DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/15 July) – Around 1,100 Lumad students affected by the suspension order issued last Friday against 55 schools operated by the Salugpongan Ta’ Tanu Igkanogon Community Learning Center Inc. will be accommodated in public schools, the Department of Education (DepEd) in Davao Region assured on Monday.

DepEd-Region 11 spokesperson Jenielito Atillo told a press conference they had already directed the Salugpongan to facilitate the transfer of the students from their campuses in different provinces in Davao Region to the nearest public schools.

He said the new public schools, built in Lumad communities, had been instructed to accommodate Lumad children even if they could not present requirements for admission.

“We will also be doing everything that we can do just to make sure that all of these children will be accepted. We will accept them even without credentials. Basta mo-ingon sila nga gikan koana nga schools (For as long they say they come from those schools, no question asked, we will accept them),” he said.

Atillo said a total of 144 schools in different Lumad communities catering to 9,111 students had been built as of July 15, 2019. Of the total, 32 schools are in Davao Oriental, 8 in Compostela Valley, 43 in Davao Del Norte, 20 in Davao Occidental and 41 Davao City.

He said DepEd-Region 11 would also welcome the teachers from the Salugpongan to apply as public school teachers but they would be subject to the regular application process as other applicants.

“We will be very willing to cater to them as applicants kay dili man pud pwede i-shortcut kay diha sila gikan og naapektuhan sila gumikan sa maong suspension og atoa balion ang policy, dili pud na pwede (we cannot shorten the application in their favor. We cannot change the policy just because they are affected. It cannot be),” he said.

Citing the report submitted by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., DepEd regional director Evelyn R. Fetalvero said in her July 10 order that the Salugpongan schools had been suspended for failing to teach in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the DepEd, using the children in rallies, and teaching the pupils an anti-government ideology.

Fetalvero was acting on the report submitted by Esperon, also the vice chair of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, which was accompanied by an affidavit from a certain Melvin M. Loyod, who claimed to have volunteered as a teacher at Salugpongan in Sitio Pongpong, Barangay Sto. Niño, Talaingod, Davao Del Norte after graduating Grade 12.

All pending applications for renewal of the government permits of the Salugpongan are likewise suspended, according to Atillo.

He said Salugpongan had been ordered to submit a “show cause” within five days upon receipt of the order or until July 17, explaining why their permit to operate should not be revoked.

Atty. Arvin Antonio V. Ortiz, DepEd-Region 11 legal officer, said “show cause” gave the Salugpongan an opportunity to respond to the allegations of the military before coming out with a decision whether to close the schools or not.

He said failure to submit an explanation will force the agency to “decide on the matter on the basis of available evidence” presented to the DepEd by the military.

On Sunday, the Save Our Schools (SOS) Network expressed alarm over the suspension of the 55 Salugpongan schools on the basis of a military report.

The group said it was appalled by how DepEd had “reduced itself as a stamp pad for the military who have targeted the closure of Lumad schools in Mindanao” by failing to protect and uphold the children’s right to education.

It added the SOS criticized Education Secretary Leonor Briones for not accepting their invitation to hold a dialogue with the school representatives to know the plight of the Lumad.

“We are surprised to receive this order as we have been persistent in complying with all the necessary requirements stated in the guidelines for schools for indigenous people and are in constant communication with the DepEd Region 11 Office regarding the release of our permit to operate,” the Salugpongan Learning Center said in its Facebook page on Saturday.

It said it will “challenge the accusations made by Esperon which served as basis for DepEd’s order. Mr. Esperon has again resorted to fabricated accusations and red-tagging to justify the closure of Lumad schools.”

It said it will appeal the suspension of the 55 schools within the five days given to them by DepEd.

“We are saddened that the government’s mandate to recognize and uphold the right of the Lumad to education and self-determination is superseded by a militaristic approach that further marginalizes the Lumad.

“Education is an issue that directly concerns the public. We appeal to the public to support the Lumad children and their right to education and to oppose the injustice depriving them of this right,” it added. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)

DAVAO CITY – The government will set aside P500 million for the construction of new schools in far-flung areas to bring educational services closer to Lumad children, according to Allan Capuyan, executive director of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

Capuyan said this in an open forum during the “Tatak ng Pagbabago 2019: The Pre-SONA Forum” held at the SMX Convention Center Davao on Wednesday in response to the question of Datu George Mandahay on government efforts to close schools that are allegedly teaching their students communism.

The announcement came days after the Department of Education-Region 11 suspended 55 schools of Salugpongan Ta’ Tanu Igkanogon Community Learning Center for Lumad children in the Davao Region for alleged links to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army.

Mandahay, an Obu-Manuvu from Davao City, is a member of the  Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Council of Elders and Leaders, an organization allied with the government.

The tribal leader claimed that the “legitimate indigenous councils” no longer wanted the Salugpongan, Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and livelihood Development, Inc. (ALCADEV), Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur (TRIFPSS Inc.) and Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation Inc. (MISFI) to operate in their communities.

He alleged that these schools are teaching the lumad children how to assemble firearms and fight the government.

“If you were to ask us, we no longer want them. We need to close the Salugpongan. That’s our question, what can the government do about it?” he said.

Capuyan said that many schools managed by ALCADEV, TRIFPSS, and MISFI had been shut down in Agusan and Surigao provinces on the same grounds and, in some instances, the community leaders themselves with the local government  took the initiative to padlock these institutions.

“Ibang grupo katulad ng ALCADEV, TRIFPSS, and MISFI, lalo na sa Agusan at Surigao ito ay marami ng nasara. Maingat lang po ang ating pamahalaan (Other groups like ALCADEV, TRIFPSS, and MISFI, particularly in Agusan and Surigao provinces, many had been closed. The government is just careful),” he said.

DepEd-Region 11 issued last Friday an order suspending the “permit to operate” of 55 Salugpongan schools across the Davao region catering to Lumad or indigenous peoples.

Dr. Evelyn Fetalvero, Officer-in-charge Regional Director of DepEd Region 11 issued the order based on an instruction of Education Secretary Leonor Briones to suspend schools that are operating only with a permit for their recognition status.

The suspension order was also based on allegations by National Security Adviser Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr. that the schools were teaching students to rebel against the government and using children for rallies.

Meggie Nolasco, the school’s executive director, called the suspension order irregular and illegal.

