dugang pa niya. Girason usab ni Antillas nga ang Kaamulan kausa lang sa usa ka tuig. Pagkahuman ug gasto sa badyet niini, mapildi man o makadaog, mawala na.

Uyon niini si Alexier Pinaso, 25, isa ka Manobo ug magtutudlo sa MTSI sa subject nga Indigenous MAPEH. Matud niya dili patas nga milyones ang gasto alang sa Kaamulan pero sa ilaha nga ga-edukar sa mga IP gamay lang. Taphaw lang kuno ang tabang nga gakahatag sa gobyerno sa ilahang kultura matag Kaamulan tungod kay kini usa o duha ka bulan lamang. Mas gusto niyang igahin ang badyet sa edukasyon sa mga Lumad kay kini makatabang sa kinabuhi nila.

Ang eskwelahan dako ug tabang alang kang Joel Talle, 14, sakop sa tribung Talaandig ug taga Panadtalan. Siya usa ka gamayon nga estudyante, niwang ug hilomon.

Sa iyahang tunga sa tuig nga pagskwela sa iyang kanhing tunghaan nakulatahan siya sa mga pareha usab niyang estudyante tungod kay dili siya moapil sa grupo nga gitukod nila. Mao kini ang usa ka rason maong mibalhin siya sa MTSI, kung diin naa na siya sa Grade 7.

Dugang niya, sa MTSI gamay ra’g bayrunon, wala pud kaayo’g project ug doul ra sa ilang balay.

Scholarship ug uban pa

Gisugid ni Rubielie Cabiguin, executive assistant sa Provincial Governor’s Office nga sa 65 ka magtutungha nga apil sa Provincial Scholarship Assistance, 40 niini mga Lumad.

Unom ka milyones ang gigahin nga badyet niini matag-tuig, apan para lamang kini sa mga estudyante sa kolehiyo.

Dugang ni Echavez sa PAIA, ang gobyerno adunay mga livelihood program ug cash o goods assistance sa mga katawhan sa probinsya og ubay-ubay usab ang Lumad nga naka-benipisyo niini.

Nadunggan pod ang pondo nga gihatag sa pangagamhanang lokal sa Bukidnon alang sa mga Lumad sa ilang pagproceso sa ilang application aron matitulohan ang ilang ancestral domain.

Naguol si Bro. Gaspar sa kamatuorang dyutay ra nga badydet alang sa MTSI bisan paman sa dakong papel niani sa kinabuhi sa mga Lumad.
Mas gihatagan pa kuno og bili ang pagpasundayag sa Lumad nga kultura

kaysa sa aktwal nga panginahanglanon sa ilang komunidad hilabi na ang kaugmaon sa mga kabataan. Gamay lang daw ang badyet nga gi gahin alang sa edukasyon, health care ug imprasaktura ngadto sa mga kabukiran.

“It’s a very sad kind of situation because Kaamulan is a symbol that tries to show that there is development along our Lumad communities, it should not only be a celebration of the beauty and history of culture,” sulti niya.

Adunay mas dakong rason ang pagsaulog sa Kaamulan kung ang gobyerno mitubag sa mga panginahanglanon sa mga katawhan kompara sa pag-gamit lamang sa ilahang kultura aron lang e-presentar kini sa publiko, dugang pa niya.

Padayon, paglaum Sa pagkakaron, ang MTSI adunay nakitang mga pamaagi aron matubag ang mga kakulangon sa pondo. Usa niini ang pagtanom nila og balanghoy palibot sa ilahang eskwelahan.

Naglaom usab sila nga makaginansiya sila niini aron makasuporta sa ilahang mga panginahanglanon. Ang MTSI gapangayo usab og tabang gikan sa Central Mindanao University, Xavier University ug uban pang unibersidad.

Gihagit ni Bro. Gaspar ang MTSI nga mangita og mga grupo nga makaabag sa ilang panginahanglanon sa imprastaktura sama sa dugang classroom, stage, library ug laboratory samtang wala pay badyet nga gigahin sa ilaha ang gobyerno.

Galaom siya nga tumanon sa DepEd ang ilahang mga pasalig tungod kay gitahasan ang maong ahensiya nga masiguro ang saktong paggahin og badyet alang sa mga Lumad nga eskwelahan.

Wala giwala sa mga taga MTSI ang paglaum nga matagaan gihapon sila og saktong pagtagad sa DepEd sa umaabot.

Matud pa ni Antillas, wala silay laing mabuhat kon dili maghulat nalang.

Si Hasmine wala magmahay sa pagbalhin niya sa MTSI bisan paman sa mga kakulangon niini sa pasilidad. Giaghat niya ang mga kabatan-onang Lumad nga motungha gyud maskin kulang sa panapi.

Mipahiyom si Hasmine samtang nagsugod siya og lakaw pabalik sa iyahang klase adtong hapona. Hinayhinay siya nga mibalik duol sa iyang mga kauban sa klase’ng indigenous sports.

Taliwala sa ilang kalisdanan, wala siya nagbasol sa iyang tunghaan. “Bahala og kulang mi sa eskwelahan pero makabalo man gihapon mi kay dulot-dulot man gihapon ilahang pagtudlo sa amo dinhi,” matud pa niya.  (Ni Lovely R. Guinayon ug Efraem O. Egoc/BS Development Communication students sa Bukidnon State University para sa DC 143 – Ipalambo Special Section for community newspapers)

(Ang IPALAMBO usa ka special section sa Ang Bandilyo  ug Central Mindanao Newswatch, mga weekly newspaper base sa Malaybalay City, Bukidnon. Ang section bunga sa pakigalayon sa maong newspaper ug sa BS Development Communication program sa Bukidnon State University alang sa subject nga DevCom 143 o Production and Management of a Community Newspaper. Ang mga unod sa special section resulta sa workshop ug field work sa mga estudyante ubos sa giya sa ilang magtutudlo nga si Mr. Walter I. Balane sa College of Social Development and Technology.)

Datu Felix Bollosoz leads the Panalabugta — a Higaonon ritual to pay homage and respect to Mother Earth — at the Press Freedom Monument in Cagayan de Oro City. About 800 Higaonons from different parts of Northern Mindanao marked the 47th Global Earth Day on Saturday with a march-rally to denounce the continued encroachment of multinational corporations into their ancestral domains. Photo courtesy of  CONG B. CORRALES 

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 15 May) – Vice President Leni Robredo said she wants a law version of the department order giving indigenous people (IP) a mandatory representation in policy-making bodies and other local legislative councils issued by her late husband, former Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, in October 2010.

During “Leap V: 2017 National Indigenous Peoples Education Festival” at the University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP) Mintal Campus here Monday, Robredo told reporters that a measure must be passed in Congress to ensure the continuity, widen the IP’s participation in government, and provide equal opportunity to hold positions in government.

She said the order issued by her husband can be overturned with the change of administration.

Robredo said that there is currently no law that mandates IP participation in local development and local legislative councils. RA 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) provides under Section 16 that the Lumads “have the right to participate fully, if they so choose, at all levels of decision-making in matters which may affect their rights, lives and destinies through procedures determined by them as well as to maintain and develop their own indigenous political structures.”

It also said the State shall ensure that the Lumads be “given mandatory representation in policy-making bodies and other local legislative councils.”

“We are pushing for this because what we have is just the department order  issued by my husband,” she added, referring to the memorandum circular 2010-119 signed on October 20, 2010`.

The late Secretary Robredo served under former President Benigno S. Aquino III before he died in a plane crash on August 18, 2012 in the sea off Masbate after attending the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Community Investigative Support national summit in Cebu.

The vice president said she wants this law to include provisions that would penalize government bodies that would fail to comply.

“Our policies are insufficient and there’s no means for us to know that it is so unless they tell us,” VP Robredo said, referring to the IPs. “The very key to this is to give them the chance to draft for themselves the policies they think are necessary. It is not for us to dictate,” she added.

By giving IPs more voice in the society, she believes it will give them more space to address the needs of their communities and contribute to their empowerment.

“We want to advocate for the empowerment of the IPs. Empowerment, in a sense, to give them spaces where the IPs can participate in decision-making bodies in government as well as in policy-making. Wherever we go, there is still the same complaint,” she said.

The vice president also saw the need to revisit the current IP laws, which she said are sometimes used to oppress them.

But Robredo added it should the IPs themselves who will craft the laws to make them more aligned to their needs.

She called for the expansion of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to allow more participation from the IPs in the programs.

“We have to give them voice because they feel they are misunderstood, so we have to address that feeling of being left behind,” Robredo said.

She acknowledged that there are already government programs in place for the poor Filipinos, but the tribes complained these are not necessarily responsive to their needs. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/19 May) — “Of all the art exhibits I have lately seen in Davao City, this one is the best!” Such were the words of the noted Davao visual artist, Victor Secuya at the opening of Merging Currents – an art exhibit involving more than 30 distinguished artists of both Davao City’s seasoned as well as emerging (or those who just finished their Art courses – mainly at the University of Mindanao – and current students).

The opening ceremony for this exhibit, organized by the art groups namely Daba Daba Davao and Alampat Davao (led by Jun and MaRee Contaoi Cayas) took place at the second floor of the Matina Town Square at past 5:00 P.M., on 18 May 2017 with full backing from the City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO). More than a hundred artists and their friends and supporters, as well as government officials and media people were on hand to attend the opening ceremony.

Merging Currents is one more proof of the burgeoning visual art scene in Davao City which in the past few years has seen an explosion of hometown talents and the regular occurrence of art exhibits, despite Davao City’s limited gallery space. As in many urban centers in this country beyond Metro Manila, the support of both government and private groups by way of making sure there is enough gallery space that can be used for exhibitions has come in trickles. Artists have to struggle very hard to be provided such spaces.

Perhaps, the City Tourism Operations Office staff are awakening to the need to provide support to artists, which is why they are beginning to help sponsor the likes of Merging Currents. In the words of Ms Generose Tecson, OIC of CTOO, “tourism’s backbone is the arts” and thus “if the city needs to do something about its lack of color, we need to support art exhibits and thus prove that life is really here in the city!”

Indeed, the exhibit should be seen by all Davaoeňos and one hopes that crowds would flock to the venue and see the artworks before it closes within two weeks of exhibition. The collection is really quite an amazing mix, but what is noteworthy of Merging Currents is that seasoned artists (the likes of Kublai Millan, Victor Secuya, Jun Cayas, Anoy Catague, Abe Garcia Jr, Joel Geolamen, Elenita Dumlao, Victor Dumaguing, Alynnala Macla and others) have joined hands with the budding young ones who are now making a name for themselves in the city’s art scene. In fact, the quality of the works of the emerging artists can give the established artists “a run for their money”; a phrase quite apt considering Victor Secuya’s exhortation that all artists in the city should aim at contributing towards the development of “creative economy”.

Apart from the high quality of this collection, one can only be amazed at the wide range of the genres covered (paintings, intermedia using various materials, photography, art installations and artistic/creative works) as well as the high level of creativity in the use of various media and materials (canvas, wood, bamboo, oil, acrylic, watercolor, cloth and even unlikely materials such as hair, durian leaves and plastic toy soldiers). The sizes range from photos and creative works the size of legal bond paper to murals that extend to 4 feet by 8 feet (Mican Fernandez’ Visualizing the Sama Dlaut Christianization, oil on canvas).

As expected, a number of paintings of these Davao artists continue to appropriate the Lumad myths, narratives, symbols and the colors of Mindanao’s indigenous communities. One appreciates the artists’ intent not to misrepresent the Lumad images but at the same time to move beyond the mere mirroring of what the eye can behold during such encounters with the Lumads. There are those whose integrated narratives on the canvas come straight out of epics e.g. John Lester Bayao’s Bagobo Creation Story – Tuglay and Tuglibong (intermedia using hard rubber sheet and paint on wood ply, showing images of fruit and human figures interfacing black and white colors that look like prints), Dennis Puzon’s Story of Lakivot (oil on canvas with interfacing allegorical symbols of the myth), Angelo Florante Nur Valente’s Tudbulul – The Arrival of New Hero (oil on canvas but framed like a scroll with two bamboos holding it together) and Jashiel Dominique Ramos’ Agyu’s Heroic Acts – An Artistic Manifestation (intermedia on canvas with a panoramic fight scene between the epic hero and his enemies).