“We are surprised to receive this order as we have been persistent in complying with all the necessary requirements stated in the guidelines for schools for indigenous people and are in constant communication with the DepEd Region 11 Office regarding the release of our permit to operate,” the Salugpongan said in its Facebook page over the weekend.

“We are saddened that the government’s mandate to recognize and uphold the right of the Lumad to education and self-determination is superseded by a militaristic approach that further marginalizes the Lumad.

“Education is an issue that directly concerns the public. We appeal to the public to support the Lumad children and their right to education and to oppose the injustice depriving them of this right,” it added.

DepEd-11 gave Salugpongan until July 22 to answer to the allegations hurled against them.

Capuyan said Education Secretary Leonor Briones and Esperson agreed to work for the construction of new school buildings to replace those that had been closed to accommodate the displaced students. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 1 Aug) – The Department of Education (DepEd) in the Davao Region has created a five-man investigating panel that will look into the allegations of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon against the Salugpongan Ta’ Tanu Igkanogon Community Learning Center, Inc., which runs several schools in the region.

DepEd-Davao spokesperson Jenielito Atillo said in an interview on Thursday that the panel members will look at the issues hurled at the school “from all angles,” taking into account the side of the military and the response of the school officials to the complaints.

“This five-man team is tasked to look at all angles, gather everything that we will be able to gather, which will serve as basis for our decision later. We would like to stress that we are giving everybody here the opportunity to ventilate their views and opinions and their sides,” he said.

Atillo assured that the panel, composed of DepEd officials, would be impartial “in dealing with the issues” and free from the influence of “people from the outside,” assuring that the agency will come up with a fair and balanced decision.

Last July 10, DepEd-Davao director Evelyn R. Fetalvero issued a suspension order against the Salugpongan schools on the grounds cited in the complaints filed by Esperon, among them failing to teach in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the DepEd, using the children in rallies, and teaching the pupils ideologies that advocate against the government.

The agency asked the school to submit a show cause and extended the deadline for another five days from July 17 to July 22. Salugpongan complied at 2:29 p.m. on the last day, according to Atillo.

He said the panel had been studying the response of the school, “juxtaposing it with allegations imputed against them by Secretary Esperon himself, and the affidavit of a certain Lumad, Melvin M. Loyod,” who claimed to have volunteered as a teacher at Salugpongan in Sitio Pongpong, Barangay Sto. Niño, Talaingod, Davao Del Norte after graduating Grade 12.

Atillo said they plan to hold dialogues with school officials and other parties involved, including the tribe in the community and the military before coming out with a decision.

“Aside from the response of the Salugpongan that we received already, we are also devising a scheme to involve all other concerned individuals and groups. We will not be only limited to the complaints of Gen. Esperon, we will not only be limited to the response of Salugpongan,” he said.

Atillo said there is no target date as to when the agency completes the investigation but he hopes to get it done in the “soonest possible time” to avoid compromising the schooling of the Lumad children. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)

GOVERNOR GENEROSO, Davao Oriental (MindaNews/06 August) – This coastal town used to be called Sigaboy, a name that has remained widely used by both locals and outsiders. The word came from “siga”, short for almaciga, so called for its resin that serves as fuel, and “boy” to refer to the boys who would carry the resin harvested from the tree and sell it in the lowlands. For years, it served as a livelihood for many families.

However, since harvesting almaciga resin would take days and the local market (read Chinese buyers) offered little returns, upland residents, mostly Mandaya and Manobo Lumad and some Bisaya locals, shifted to cutting forest trees for firewood and charcoal.

“During Christmases and enrolment time many of them would cut trees. Since this meant risking arrest by environment officials and law enforcers it didn’t become a steady source of income. Besides, prices for fuelwood were also low,” former mayor and now Vice Mayor Vicente Orencia said.

Their constant bout with poverty often led many Lumad to line up outside Orencia’s home to beg for money and other forms of assistance. Another thing that worried the official was the prospect of losing the forests of Mount Hamiguitan, a protected area which was added to the World Heritage List in 2014, and with it the culture of its indigenous inhabitants.

People’s survival equals forest preservation

Aware of the natural abundance of almaciga (Agathis philippinensis) in Governor Generoso and the market potential of resin, Orencia thought it would make an excellent alternative livelihood for forest dwellers, as it will leave the forests intact. He started working on this project since 2007 with Joey Gamao, the municipal tourism officer, as his focal person.

“I had three purposes in mind when I embarked on this project – poverty reduction, preservation of Lumad culture and forest protection to help address climate change,” Orencia said.

“Now no Lumad has come to me to ask for medicines and other needs. They’re grateful [for the project]. Every time they come down to sell their product they can now buy rice, sugar, salt. They no longer cut trees.

“Of course, they plant coffee and corn. But since they have to wait for months before they can harvest they would cut trees while waiting. So we showed them a computation of how much they would spend and earn from cutting trees which requires a chainsaw compared to resin harvesting which doesn’t need capital,” he said.

Gamao said it was indeed the poverty among upland dwellers that inspired them to come up with a sustainable livelihood program that will leave the forest intact. He said law enforcement would not suffice to stop forest destruction. “We can only preserve the forest by helping the people,” he stressed.

“If we arrest them for cutting trees, they would tell us, ‘Sir, what will our family eat?’ Sometimes they would just eat twice a day, sometimes they had to be content with kamoteng kahoy (cassava),” he said.

He said the Lumad expressed willingness to cooperate with the local government’s plan but complained about the absence of support to wean them away from cutting trees. “They told me, ‘Maayo pa ang Philippine Eagle kay naay budget, kami nga tao wala’ (The Philippine Eagle is better off because it has a budget, we who are humans have none).”

The people’s misgiving about the plan found Gamao immersing for one month in one community after another to know their needs and to persuade them to support the mayor’s vision. At times it would mean bringing sacks of rice and other foodstuff for the people who had given up cutting trees, which meant loss of income.

“I made a personal sacrifice by using my own money at first because there were no other persons to rely on. We held training on the proper way to tap resin, contacted a buyer in Cebu with whom we directly deal with. No middleman is allowed so that prices won’t go down,” Orencia said. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno/MindaNews)

Sustainable income

GOVERNOR GENEROSO, Davao Oriental (MindaNews/08 August) – The Biodiversity Partnership Project covers 12 of the town’s 20 barangays namely, Sergio Osmeña, Tandang Sora, Upper Tibanban, Oregon, Tiblawan, Luzon, Surop, Tagabebe, Pundaguitan and Tamban.