On the other hand, other artists’ works manifest their fascination with the Lumads, their lives, cultures and struggles including: Felix Pabalinas Jr.’s impressive Akong Ginikanan (oil on wood panel as well as bamboo that mimics the traditional triptych format of an altar-piece of saints; in this case, the artists’ two couples framing a Lumad ancestral domain scene of waters, mountains, forests and huts, embellished further by the everyday objects of Lumad life – machete, shield, herbs and a hut – as well as animal symbols); Artemio Bongawan’s Bagobo (saw dust on wood panel); Victor Dumaguing’s pointillist-styled Spirit of Ancestors consisting of 5 pieces (combining paint on canvas with tnalak incorporated into the art showing human figures playing musical instruments) and Jun Cayas’ We Are and Bae (We Are) (intermedia on canvas showing the profiles of a Bagani and the face of a Bae, manifesting the Cayas’ artistic style).

Of special interest are the attempts of three artists to paint Lumad images but to do so with a post-modernist twist. Jefferson Bangot’s Tangled Strings (acrylic on canvas showing a Lumad musician caught up in a twisted, complicated and tangled mess through the intersecting of lines of strings across the piece); Bing Carino’s Blaan (enamel on canvas rendering images of the Lumad by way of playful imaging that render asymmetrical shapes) and Leonardo Comargo Jr.’s Vituvian (intermedia on canvas with rich Bukidnon Lumad colors put together in concentric circles).

The participation of the seasoned artists adds prestige to this exhibit. Kublai Millan’s Siatong (acrylic on canvas) is a joyful and playful rendering that brings up childhood memories of playing in the streets, Victor Secuya’s (Music fest) # 7 (acrylic on canvas) is a celebration of music in colors that can brighten up a gloomy day! Elenita Dumalo’s Inclusive Domain (acrylic on canvas) departs from her signature computer-generated art pieces and are a delight to the eyes! Alynnah Macla’s Too Loud to be Seen (intermedia using oil paint and graphite on salvaged wood) shows how split-wood as “canvas” on which images are painted can be a source of delight! Joel Geolamen’s Kabilin (oil on canvas) is a visual delight, with a malong painted in bold rich colors made to look like a mountain range lighted by a pale moon. Abe Garcia’s Jr.’s Ding and Dong (fried dumplings), Hasim (seafoods and jucies) and All (potato fries and juices) are C-print photos that show how Roxas Boulevards’ food vendors manage to put everything – tables, chairs, cooking gadgets, food ingredients are piled up one on top of another on small tricycles that can carry such heavy loads – images that look tragically funny!

There are other striking pieces in this collection that do not usually follow the traditional shapes and forms of the usual art exhibit. At the same time, they confront social realities of Davao’s society. There are the four pieces of Jeoffrey Omar Casas’ Redemption, Across the Crescent Moon, and Direksyon 1 and 2 (acrylic on wood shaped as tadtaran (chopping block) ; after seeing these pieces tadtarans will become hot items for art purposes rather than being relegated to the kitchen or the butcher’s shop). Jessel Namalata’s An Anonymous Account of Buntog in Davao City (intermedia on canvas with graphite drawing pencil and acrylic paint on 6 panels connected to each other which stand like a round stage with an opening) is a feminist rendering of the plight of the buntogs.

Then there are the installations and the artistic/creative works. Nonoy Narciso’s Ugong ug Gapnod: Memoirs of Shifting Planes of Davao (is a collage made up of found objects like rubber slippers and bottles discarded at dumpsites forming an assemblage that define our garbage-laden society). Ryan Aguste’s Lantaw and Amahan (intermedia) use small circles of dried durian leaves glued on wood that when put together show stark images. And finally, there is Mahavir Ramirez’ In this Battle, I think of Tomorrow, a unique art piece that shows two sides of a human face: one side – rendered through the use of human hair strand (truly a painstaking work!) – a solemn face, but on the other hand a much troubled one – made up of hundreds of small plastic toy soldiers pieced together and shows the face’s contours and different shades of emotion!

In the end, it really didn’t matter much to find out who among the artists are the seasoned ones (veterans in the field and whose works are now collectibles) or those who are just emerging (having just finished or are still doing their art studies at UM). All contributed to making Merging Currents a “must-see” exhibit for all of us in this city that not only produced the current President but visual artists of top caliber whose works can take a pride of place in both the national and global art scene. [Redemptorist Brother Karl Gaspar is Academic Dean of the Redemptorists’ St. Alphonsus Theological and Mission Institute (SATMI) in Davao City and a professor of Anthropology at the Ateneo de Davao University. He is author of several books and writes two columns for  MindaNews, one in English (A Sojourner’s Views) and the other in Binisaya (Panaw-Lantaw).]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/19 June) – Teachers and students of a school for Lumad in Davao del Norte have been prevented from holding classes since June 5 by soldiers and paramilitary men, one of the teachers said.

In a press conference Monday, Ricky Balilid, a teacher at Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation Inc. (MISFI) Academy accused soldiers and Alamara members of blocking and threatening their teachers and students they would be shot if they went back to their community.

MISFI Academy is located in Sitio Muling, Barangay Gupitan, Kapalong, Davao del Norte and has around 100 students.

Balilid, Association of Community Educators vice chairperson said they reported the incident to the local government of Kapalong and to the Department of Education division office in Tagum City early this month but there has been no response yet.

He called on President Rodrigo Duterte for help.

“We want President Duterte to go to the communities and negotiate with them just like he did before. We want negotiation to happen among the people, soldiers, and the paramilitary,” he said in the vernacular.

He said the four MISFI teachers could not hold classes for fear of their lives and are staying, for the meantime, at their office in Barangay Indangan in Davao City while waiting for the Alamara and soldiers to move out.

“Before you enter the community in Muling, you have to pass through the Alamara. I have experienced being approached by them,” he added.

Maj. Ezra Balagtey, public information officer of the Eastern Mindanao Command (Eastmincom), said that they sought permission from the tribal leader before entering their community.

He maintained that the soldiers ensured they conform to the Lumad’s tradition and sometimes would even offer rituals, if necessary.

“We undergo a process before entering the ancestral domain, we coordinate with the tribal leaders,” he said.

He said the teachers should formalize their complaints by reporting it to the military, so that it can be addressed in the “proper “forum”.

Jong Monzon, secretary general of Pasaka Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao, said members of the paramilitary group are Lumad who are armed by the military.

Balilid said the military continues to label their school and their teachers as that of the New People’s Army (NPA).

But he maintained that the school is run by the Lumad to educate the children of the indigenous community.

He said the military has not left their community since 2015.

The year 2015 saw the killings of several Lumad leaders allegedly by soldiers and paramilitary groups. The victims were accused of having links with the communist movement.

The NPA was also tagged in the death of Lumad leaders with alleged ties to the military. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 28 July) — Burn and bomb the Lumad schools…

What has become of you Mr. President?

You were elected to your post now because we thought and believed you are for the Poor, Oppressed, Deprived, Exploited, and Marginalized! (DOPEM)

While it is true that it is creating confusion among the public that while we are aware that there is this historical peace negotiation happening between the Government (GRP) and the National Democratic Front (NDF), this has been a normal feature in a society with a long-time reality of engagement in a civil war … both instrumentalities of the negotiating panels are on another plane of undertaking in the pursuit of long and lasting peace!

Considering your superior intelligence, longest time in the realm of politics, recognized effective collaborations with the progressive groups as peace mediator, and self-proclaimed first Leftist President…please you / we know that the war on ground is a separate process of achieving one’s ideology / goal for society…

There is war because of the basic discontent and suffering of the DOPEM, hence, our peace talk is attempting to address the discontent and suffering of our people…we are still hoping and praying that the peace talk between NDF and GRP will be resumed.

Burn and bomb the school of the Lumad … that would be a high degree of betrayal, abandonment, and crime against our people / country!

Let us unify and position for truth and genuine change for our people and country!

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Malou Tiangco is a Davao City-based social worker and an artist for peace).

FiLM REVIEW: Tu Pug Imatuy (The Right to Kill)

Director: Arbi Barbarona
Screenplay:  Arnel Mardoquio
Cinematography: Arbi Barbarona, Bryan Jimenez
Editor/Sound Designer; Arbi Barbarona
Assistant Director: Christine Austero
Musical Director/Scorer: Arnel Barbarona
Art Director: Raleon Monsanto
Production Designer: Bagwani Amplayo
Producers: Norhaiya Diabo Macusang, Milo Tolentino,
Arnel Mardoquio, Arnel Barbarona
Cast: Malona Sulatan, Jong Monzon, Luis Georlin Banaag III.
Jamee Rivera, Jillian Kahyle Barabaron, Henyo Ehem,
Mentroso Malibatu, Nona Ruth Sarmiento

In the most recent URIAN awards ceremony , a Mindanawon independent filmmaker, Sheron Dayoc, won Best Director for his film – WOMEN OF WEEPING RIVER – which also won as Best Film for 2017.  This was a major triumph for a Mindanawon filmmaker,  not only because an Urian award is the country’s prestigious film accolade, coveted by filmmakers and actors, but Dayoc won over two of the most highly-esteemed and award-winning Filipino film directors who have made waves in international film festivals as those in Venice and Cannes, namely, Lav Diaz and Brillantes Mendoza.

This is, of course, not the first time a Mindanawon filmmaker is honored by the Urian film critics group. Earlier, Arnel Marodquio and Teng Mangansakan have also been cited for their attention-grabbing and distinguished films dealing with Mindanawon realities.  And now comes, a younger Mindanawon filmmaker who is following the footsteps of Dayoc, Mardoquio and Mangansakan.

With TU PUG IMATUY (THE RIGHT TO KILL, Arbi Barbarona who hails from Davao City, could follow the same route. Already the film won as Best Film at the Quezon City  Cinema filmfest early this year.

This is not Barbarona’s first film.  He has directed a few more films including a number of short films.

Barbarona (as both Arbi and Arnel)  is that rare filmmaker, as one can see in the credits above. Not only is he the director of this film, but he also assisted in the cinematography, did the editing and sound scoring, as well as took care of its musical score. He is also one of the film’s producers. The only major task in the film that he did not undertake was to play the lead part (a temptation usually for quite a number of Hollywood movie actors turn directors).

This is truly an indicator that Barbarona is an accomplished filmmaker.  Having honed himself in terms of the art and techniques of cinematography and editing, Barbarona was poised to become a good film director. With Tu Pug, Barbarona demonstrates  his range of talents and skills in filmmaking.  One will not be surprised if this film will be considered by the Urian critics for the awards in 2018.

The film is riveting; the viewer’s full attention from the opening to the closing frame does  not waver.  One’s gaze at the screen is fixed through all the scenes, even as some of these assault the senses in terms of the graphic display of violence and degradation.  The viewers  are bombarded with images that penetrate their hearts yielding a range of emotions from anger at those who can just so easily violate the rights of the weak to pity for the victims to fear of how these same scenes are still occurring until today. On the other hand, the mind is gripped with disturbing thoughts as to how this situation unfolded in the uplands and which continue to be  echoed in today’s headlines both in mass and social media.

The film’s credit indicates that its story line is based on true events that unfolded in the uplands at the boundary of Bukidnon and Davao – the location of the Matigsalug’s ancestral domain in 2014. It follows the life of a Matigsalug nuclear family occurring during a few days of that year.  New People’s Army (NPA) rebels continued to locate themselves within this Lumad territory. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) also continued to pursue them in terms of its guerilla war against the rebels by engaging them in a  jungle warfare in a landscape where forests had disappeared owing to massive logging operations and are now being explored for purposes of mining.

Dawin and Obunay are parents of three young children living in this remote upland area. Hunger stalks the land as food becomes scarce even if they continue to gather food including trapping wild boars through holes with pointed bamboo sticks. As the wild pigs fall into the holes, they are not only trapped but are killed as their bodies hit the sharp sticks.  The first tragedy takes place with the death of their youngest child who earlier got sick. Securing mongo beans in the main village where the datu resides, Dawin and his two surviving children are arrested on the spot by a squad of fully armed military men.

Upon suspicion that Dawin knows where the rebels hide, the soldiers force him  to bring them to their hide-out. But along the way, his wife also gets arrested. Both are then tied together as they are forced to lead the soldiers further into the rebel territory.  However, along the way, the soldiers needed to entertain themselves at the mercy of the couple whom they forced to copulate in front of them after stripping them of their clothes (a clear metaphor of stripping them of their human dignity). These are frightful and harrowing scenes, graphically shown on the screen. Ironically, the scene unfolds amidst the beauty of a waterfalls with pristine waters sparkling in the glow of moonlight.