It involves 121 households, each earning an average of 8,000 to 10,000 a month from tapping resin, according to Joey Gamao. “But it depends on your effort because one of the tappers told me he’s earning up to 18,000 pesos a month,” he said.

“If you have 200 trees, for example, this week you can tap 50, another 50 the next and so on. By the time you finish tapping the last 50 trees you can now harvest from the first 50 trees. Bigger trees yield more resin. You’d harvest an average of half a kilo per tree,” Gamao said, explaining the cycle.

Cebu-based CRU International Corp. buys the resin produced by the tappers at 20 pesos per kilo. The company wanted to buy 15 tons per month from them but at present they can only produce eight tons, he said.

He emphasized that the tappers receive the 20 pesos per kilo for their resin intact. CRU pays for the trucking and shipping cost, P1.50 per kilo fee to DENR and P.50 per kilo mobilization fund for the barangays. “If we add these amounts, each kilo of resin would cost 31 pesos.”

The municipal government currently earns no revenues from resin. “Buhion usa nato ang tawo,” (Let us first ensure the people’s survival) Vice Mayor Orencia said.

“Our model is easy: fast transaction for tappers, only a permit from the DENR is needed. What we did was organize them into a Lumad Almaciga Tappers Association of Governor Generoso. They are paid right after they bring their resin to the bodega where it is weighed,” he said.

“A paint manufacturer wants to buy from us because our resin is cleaner compared to Palawan’s. We don’t let the resin spill on the trunk and into the ground. We clean the trunk and then put cellophane that would catch the resin,” he said.

He added that buyers from Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore also showed interest to get resin from them.

But Gamao said the resin they produce at present is only 75-percent soluble, preventing them from commanding a higher price. To attain 95- to 100-percent solubility, he said they would need a melting machine.

“Once it becomes 100-percent soluble we can sell directly to Boysen. So I asked researchers to determine the location and soil type best suited to almaciga so we can achieve 100-percent solubility,” Orencia said.

Another source of income for the Lumad is almaciga seeds which the local government buys at 10 pesos each. “We have to give them incentives,” the official said.

The vice mayor said they previously used almaciga wildlings for their reforestation program but observed that these have a high mortality rate compared to seeds, which come out every September.

They had sent 1,000 seeds to Buda in Davao City where they are expected to grow fast due to the cool temperature and high elevation of the place. They are also expanding to Mati and Bansalan in Davao del Sur to cope with the growing demand for resin. Moreover, some Ata-Manobo from Paquibato district, also in Davao City, had trained in this town [in resin tapping].

“Every July 26 we hold a ritual in the mountain and then plant trees. After planting we would hold a tappers congress, a special day. That’s why some environmentalists are giving us attention because we plant almaciga yearly. We’re even rehabilitating an abandoned mining site,” Orencia said.

“I was invited to a Biodiversity Congress in 2016 and 2017. After my presentation the DENR said ‘Why didn’t you tell this to us earlier? We need that,’’’ Orencia said.

Last August 1, the town held its annual Almaciga Festival to celebrate what the project has done to improve the lives of the Lumad.

But beyond the festivity Orencia said they want to engage in value-adding by making the resin into a finished product. He added they want their project to be replicated in other areas of the country as a strategy for forest protection. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno/MindaNews)

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/08 August) – Four hundred housing units worth P73 million are being constructed for the indigenous peoples in three insurgency-affected Lumad barangays of Talaingod, Davao del Norte, a leader of the Ata-Manobo tribe said on Wednesday.

Datu Alan Causing told the AFP-PNP press conference on Wednesday that of the budget, at least P53 million came from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for 300 housing units, and P20 million from the National Housing Authority for 100 other units.

The DSWD is building 60 units in Barangay Sto. Niño and 120 units each in Barangay Palma Gil and Barangay Dagohoy while the housing units of the NHA are all situated in Barangay Palma Gil, according to Causing.

He said the housing project would benefit around 400 Lumad families in Talaingod. Lumad population in Talaingod stands at 2,482 individuals.

He said the beneficiaries thanked the government for the housing project that would give them better shelter, allowing them to concentrate on the education of their children and livelihood.

“The Ata-Manobo in Davao del Norte are thankful that they were able to avail of the housing project of the government,” he said.

Aside from the housing project, Causing said the government is also building schools in their communities for Lumad children.

Meanwhile, a five-member panel of the Department of Education (DepEd) in Davao Region is looking into the allegations of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. that schools operated by the Salugpongan Ta’ Tanu Igkanogon Community Learning Center Inc. were teaching their students to rebel against the government.

The allegations led to the suspension of 55 schools operated by Salugpongan last July 10.

The panel will look into the issues hurled at the school “from all angles,” taking into account the side of the military and the response of the school officials to the complaints, DepEd-Davao spokesperson Jenielito Atillo said in an interview.

“This five-man team is tasked to look at all angles, gather everything that we will be able to gather, which will serve as a basis for our decision later. We would like to stress that we are giving everybody here, the opportunity to ventilate their views and opinions and their sides,” he said. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 20 September) — A recent initiative to aggressively push for the inclusion of Mindanao’s identities, cultures, politics, languages, folkways, tales, as well as traditional conflict resolution systems, trading practices, family relations and, finally the concept of peace and development into the Philippines’ formal and non-formal educational engagements has just taken off with a proposed roadmap. This has been undertaken through the joint collaborative efforts of the ForumZFD (Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst) and Ateneo de Davao University’s Al Q’alam Institute. The roadmap was presented to an audience of Moro, Lumad and migrant stock scholars from the academe, staff members of government agencies and civil society organizations and media at ADDU last September 17-18, 2019.

As I listened to the deliberations of this event, the words of the poet T.S. Eliot came to mind. His words – “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”  There is a quote that parallels the words of T.S. Eliot and all of us Filipinos know this by heart. These are Rizal’s words: “ang hindi marunong lumingon sa kanyang pinanggagalingan ay hindi makakarating sa kanyang paroroonan”.  The Technical Working Group as convened by the forum ZFD and Al Q’alam is to be commended for having presented this Road Map to us.

This road map is but one more attempt at an exploration and seemingly as we arrive at this particular juncture of our journey, there is a greater light in being able to truly understand who we are as Mindanawons and what is Mindanao all about and perhaps – for the first time – have a deeper insight into our quest for an identity which was not attainable in the distant and not-so-distant past especially the colonial and neo-colonial times.

For truly, there have been rivulets, brooks and streams that have merged into rivers as deep and wide as the Agusan River ending up in the vast lakes that constitute this place known as Mindanao, otherwise known as Land of lanao, danao, ranaw or lakes.

From way back the pre-conquest period of our Mindanawon indigenous ancestors whose beliyans and baylans have chanted the epic stories including that of Nalandangan of the Talaandigs, the Guman and Keboklagan of the Subanens, those of Tuwaang and Agyu of the Manobo Ulahingan, the Todbulul of the Tboli and especially the Darangen of the Maranaws, remind us Mindanawons today that there have always been stories etched in the memories of our ancestors which are part historical narratives, ethnographic texts, indigenous literature and magical folktales.

Power of policies

When oral languages – most of whom trace their origins way back to the Austronesians migration movements from south China through Taiwan and the rest of island SouthEast Asia – gave way to the colonial period’s need to put data and information into written words,  the narratives became texts. Written from a colonial perspective, naturally they privileged the gaze of the colonial master pejoratively interpreting what they saw and experienced in our societies which they labeled pagan, primitive and wild. The colonial master then wrote about us and that began to erode our capacity to speak in our own voices, as if we returned to the legend of the first Tbolis who couldn’t speak until the god of thunder helped them speak up.

During the American occupation, this process of silencing us persisted while those who held us captives produced and reproduced images and descriptions of how we are projected to the world.  This was by way of ethnographic and historical studies and even exhibits of human bodies and cultural artifacts as that one held in the St. Louis World’s Fair in Missouri  in 1904 –  helped to perpetuate the myth of us being “little brown Americans” – the term used by the first US Civil Governor in the Philippines,  William Howard Taft in 1902.  And we rewarded him by naming a major street in Manila in his honor.

As Ms Bebot Rodil said during the forum, she has since realized the power of policies. Why the policy regarding what language to privilege in this ex-American colony would be English. Which is why we speak a foreign tongue in the most important institutions operating in our country from schools to corporate and government offices. Why the policy of opening up Mindanao to the homestead resettlement program led to the fact that the majority of today’s Mindanao (whose population is roughly 30 Million) are migrant stock.  Why the American policy of integrating the Moro Province into the imagined Philippine Republic (versus the other option to grant it independence) led to rebellions in contemporary history.

Power relations

But from the discourse theory of Michel Foucault, we understand that policies arise out of the formation of discursive field or a system of power relations producing domains of objects and rituals of truth.

From the Spanish to the American regimes and persisting up to the days after the birth of the Republic – giving rise to a nation-state whose power-relations are dominated by the elite circles ensconced in the powerful eco-political circles based in Manila –  the privilege of telling the historical truth has belonged to only  a small intellectual elite that demanded “isang bansa, isang wika, isang diwa.”

In both the discourses that arose within this colonial mindset and the corresponding State policies naturally pushed Mindanao further towards the periphery. In budgetary allocations for education, infrastructure, health and social services, only a pittance has trickled down to the south. And its citizens, not just the Moro and Lumad peoples, but also the poor among the migrant settlers have had no choice but wait for the benevolence of a Manila imperialist hegemony to reach their shores and especially the uplands.

Discourse as defined by Foucault, refers to “ways of constituting knowledge, together with the social practices, forms of subjectivity and power relations which inhere in such knowledges and relations between them. Discourses are more than ways of thinking and producing meaning. They constitute the ‘nature’ of the body, unconscious and conscious mind and emotional life of the subjects they seek to govern.”

Colonization of the lifeworld

But as we know, power relations in our society arises in a situation which in the words of the German philosopher, Jurgen Habermas refers to as the colonization of the lifeworld by the system.

As we have Germans in our midst in this gathering, it is most appropriate that we refer to the communicative action theory of their paisano. Sumala ni Habermas, ang pagdominar kuno sa atong inadlaw-adlawng kalibutan diin kita nagapuyo isip mga lumulupyo, ug nga kining pagsakop gihimo niadtong sistema sa pang-ekonomiya ug politika maoy hinungdan, sa daghan natong mga suliran karon. Ug kini nagsumikad sa bisan unsang kahigayonan diin ang naghupot og gahum maoy magbuot unsay mahitabo sulod sa nagkadaiyang mga institusyon sa sosyedad. Dili lang kini himoon sa mga langyaw sama sa mga Katsila ug mga Kano – nga posibleng mahitabo sa umaabot kung ang China atong tugtan nga mo-colonize kanato kay nagsugod na sila sa West Philippine Sea – apan mga Pinoy sab nga sakop sa oligarkiya o labing taas nga pamunuan daku sab og gahum nga himoon kita nilang itoy-itoy lamang.

And look at how power plays out in terms of the lifeworld’s colonization. The colonizers will assume the power of naming names and controlling both the content and method of story-telling. From way back the Spanish period to the American occupation to the push for globalization today, we can make a list of all that which we have lost due to a power relations where the elite has full force over the discourses.

First we lost our indigenous names and those constituting our habitat. During baptisms done by the friars we discarded our indigenous names in favor of  names of saints and later we shifted to names of Hollywood movie stars. Same as the names of our settlements, towns, provinces, as well as trees, rivers and mountains.

Eventually we lost our indigenous belief systems as Christianity entered our domain.  In the process, we discarded our rituals of healing, thanksgiving and seeking favors from the spirit world and thus lost our chants, music and dances. Eventually we lost the memory of our ancestors embedded in our myths and epic stories, which constituted our own forms of historical narratives. History books codified and published tended to only provide a voice to the victors, and the vanquished not only lost their place around the table but also their voices. So for a long while, Filipino students took up history taught from the colonial and Manila-centric perspective.

Culture of resistance

Fortunately, not all is lost. Some remnants of the indigenous memories and lifeways were retained by the Lumad in the isolated uplands  reached by colonizers. However, practically all upland indigenous territories today can already be reached by the technologies of the lowlands that have continued to erode indigenous cultures and languages.