Finally they reach the part where the soldiers claim that they had found proof of the rebels’ presence, namely the existence of  a one-room  Lumad school where mothers and their children attend classes conducted by a literacy teacher. Accused of being a communist front, the teacher and the parents are harassed and made to be captives with the teacher tied to a post. As evening approaches and the soldiers all sleep without any one watching over the captives, Obunay manages to free herself and gets all of them freed. She and Dawin also make an attempt to escape but are immediately caught again by the soldiers who managed to wake up in the middle of the night.

This leads to the tragic killing of Dawin. The rebels then engage the soldiers in a gunfight, as Obunay escapes. But one part of the squad pursues her. Having mobilized her courage and astuteness, Obunay leads them to the hole meant for wild boars. What happened then provides the final frames of this film.  But as credits roll, the real Obunay appears in a documentary short footage retelling the events that took place in 2014, providing the film its powerful ending.

There are many elements that constitute the high aesthetics of this film.  The cinematography is quite impressive, considering the limitations of the film’s budget.  A number of scenes needed to be shot at night, but the images remain clear.  The camera provides details of life in the uplands from the crawling insects to the ferns whose leaves laden with the early morning dew sparkle in the early sunlight. The sounds of the forests are well-recorded and provide the needed atmosphere to establish the film’s space and time constructs. Part of the musical scoring are indigenous chants that are echoed across mountain ranges. Efforts were made to provide sub-titles,  but unfortunately some of the chants have no sub-titles.

Considering that Barbarona’s main cast are Matigsalug themselves who are amateur actors, one can only have high praises as to the manner that he gets them to act as naturally as possible. The two main leads Malona Sulatan (Obunay) and  Jong Monzon (Dawin) are most impressive not only because they are Lumad themselves but the manner they walk, talk and emote are what one observes while inter-acting with the Lumad. Sulatan especially has the talent to show deep emotions and acts with a sense of confidence, having truly energized the core identity of Obunay. How her face mirrors the pain of being violated as a woman is heartbreaking. Even as she is forced to walk around naked, she retains her sense of personhood and dignity. And one could tell that before the film ends, she would be astute enough to find a way to save her life while exacting the just revenge against her oppressors.

The film while documenting events three years ago remains very relevant in view of the recent pronouncements of President Duterte to bomb Lumad schools for being “communist fronts.”  Thus the film ended, but its reality persists. Life, indeed, imitates art. [MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Redemptorist Brother Karl Gaspar is Academic Dean of the Redemptorists’ St. Alphonsus Theological and Mission Institute (SATMI) in Davao City and a professor of Anthropology at the Ateneo de Davao University. He is author of several books and writes two columns for  MindaNews, one in English (A Sojourner’s Views) and the other in Binisaya (Panaw-Lantaw)

BOOK REVIEW. Panagkutay: Bringing us right into the Lumad lifeworld
Levy L. Lanaria, Ph.D. A.Th.

TITLE: Panagkutay: Anthropology & Theology Interfacing in Mindanao Uplands (The Lumad Homeland)
Author: Karl M. Gaspar, CSsR
Publisher: Institute of Spirituality in Asia, 2017

(This review by Levy L .Lanaria, Ph.D A.Th., faculty member at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies of the University of San Carlos in Cebu City, was read for him by an MA Anthropology student during the book launch of “Panagkutay” at the Ateneo de Davao University on August 4, 2017)

When Brother Karl invited me to do a review on his most recent book Panagkutay I promptly gave my nod.  Indeed, it would be a great honor on my part to do it for an icon in the area of Christian social activism and pastoral-educational ministry. Thank you, Brother for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts and sentiments on another remarkable literary work. This is a work that is grounded on the “joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties” of our indigenous brothers and sisters. Thank you too for bringing the Lumads closer to my consciousness in a way that challenges me to go into some sort of soul searching as an academic.

Bro. Karl’s engaging and challenging book is about his personal-professional experiences and empathetic reflections as an anthropologist-theologian-religious brother with one of the most vulnerable sectors in the country. Hence it is most fitting and proper that he dedicates the book to all the Lumads whom, in his own words, he has encountered across Mindanao in the last 50 years of his life. That’s a great 70% deal of his life outdistancing the number of years he has been a Redemptorist brother! When you read Panagkutay you get connected as well with the author’s autobiography of his public ministry.

I must confess that the Lumads have been almost entirely invisible to my academic radar. My knowledge of development aggression historically rooted in the colonial era that has victimized many a community was very limited – until I read Bro. Karl’s informative/educational literary work. In many history books written by local historians and used as school textbooks they are, in fact, virtually anonymous. This book gives face, flesh and life to their deplorable condition of depravity, sufferings, and pains but also of their struggles and small successes in reclaiming what historically belongs to them. The interdisciplinary work is worth three units in one semester.

The book takes off not from a polished academic runway but from the rough grounds of a very personal pad, certainly very anthropological still and political, which exposes the deep affective involvement of Bro. Karl with his Lumad partners. This is heavy reading, not in terms of the concepts expounded and idioms used but of being vicariously weighed down by the author’s disappointments and frustrations. Sapagkat siya ay tao lamang.  Brother has seen it all: both external and internal factors/forces that had converged to render the struggle for self-determination almost an impossible dream.  Make no mistake about it. The lament that he unabashedly expressed in Chapter 1 is his calculated way of disallowing the utopian illusion to sap his human spirit and religious energy.  For this he wrote the chapter as “an antidote” to his “tendencies at times to romanticize his engagements with the Lumads.” Writing is therapeutic.

Chapter 2 brings us right into the Lumad lifeworld highlighting the urgent issues confronting the indigenous peoples which previous administrations failed to address seriously and consistently. Brother hopes that the current administration (Aquino at the time of the writing) “will do much more.” Today it is Duterte’s. The government must be there but he adds that “in the end, it will be the Lumads themselves who will determine their future.” This early the book serves notices that patronizing and paternalizing approach and attitudes are a no-no to the long-term project of empowerment. The chapter brings closer the major concerns of the Lumads to the readers.