Fortunately, discourses are also a “form of power that circulates in the social field and can attach to strategies of domination as well as those of resistance.”  Despite attempts to downplay the culture of resistance of our ancestors, somehow most history books still refer to the hundreds of rebellions across the colonial periods from Lapu-lapu to Tamblot, from Sultan Kudarat to Datu Bago and Mangulayon, Leon Kilat to Papa Isio, from Tandang Sora to Gabriela, from Mabini to Rizal and of course the Philippine Revolution waged by the Katipunan as led by Andres Bonifacio.

There has also been resistance in the field of academic scholarship, thanks to post-colonial and post-structuralist theories that have championed history from below, weapons and tactics of the weak, the view from the periphery, the voices of the oppressed.

And this has been clearly seen in the assertion of Mindanao histories and studies, as now articulated by the TWG RoadMap. Why history: Because, in the words of the philosopher George Santayana – “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” And the novelist Maya Angelou posits that “the more you know of your history, the more liberated you are.”

The power of story

History is of course the telling of stories of the past with the view of parceling lessons to guide us for the future. There is no question that stories are powerful. The author Jeff Goins wrote: “I believe in the power of story. Story is where we came from. Story is where we’re going. Story is what connects us and binds us to each other. It is in the story of humanity, amongst love and fear and failure, that we make meaning of our lives. Story is what defines us and sets us apart. It’s what allows us to connect with each another, to truly know and be known.”

There is even a scientific explanation for this.  Neuroscientist Paul Zak, author of The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and Prosperity, discovered through his research that well-told stories release oxytocin, the neurochemical that tells the brain it’s safe to trust someone. Oxytocin is often called the “love hormone” because of its role in forging human connections, and creating empathy.

In the  last episode of The Game of Thrones the character Tyrion Lannister announced who he thought should be their King. According to Tyrion, Bran Stark has a special power that would make him a great ruler as he was the keeper of the kingdom’s stories.  “What unites people?” Tyrion asked. “Armies? Gold? Flags? No. There’s nothing in the world more powerful than a good story. Nothing can stop it. No enemy can defeat it. And who has a better story than Bran the Broken? The boy who fell from a high tower and lived.  He’s our memory. The keeper of all our stories. The wars, weddings, births, massacres, famines, our triumphs, our defeats, our past. Who better to lead us into the future?”

Momentum

Lately, there has arisen a social movement to give birth to a Mindanao Studies construct that would impact academic circles, government policy, NGO engagements and even corporate social responsibility initiatives. Carol and I and a few others mentioned some of these yesterday.  I myself have really been surprised at how the momentum has built up since 2001 at the UGAT Assembly in Samal Island. Some of these included the following: 2002: The Tri-People Commission of MINCODE came up with a Mindanao History Project by convening a group of historians. In 2003, there surfaced the Annotated bibliography of Mindanao studies, a project of the Mindanao Studies Consortium Foundation, Inc. (MSCFI). In 2007, the first Mindanao Studies Conference was convened which issued the “ Checkpoints & Chokepoints: Learning from Peace and Development Paradigms and Practices in Mindanao.”

In 2015, a group of 21 scholars of the MSU System released the History of Filipino Muslims and other Indigenous Peoples of MINSUPALA. In 2017 the Ethnology Division of the National Museum came out with the first draft of “Lumad Mindanao.” This year, Mindanao Reader of ADMU and a Mindanao Social History of ADDU-Anthropology Dept. began to take shape. And now the TWG RoadMap.

Note that  perhaps the first Mindanao-Sulu Bibliiography was W.E. Retana’s in 1894 which is included in Alfredo Tiamzon’s “Mindanao-Sulu Bibliography published in Davao City in 1970.

Through the deliberations of this gathering,  I was reminded of my own life trajectory which embodies the poetic words of T.S. Eliot. Exploring a world that was expanding as I reached high school, partly because I had greater exposure to books, I was always in awe whenever I entered the library. But I was merely a consumer then of books produced by others, written mainly by foreigners who had never set foot in my hometown.  I had never imagined then that the stories of those living in my hometown could find their way to a book that I could read. Never did it also occur in my mind that, one day, I might be able to write a book myself. The myth that persisted then was that small-town folks had no capacity to write a book. Thus, I never thought that in my adulthood I would enter into this kind of exploration which only evolved in my 30s.

But through these years of such explorations, I have faced all kinds of difficulties and frustrations.  But through it all, I have never lost heart that a day will come when we here in Mindanao could reach this level of exploration.

It fills me with great hope that today we might finally arrive at that place when we can take pride in the fact that we can now reclaim the voices of our past ancestors. And in the process make sure that their memories that are now our own can then be passed on from generation to generation of Mindanawons who also will need to know the same place for the first time in their lives.  

[Redemptorist Brother Karl Gaspar delivered this keynote address at the 2^nd Conversation on Mindanao Histories and Studies on September 18, 2019 at the Ateneo de Davao University.

Gaspar is a professor at St. Alphonsus Theological and Mission Institute (SATMI) in Davao City and a professor of Anthropology at the Ateneo de Davao University. Gaspar is the most prolific Mindanawon book author, having written at least 22 books since 1985, including “Desperately Seeking God’s Saving Action: Yolanda Survivors’ Hope Beyond Heartbreaking Lamentations,” two books on Davao history, and “Ordinary Lives, Lived Extraordinarily – Mindanawon Profiles” launched in February 2019. He writes two columns for MindaNews, one in English (A Sojourner’s Views) and the other in Binisaya (Panaw-Lantaw)]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/30 September) – Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte on Monday maintained the local government would stand pat on its decision calling for the closure of schools for Lumad (indigenous peoples) accused of having links with the communist underground.

Duterte said the 55 schools operated by the Salugpongan Ta’ Tanu Igkanogon Community Learning Center “failed to give justice to sacrifices and dreams of the Lumad students.”

“Salugpongan shall never operate in Davao City again because of this failure and unforgivable injustice,” Duterte said in a statement released by the City Information office on Monday.

The mayor was reacting to a privilege speech last week by City Councilor Pamela Librado-Morata, who voiced support for the Salugpongan.

Eleven Salugpongan schools are operating in the city’s hinterlands and the rest in various provinces of Davao Region.

Duterte said the local government conducted due diligence “in inquiring into the activities of Salugpungan schools before the City Peace and Order Council released a resolution seeking closure of the Salugpongan schools.”