The entire book particularly this chapter brings to light the kind of anthropologist-activist Brother is. His advocacy of self-determination with theoretical underpinning in the post-modern concept of identity politics is a form of self-disclosure. His approach is not to come from a position of superiority but as a dialogue partner with a people who have the right to chart their own future and map out the means on how to get there without losing their shared cultural identity. This is demanded by the ethnographic approach that he has intentionally adopted as an anthropologist-researcher. He refers to it as “experiential participation.” This is, in his words, “pushing to a higher level the method of participant observation.”  In more concrete terms, Bro. Karl would enter Lumad territories not so much as a researcher “but as someone present among them to share their griefs and pains, hopes and joys, and whenever the opportunity arises, to be of service in whatever way (he) can but always from their perspective.” Indeed, he was careful that he would not force his thoughts and ideas on the Lumad but “to dialogue with them towards agreeing with them on what was needed to be done.” This dialogical approach is easier said than done for in ethnographic studies should not the deeply involved researcher in pursuit of truth and knowledge maintain some affective distance from the subjects of his/her study lest his analysis and judgement falls prey to unwarranted subjectivism? Apparently, Bro. Karl succeeded in striking the balance not without much reflexive thinking while maintaining his non-neutral political stance.

Chapter 3 puts in a diachronic element to the Lumads’ struggle for self-determination to complement the synchronic in his work. It provides the historical backdrop to their tragic loss of ownership and control over their ancestral territories from Spanish to American to Japanese to American colonization. This portion of the book is a must reading for those of us who possess only a surface knowledge of our indigenous brothers’ and sisters’ situation of depravity. The pockets of rebellion and resistance (ideologically directed or not) can only be adequately understood by those of us outsiders if we take seriously their colonial and neo-colonial provenance. Threatening to bomb a Lumad school is rubbing salt to injury and betrays an unhealthy ahistorical mindset and gross insensitivity to a people long oppressed, long marginalized, long excluded.

What follows all in Chapter 4 is a case study of the Lumad communities in the municipality of Jose Abad Santos of the province of Davao Occidental.  The ethnographic study is another eye-opener and heart-breaker. It is a report of the saga of the Lumads’ uphill struggle to claim their ancestral lands inspired by the assistance of concerned partner-groups and reinforced by the historic enactment of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) in 1997.  Sadly, the political landscape did not change much to improve the people’s lot. As one author puts it and this is worth re-quoting: their lives have “remained stubbornly, frustratingly unchanged.” Bro. Karl shares with us the key reason to the utter lack of progress as pinpointed by Gatmaytan (I find this very interesting): the misconception of equating a land tenure title with autonomy. Autonomy is the core issue traceable to the “historical reality of unequal treatment and relations between the State and the indigenous peoples.”

Chapter 5 is an attempt to bridge anthropology and theology, thus the work’s title panagkutay (“to connect”).  This is the part of the book including the subsequent chapter that most interests me as a theologian. Many of us here probably know that for so many centuries the classical theology of the past had privileged philosophy as its dialogue partner, never mind if the relationship is asymmetrical:  philosophy as ancilla theologiae (handmaiden of theology). But that is beside the point. Vatican Council gave official impetus to many contextual theologians to enter into a respectful conversation with human and social sciences. The Aggiornamento (“a bringing up to date”) Vatican II Council   insists on a Church that is humble, listening and dialogical – a Church that does not pretend to know all the answers to the complex questions of modern men and women.  In view of this, “Christians are joined with the rest of men and women in the search for truth, and for the genuine solution to the numerous problems which arise in the life of individuals and from social relationships” (GS 16).  Ours is a complex world of myriad problems that the quest for truth and for solution points to the need for theology to enter into a dialogue not only with philosophy but with other sciences. The recognition of the value of the sciences is taken for granted in the liberation theologians’ popular use of the “see-judge-act” pastoral cycle/spiral approach. Bro. Karl employs precisely the pastoral framework in his conceptual and practical engagement as a theologian-activist while tapping the insights of both anthropology-sociology and philosophy.

The chapter focuses the lens on how the local church got involved in the highly contested political space of the uplands. The book traces the church’s shifts in approach in its pastoral ministry with the Lumads. From the traditional proselytization practice, it moved to conscientization and organizing for the Lumads to resist State aggression, then slowly and gradually shifted to inculturation. The seed of inculturation had been officially sown in Vatican II. The discourse on inculturation in the 1970s received a boost from the Federation of the Asian Bishops’ Conferences with its advocacy of an indigenous and inculturated Church.  In Mindanao, it would take a while before the seed would sprout. Bro. Karl attributes the very slow reception of the cultural approach to the privileging of the liberational project by the church and its pastoral workers. It was only towards the end of the millennium, according to him, that the church showed greater concern towards inculturation.

A notable development presented by the book was the ecumenical collaboration between Catholics and Protestants to respond to the needs of the Lumad and Moro communities and the realization that Christians must be more sensitive to the IP’s perspective of life and struggle and not impose outside ideas. This view could have been pursued but this had to wait as there was an attempt to contextualize the liberation theology which resulted in the formulation of the theology of struggle.

In time, the sharp militant edge of the IPA network’s liberation theology dissipated. The Vatican II statements on culture and faith were given theological articulations by contextual theologians. The Marxist tradition which informed the liberational project was criticized for its anthropocentric bias anchored on “foreign symbols and values in the name of a universality that was quite destructive of indigenous cultures” (Mcdonaugh).

The discourse on inculturation now began to make, as it were, to gather momentum. The Episcopal Commission on Indigenous Peoples in 1992 and 2010 affirmed the principle and approach of inculturation privileging the rubric of self-determination under the general matrix of total human liberation or integral evangelization.  For its part, the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines expressed “inculturation at the core” in terms of listening, learning their languages, denouncing transgressors, recognizing the sacred. In fact, there has been an abundance of literature about inculturation. Unfortunately, church rhetoric in the observation of Bro. Karl did not translate into a vigorous push by church workers for inculturation, including an inculturated liturgy. There was just little institutional support.  The author laments further that the great majority of writers are merely “talking” rather than “walking” about inculturation.

Here Bro. Karl appeals for a collaborative effort among church people who have training in philosophy, anthropology, theology, religious and cultural studies to reflect on the lessons that need to be articulated in the field of inculturation and then to formulate approaches that are practical for workers in this field. The kind of inculturation that Bro advocates does not shunt the emancipatory project of liberation theology. While a lover of theology of liberation, his keen reading of the signs of the times aided significantly by his continual readings as an academician opened his critical mind to the limits and shortcomings of liberation theology. On the other hand, he could not accept an exclusivist notion of identity politics divorced from the basic concerns and needs of peoples. His synthetic stance has been shaped by the probing insights and critical ideas of thinkers-writers from the West (Lynch, Mejido, Zizek), from Africa (Oduyeye, Ukpong), and from Asia (Pieris).   Quoting the western thinker-writer Mejido, there is a need to “fuse the symbolic-cultural and the material-economic.” He further anchors his conviction on Pieris’ thoughts on the Asian reality as an interplay of Religiousness and Poverty. For the Asian theologian inculturation and liberation are two names of the same process.