“The councilor from Davao City who called on the Sangguniang Panlungsod to inquire into the closure of the Salugpungan schools in our city should first check the facts that form the basis of the request for closure, and not rely on the disinformation fed to her by the Makabayan bloc and its CPP-NPA-NDFP (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines) allies,” she said.

On March 19, the CPOC submitted a resolution to the Department of Education (DepEd) requesting that the permit to operate of the Salugpungan schools in the city be terminated and canceled completely.

The resolution cited as grounds the alleged absence of academic records and individual learner’s reference number of the students and presence of DepEd schools in areas where Salugpongan operates.

Duterte said the schools “failed to give justice to the sacrifices and dreams of the Lumad students who spent their time with their organization, believing the school will help them better their chances in the future.”

She added the local government was provided with a written report containing the statement of an alleged Salugpongan pupil that students were taught how to use firearms and that they were indoctrinated with anti-government propaganda.

She said the government schools now had accommodated displaced students from 11 Salupongan schools.

Citing the report submitted by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, DepEd-Davao Evelyn Fetalvero said in her July 10 order that the Salugpongan schools had been suspended for failing to teach in accordance with the guidelines set forth by DepEd, using the children in rallies and teaching the pupils an anti-government ideology.

Fetalvero was acting on the report submitted by Esperon, also the vice chair of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, which was accompanied by an affidavit from a certain Melvin M. Loyod, who claimed to have volunteered as a teacher at Salugpongan in Sitio Pongpong, Barangay Sto. Niño, in Talaingod, Davao Del Norte after finishing Grade 12. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)

IMPASUG-ONG, Bukidnon (MindaNews / 9 Oct) – Instead of celebrating the Indigenous Peoples Month with songs and dances, a small band of Higaonon elders are busy practicing how to fire guns at paper targets during a firearms familiarization Friday last week (4 October 2019).

The Higaonon elders led by Agolio Nanolan, better known as Datu Mandedlayan, were getting instructions from soldiers, among those his granddaughter, PFC John Marie Nanolan.

The elders had just come from the headquarters of the Army’s 8th Infantry Battalion in Impasug-ong town where they performed “Pamungkas, Panlitub, Pambadbad” ritual rites.

The rites were an offer of friendship to the soldiers, according to Nanolan.

He said although most datus support the government and the military, there are some who support the New People’s Army.

Nanolan said the intensity of the war between the government and the NPA has placed lumads in the middle of the conflict.

“Some of the Higaonon have chosen to side with the communist rebels. This have divided our community,” the 72-year-old Nanolan said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) estimated the number of communist rebels at 3,900 nationwide in 2018.

Lumads form the bulk of the NPA rebels whose area of operations are in the mountains and fringes of Mindanao.

The AFP Eastern Mindanao Command faces 50 percent of the NPA rebels in northeastern Mindanao and the province of Bukidnon.

EastMinCom has 21,485 Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) members distributed to 12 provinces and 10 component cities in northeastern and southern Mindanao.

Like the communist rebels, the lumad form 60 percent of the 21,485 CAFGUs, while only 783 of them are regular enlisted Army personnel.

Lt. Col. Ronald Illana, the commanding officer of the 8IB, said the war against the rebels with lumad combatants is intense in the mountains that form the backbone of Mindanao.

Illana claimed however that the Army has successfully degraded the communist rebels and decreased NPA-perpetrated violence in Bukidnon.

“Our strategy of winning the hearts and minds of the lumad is gaining some success, and more elders like Datu Nanolan are finding it is a wise move to support the government,” he said.

A multimillion-peso funded program called End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELAC) initiated by President Rodrigo Duterte assured there is enough money for the lumad.

Illana said a regional task force composed of government agencies implements ELAC to boost the delivery of basic services in identified insurgency stronghold areas.

“When we were with the NPA, each of us contributes P5 a day or P150 a month. The Army on the other hand gave us a tractor and bags of seedlings for our farms,” Nanolan said.

He said the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) awarded Nanolan and his community a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) for 14,000 hectares in barangay Hagpa.

“We have a future if we support the government,” Nanolan said. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)

On Sunday, 13 October 2019, the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines celebrates the Indigenous People’s Sunday. It might be useful to provide a background how this has evolved. Before Islam arrived in Mindanao and the rest of the Philippines in the 13^th century and Christianity in the 15^th century, all the people across the country were indigenous or now we call Lumad. When Islamic traders and missionaries arrived in Mindanao, those they encountered like the Maguindanao, Maranaw, Tausug and others embraced Islam, which is why there are Muslims today in Mindanao. But many others like the Subanen, Teduray, Manobo, Mandaya and others held on to their indigenous belief system. When the Spanish colonizers and friars colonized the Philippines, most of those in the Visayas and Luzon who were indigenous—like the Tagalogs, Ilocanos, Bicolanos, Cebuanos, Bol-anons, Warays and others—embraced Catholicism. Thus we can say that the first converts to Christianity were the Lumads.

However, the Moro people in Mindanao remained Muslims and the Lumad remained Lumad. Christian communities became the majority by the time the Americans took over as our new colonizers. This became true in Mindanao with the mass migrations of Christian settlers to Mindanao. Eventually after the Second World War, the majority of Mindanawons were Christians settlers and their descendants. Today the Lumad are just a minority in the country and in Mindanao. According to the 2010 statistics of the Census and Statistics Office, only close to 15% of Mindanawons are Lumad. Thus, of a total of close to 22 million Mindanawons, roughly 3,160,000 people are Lumad. Of all the total indigenous population in the entire country 60% are living in Mindanao.

The first Church presence among the Lumad in Mindanao go back to the late 1500s when the Jesuits arrived in the Caraga Region and built the first church in what is now Butuan City.

But they only reached a few communities. As more migrant settlers took over the land of the Lumad, they penetrated the uplands which were not easily accessible. When the Christian migrant settlers population increased in Mindanao, the priests concentrated their evangelization work and missions among Christian settlers. Very few penetrated the uplands to evangelize the Lumad. It was left to Protestant missionaries who came during the American regime, that a growing number of Lumad communities converted to Protestantism. It was only in the late 1960s when a few foreign missionaries reached out to the Manobo, Tboli, Mandaya and Subanen so a few of the Lumad communities embraced Catholicism. Immersed among them, they saw how neglected the Lumads were by the government and the extent of poverty, malnutrition, disease and how their rights were being violated. In time, they saw how the encroachment of land-hungry peasants, politicians and corporations worsened the Lumad’s situation.