Panagkutay pinpoints popular religion or folk religiosity as a possible stage of an inculturated theological work. To quote him: “One looks forward to a Filipino theologian who would engage the text of Reynaldo Ileto’s Pasyon and Revolution: Populist Movements in the Philippines 1840-1910 and formulate a theological reading which highlights how the Pasyon narrative appropriated by poor peasants was inculturated in the context of a revolutionary agenda.” The book does not mention that there is at least one Filipino theologian by the name of Jose de Mesa, who has, in fact, tapped the liberationist insights of Ileto’s Pasyon in his attempt to construct an inculturated theological discourse using the rich native concept of Loob. He is just one of the few theologians in the country whose passion to pursue the project of inculturation mostly in the sphere of language (footnote: inculturation is not a monochromatic concept) is known by those who were under his mentorship. Unfortunately, frail health has caught up with the Filipino theologian-advocate of inculturation. How many centers of theological studies really offer extensive and intensive training program on inculturation? Individual initiatives are hard to come by, let alone sustain, unless supported by institutional superstructure. But first some kind of paradigm shift must happen in pastoral and theological thinking. Quo vadis ecclesia?

Chapter 6 is a fresh re-iteration and further elaboration of the author’s attempt to engage anthropology and theology in mutual interaction with each other. Martial law was a blessing in disguise because both disciplines came ‘face-to-face’ with each other as academic partners-in-dialogue to make sense of the centuries-old oppression, marginalization, and now exclusion of the indigenous peoples in Mindanao and forge an alliance with an intentionally prescriptive orientation. Marcos’ hegemonic rule made concerned theologians and church workers, including Brother Karl, engaged in indigenous peoples ministry discard the traditional value-free, objectivist and positivist position. Anthropology-cum-theology shifted from merely being descriptive to insistently being prescriptive (reminiscent of Marx’s challenge to philosophy to “change the world”). The shift occurred not without tension in the anthropologist-theologian Karl. He took pains to underscore the normative task inherent of theology, one that envisions a “praxis that more fully embodies the Christian faith and more meaningfully expresses that faith” in terms of the people’s perspectives and capacities.” While at it, he issues a warning: an uncritical appropriation of the social sciences runs the risk of denying “the very principles on which they (theologians) operate and turn them, as Berger suggests, into agents of propaganda” (Gaspar). Anthropology and theology are certainly autonomous disciplines distinguishable from each other, but theology is not subsumable by anthropology.

Post-modern anthropology’s option for identity politics underscoring the cultural constitution of the Lumad communities impacted theology. It turned to culture as a legitimate locus and source of theological reflection and discourse not to blunt but precisely to sharpen the emancipatory design of liberation theology. Here again Bro. Karl is not indulging in arbitrary thinking; in his evolving synthetic anthropological-theological and liberationist-inculturated discourse he has found theoretical frameworks in the writings of theologians like Lonergan, Tracy, Gittins, Arbuckle (who himself is an anthropologist), Gustavo and other Latin American theologians, Pieris, Phan, Berker, Douglas, Geertz, Witvleit, Asad). I remember him telling us his fellow theologians during our annual conference in 2013 in Butuan that he began with social action or practical engagement with the people and later on felt the need for theoretical frameworks to serve as privileged hermeneutical lens in his social-cultural engagement with the indigenous peoples. The social activist has become more scientific; in the see-judge-act method social action needs the insights coming from the academe.

Certainly, one can never accuse Bro. Karl of being an armchair theologian or academic. Many theologians live their academic life safely ensconced in ivory tower so that their theology is not necessarily their spirituality. I must remind myself. The editor’s characterization of Brother’s work as a spirituality book (Fr. Ponce calls it the “spirituality of connecting,” in rhythm with panagkutay) conjures an image of a social activist whose theology is his spirituality. Another point worth noting is that the author’s journey is marked by a number of conceptual shifts in his thinking and approach in dealing with the Lumads: from exclusively political to inclusively cultural, from traditional missiological model of translation (from a position of superiority) to a missiological model that is inculturated (from the perspective of partnership of equals). Indeed, it is worth repeating that Bro. Karl’s book reveals a theologian who has been most attentive to the signs of the times. Under the current administration that is showing no signs of promise in taking up very seriously the Lumad’s uphill struggle for self-determination, I am sure Brother will pursue his project of inculturation with dogged determination and unshakeable faith in the God of history that he has been despite numerous setbacks.

Let me bring to a close my review parallel to how Bro. Karl ended his book.  As the anthropologist opened his book with a lament, he ends it by a ringing appeal in his Epilogue addressed to all of us: “it is my hope that this book reminds us that the situation is desperate and that time is no longer on our side.” Take it from a post-modern prophet who listens, writes, talks, and walks.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/14 August) – Hopes for peace remain alive because President Rodrigo R. Duterte is “not the type of a person who immediately closes his mind and heart to everything” when it comes to the peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front, former Gabriela representative Luz Ilagan said Monday.

“When he was our mayor, we knew that it was always peace that was the centerpiece of his program. His political agenda always revolved around peace. So, I think if the President is able to come up with actions that will make us go through or continue the negotiations, I believe it is because not only does he want peace in our country but I believe he can make it his legacy, the legacy of his administration” said Ilagan.

Ilagan is a member of the reciprocal working group on social and economic reforms and political and constitutional reforms of the government (GRP) peace panel.

In a press conference Monday, she expressed optimism negotiations with the NDF will resume because “we need to talk” to end Asia’s longest-running communist insurgency.

“Hope springs eternal,” Ilagan said even as Duterte had declared he would no longer negotiate with the NDF.

She said the people should learn to keep the “attitude that while there is life, there is hope.”

She said Duterte is the only president who has brought the negotiations to a fifth round and it even touched partly on social and economic reforms before hitting another impasse.