Eventually they started to have assemblies to discuss what can be done to respond to their problems. The Mindanao-Sulu Pastoral Conference eventually discussed these issues which led to the setting up of pastoral programs for what they then referred to as Tribal Filipinos. Then the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines decided to set up the Episcopal Commission on Tribal Filipinos. In order to bring attention to the plight of Tribal Filipinos, the CBCP decided to give birth to a celebration of Tribal Filipinos every second Sunday of October. Later on the name was changed from Tribal Filipinos to Indigenous Peoples which was what was used by the United Nations to refer to the Lumad. Thus this became known as IP Sunday and which is celebrated every Second Sunday of October. This year, it will be on Sunday, October 13 (N.B. for Saturday Mass—IP Sunday will be on Sunday). The theme of the celebration this year is INDIGENOUS LEADERSHIP, A GIFT AND TASK FROM GOD.

If we are familiar with the realities of the Lumad today, we know that they face serious problems. There are still many lowlanders, politicians and corporations who are using all kinds of means to grab the small areas of land that has remained as their ancestral domain. This has led to their dislocations as they are forced to vacate their ancestral territories to give way to plantations and mining operations. When they resist to fight for their land rights, they are harassed and threatened. The ones most affected are their tribal leaders, their chieftains or datus if they manifest a courage to protect the rights of their people. Thus the theme this year of Indigenous Leadership is so appropriate as their leaders now need the strength and courage to face all kinds of challenges.

[Redemptorist Brother Karl Gaspar is a professor at St. Alphonsus Theological and Mission Institute (SATMI) in Davao City and a professor of Anthropology at the Ateneo de Davao University. Gaspar is author of several books, including “Desperately Seeking God’s Saving Action: Yolanda Survivors’ Hope Beyond Heartbreaking Lamentations,” two books on Davao history, and “Ordinary Lives, Lived Extraordinarily – Mindanawon Profiles” launched in February 2019. He writes two columns for MindaNews, one in English (A Sojourner’s Views) and the other in Binisaya (Panaw-Lantaw).]

SONGCO, Lantapan, Bukidnon (MindaNews / 14 October) — Indigenous Peoples of Bukidnon hold rituals for various purposes. Requirements such as the number of chickens and other offerings, may differ from one tribe to another and depend on the significance of a specific ritual. But common among these practices is the intention to seek the protection and guidance of spirits in daily human affairs.

The Talaandig, an indigenous tribe inhabiting Lantapan town and adjoining parts of the province, opened their annual Talaandig Day on October 11. Set to culminate on October 14, the celebration started with a Panalawahig or ritual for the spirit of the water called Pamulalakaw, beside the Alanib River, one of the town’s major waterways.

Each household that attended the ritual brought their own chickens for the event. After the panampulot, the last part of the ritual where the spirits would be invited to partake of the food, the families shared lunch beside the river before going home to prepare for the next three days of the celebration. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno / MindaNews)

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 13 November) – Bakwits once, twice. How many times more?

A number of residents who evacuated to the town center of Makilala in North Cotabato following quake-induced landslides in their hinterland villages on October 29 and 31 had to be relocated from their evacuation camps late Monday afternoon when their tents collapsed or were destroyed by a hailstorm. But their stay there is only temporary: until they get to fix their tents in their designated evacuation camps.

Some stayed on in their evacuation centers but spent late afternoon until early Tuesday morning fixing their tents so they could sleep.

“Lord, unsa nmn ni? Linog tapos bagyo na sad karun ug niulan ug ice. Grabe najud ni” (Lord, what is this? Earthquake then storm then it rained ice), Monalyn Alvarez Semera of Barangay Buhay posted on her Facebook page at 4:16 p.m. on Monday, November 11. Fourteen minutes later, she posted photographs of the hailstorm’s aftermath in the evacuation camp at the Makilala Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) in Barangay Concepcion: tents toppled by the winds, men and women collecting items that got soaked in the heavy downpour and rain of ice. Some could be seen fixing the laminated sack on the bamboo or aluminum frame that would serve as their family’s roof.

Darkness had set in, even if it was barely 5 p.m.

Acting North Cotabato Vice Governor Shirlyn Macasarte Villanueva announced through her Facebook post late afternoon of November 11 that they were preparing to “relocate our evacuees affected by the storm.”

She cited the affected evacuation camps as Santos Land, MIST, Poblacion elementary school and Saguing evacuation centers.Evacuees in Santos Land evacuation camp were transferred to the Makilala National High School gym.

Myrna Linao, a Bagobo Tagabawa and the Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative in Barangay Buhay told MindaNews in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon that the tent materials that were destroyed by the storm were immediately replaced. Linao said they hope folding beds could be provided particularly for the children, the pregnant and the elderly as sleeping on the ground with laminated sack as sheet is very unhealthy, especially when it rains.

There are 135 Lumad families who have sought refuge there. Of this number, Linao said 98 are senior citizens, 11 are pregnant and 40 are lactating mothers

Palawan, representative of the 164 Moro families in the camp had told MindaNews on November 8 that in the early part of their stay, when it rained, they had to stand while trying to get some sleep because the ground – and the laminated sacks – were wet.

Evacuees in schools prefer to pitch tents in school grounds instead of classrooms or nearby gyms, afraid another powerful quake will happen.

Four quakes above Magnitude 6 struck this town and neighboring areas between October 16 and 31: 6.3 on October 16, 6.6 and 6.1 on October 29 and 6.5 on October 31.

Barangay Buhay is one of four villages declared “no-build zone” out of 38 villages in Makilala.

Sheryl Orbita, Makilala Municipal Administrator, told MindaNews last week that the local government is looking for relocation for residents of the villages declared ‘no build zones’ – barangays Bato, Buhay, Cabilao and Luayon.

She said they have several options to choose from but they will have these checked by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau.

In the areas declared as “no-build zones,” Orbita said Phivolcs informed them farming can still be done at daytime but not when it rains. Living there, however, will not be allowed, she said.

Linao on November 8 said they hope government will relocate them immediately so they can settle down and begin a new life. (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)

There has been no end to the bad news coming our way recently. On Sunday, December 15, the strongest earthquake (at magnitude 6.9) rocked most of the areas in south Mindanao, especially Davao del Sur. Buildings toppled even as there are cracks in many others. Households lost their houses, children got traumatized. As of last count, eight perished with this recent disaster, the kind of which happened a few times last October also hitting south Mindanao. As I write this, there have been a number of aftershocks.