“PNoy (President Benigno Aquino III) hanggang round (round) two lang. It was easy for the previous administration to drop the talks if they encountered a problem,” she said.

No official termination of talks

Duterte earlier told NDF consultants who were released on bail “to surrender or we will hunt them down.”

But GRP chief peace negotiator Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the NDF consultants may not be rearrested because the 1995 Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) is still in effect as the talks have not been officially terminated.

JASIG guarantees immunity from “surveillance, harassment, search, arrest, detention, prosecution and interrogation or any other similar punitive actions due to any involvement or participation in the peace negotiations. The immunity guarantees shall cover all acts and utterances made in the course of and pursuant to the purposes of the peace negotiations.”

Bello said no written notice of termination, which will take effect after 30 days upon receipt by their NDF counterparts, has been submitted.

He said they are still awaiting instructions from Duterte on the next steps after he called the communists “enemies of the state” during his second State of the National Address last July 24.

He said there is no sign that Duterte would change his stance on the peace talks with the communists.

“You heard the president. There is no more peace talk. He has already made his point very clear. He said, ‘no more talks with CPP-NPA-NDF,’ “he said.

Lumads “alarmed”

In a joint statement last month, PASAKA Confederation of Lumad and Save Our Schools Network said the “Lumads will lose their lives, homes, schools, their ancestral lands, and even their future if Duterte pushes through with the cancellation of the peace talks to give way to an all-out-war.”

“Has President Duterte lost his heart for the Lumad of Mindanao?,” it said.

It said they have considered Duterte an ally when he was mayor of Davao, and were “grateful to him how he listened to our appeals to withdraw military and paramilitary elements in our school and communities, and how he helped facilitate our safe return to our homes.”

“Now, his all-out-war, martial law extension, and recent pronouncements have alarmed us. In a time of conflict, such declarations that further incite war will put the whole country, especially Mindanao, in a disastrous path,” it said.

It said violations against the rights of indigenous peoples have worsened and accused the military of committing 20 attacks against their schools.

“Teachers and parents were illegally detained, others have barely survived murder attempts from paramilitary troops, and nearly 800 students and teachers were forced to leave their communities,” it added.

It said the militants “are disheartened with his (Duterte) recent stance of only looking at the loss of soldiers from his side.  What about us Lumads, Moro and peasants who have lost many of our leaders and members in the course of the all-out war and continuing plunder of our lands?” (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/31 August) – Tribal leaders are planning to establish peace sanctuaries within their ancestral domains in Mindanao that they hope the military and the New People’s Army (NPA) will acknowledge even if peace negotiations between the government and communist leaders won’t resume.

In a press conference Wednesday at the Mergrande Ocean Resort, Talomo District, Alim Bandara, Timuay Supreme Council on Justice and Governance of the Teduray-Lambiangan tribe in Upi, Maguindanao, said the Lumads need peace sanctuaries because it’s them who bear the brunt of the armed conflict.

He said the cancellation of the fifth round of talks between government (GRP) and National Democratic Front (NDF) in the Netherlands saddened them because they were hoping a bilateral ceasefire agreement would be forged.

He said this prompted them to gather tribal leaders in conflict areas around Mindanao to hatch peace sanctuaries that will be off-limits to armed encounters.

He said the wants the peace sanctuaries established instead “kung hindi man kakayanin ng estado tsaka CPP-NPA na magkaroon ng kasunduan para ihinto ang kaguluhan (if the government and CPP-NPA could not arrive at an agreement to stop the armed conflict).”

Bandara said they plan to sit down with leaders of the Lumad Mindanao Peoples Federation, Mindanao IP Forum and Katawhang Lumad under Mindanao People’s Peace Movement to plan out the peace sanctuaries that will be presented to Indigenous Peoples peace panel chair Atty. Reuben Lingating before December.

He added they will negotiate with tribal leaders who are identified with the NPA because “halos walang natirang IP community na walang NPA (there’s almost no IP community left without NPA presence) as far as Mindanao is concerned.”

“Ang pagkakaunawa ko dun nasa discussion level pa sila (I understand they are still on the discussion level and they intend to submit it to the panel that I represent in the GRP-IP peace panel. So whatever that is, perhaps we can take that and engage them in-depth in the concept and then we will help in a way OPAPP (Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process) can do,” Lingating said.

The government has its limitations, you cannot just go across the table,” he explained.

He said that “peace sanctuaries are a new concept” that would provide shelter to IPs who have been caught in the crossfire between the military and the NPA.

He acknowledged that conflicts among IPs emerged because some would side with the military and others with the NPA but “they do not forget the fact that they belong to one big family.”

“What they are, in fact, saying is maybe these families can talk without interventions with the government, military. They just talk it over and they will establish the peace sanctuary that even if soldiers and NPAs would fight it out, these areas will be spared,” he said.

He said the Lumad leaders would try to resolve the internal conflicts through the “traditional conflict resolution mechanism” that has been recognized by the indigenous communities.

Alim said IP communities have their own traditional justice system that would be enough to address conflicts, such as “rido” or family feud.

He said peace zones had been established in the past by government and rebel forces but it did not succeed as the conflicts persisted.

Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza said what would make the peace sanctuaries different this time is that it will be the IPs who will decide on it without intervention by external groups.

“The big difference is that peace sanctuaries are initiated by themselves, by the Lumads, and then they see to it that they will find the mechanisms to make it work in their own indigenous way,” he said. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews / 5 Sep) – A military official operating in Region 12 has confirmed reports that some of the schools run by the indigenous peoples (IPs) are being used as “tool for propaganda” by the New Peoples’ Army (NPA).

Col. Roberto Angcan, commander of the Army’s 1002nd Infantry Brigade, said these lumad schools are located in remote villages in the region, especially in the hinterlands.

Angcan, however, refused to identify these schools.

He denied allegations by progressive groups hurled against the Army that his troops have been harassing and threatening IP schools in the region.

They were also accused of bombing IP schools in Sultan Kudarat province.

“That is a lie. We don’t attack schools. We only run after armed men who belong to terror groups,” Angcan said in an interview over the Catholic-run DXND.

This, he stressed, is despite the order coming from the Department of Education that they would check on schools that are accredited, registered, or licensed with the department.

“In my [area of responsibility], there are schools being built in the hinterlands. If these are legal institutions and authorized by the DepEd, then, they should not be afraid,” he said. (Malu Cadelina Manar / MindaNews)