A lot of bad news have been reported elsewhere. Early in December, the north of this Republic got hit by another typhoon—named locally as Tisoy—and once more causing a lot of suffering to those affected. With flights and boat trips cancelled, thousands were inconvenienced. In Metro Manila, the citizens—especially in communities constantly affected by water shortage—wonder if things will get worse as the State and the oligarchic water firms are locked in a dispute which eventually will lead to elephants’ will trampling down on the millions of ants underneath. Once more (the fourth), another corruption case against the Marcoses was dismissed by the Sandiganbayan for lack of sufficient evidence. (Although one wonders if it is due to the inefficiency of the PCGG, or is it because part of the billions of the Marcos loot made its way to some influential people’s pockets.)

Bad news were also reported elsewhere. In New Zealand, a volcano erupted. In London, Boris Johnson won the recent elections leading to Brexit, angering those opposed to this move. One more populist government on the rise! In a few other countries—from Lebanon to Chile—people took to the streets to protest State corruption. In Madrid, the negotiators from almost 200 nations attending the UN climate meeting failed to agree in taking steps to curb the rise of greenhouse gas emissions to prevent global temperatures rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

As the Christmas season unfolded, we have been hoping for good news! Few blessings did come. The Philippines ended a dismal 14-year record at the Southeast Asian games of ending at the bottom. This time, our athletes won the most number of gold, silver and bronze medals, thus making the Philippines the champion. (One can only hope that with the euphoria following this victory, there will be no whitewashing of the corruption cases that have been filed against those who pocketed some of the funds.) And after 10 years, the Quezon City Trial Court found Andal Ampatuan Jr., his siblings and kin, and 23 others guilty of the massacre of mostly media people and have been sentenced to reclusion perpetua. Then there is the naming of teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg as Time’s Person of the Year. Once more like the brave Hong Kong youth, a growing number of young people are taking a stand to deal with urgent socio-political and ecological issues.

Comes now the news that the buklog—the Subanen complex ritual—has been added by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding to prevent it from being forgotten. For the majority of Mindanawons, this may not strike them as particularly newsworthy! But that only manifests their ignorance in terms of the richness of our indigenous cultures, in particular the one of the Subanens of the Zamboanga peninsula.

For those who have been lucky to experience even just one buklog, the memory of being at the ritual will remain etched in their minds for years. This is especially so, if the buklog takes place from morning till night when there is a full moon. One has to experience attending such a ritual to fully appreciate its value and significance, especially for the members of a Subanen community. Unlike some rituals that can lost only a few hours, this can go on for days depending on the available resources and provisions for food and drink. Its complexity is constituted from setting up the space for the ritual to the meanings of the symbols used to the reasons why a buklog takes place. There are actually a number of rituals constituting the entire buklog. The first one begins when permission is sought from the spirits in cutting trees that would serve as poles for a platform which serves as stage.

Another ritual follows with the gathering of dulugan, the springy wood from the nearby forest. Its branches are then held together by rattan to serve as flooring of the platform without the need for nails. The interweaving of the branches must be so done so that it becomes strong enough to support a lot of weight as 10 to 25 people stand and dance without breaking the platform. This dancing—known as gbat—is done by everyone from children to the elderly and goes on and on to the music of the agong and the kulintang. As there are those who dance, the others seated at the edge of the platform cheer them.

Once the platform is set up and provisions are made available, other rituals can take place like rituals to thank for a good harvest, or seeking healing for the sick as well as honoring the dead. As such, the buklog functions as the community’s unifying force. It provides them with the occasion for a rousing celebration that help cement inter-relationships between families and clans. It could even be occasions for conflict resolution. Not only does it ensure harmony among members of the community but among the human, natural and spiritual worlds. As young people are drawn to this celebration, it can also serve as a discreet courtship dance.

There is, however, a shadow hovering over the buklog despite the Unesco move. As can easily be ascertained, this ritual relies a lot on natural resources for it to survive. Most of the essential elements needed for this ritual comes from the forest, from the trees that serve as posts of the platform to the dulugan and rattan. Symbols used—such as animals and betel nuts—are also gifts of the forests. As deforestation has led to the disappearance of primal forests, many of these elements are now rare, if at all available. Where before food provisions would also be provided through the hunting in the forests, today most food to be served have to be bought, making the buklog quite expensive to conduct.

Then there is the question of the people’s security both in terms of being able to remain in their ancestral territory as well as not experiencing harassment from elements that violate their human rights. Both are factors that could force them to evacuate and be dislocated from their ancestral abode. For as long as the Subanens are secured in their ancestral domain with their cultural heritage intact, they do wish to conduct the buklog regularly. But with the onslaught of mining explorations across the peninsula, there is fear that more Lumad dislocations will follow.

If deforestation is left unchecked and all forests disappear across the Zamboanga peninsula and the Subanen peoples are subjected to all kinds of pressures that would force them to leave their ancestral domain, then no amount of Unesco listing would assure that the buklog will continue to take place in this part of the planet!

[Redemptorist Brother Karl Gaspar is a professor at St. Alphonsus Theological and Mission Institute (SATMI) in Davao City and a professor of Anthropology at the Ateneo de Davao University. Gaspar is author of several books, including “Desperately Seeking God’s Saving Action: Yolanda Survivors’ Hope Beyond Heartbreaking Lamentations,” two books on Davao history, and “Ordinary Lives, Lived Extraordinarily – Mindanawon Profiles” launched in February 2019. He writes two columns for MindaNews, one in English (A Sojourner’s Views) and the other in Binisaya (Panaw-Lantaw).]

UCCP Bishop Hamuel Tequis and Lumad leaders prepare for the 1 p.m. press briefing inside the UCCP’s Haran compound in Davao City on 25 January 2020. The police , however, barred the media from entering the compound. Photo courtesy of KILAB MULTIMEDIA

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 26 January) – Human rights groups and relatives of the Lumad evacuees staying at the Haran compound of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) will hold another dialogue with government officials and church leaders on the demands of the evacuees before they may return home, UCCP Bishop Hamuel Tequis said on Sunday.

In an interview, Tequis said both camps have yet to set the date for the meeting where members of the Regional Peace and Order Council, Lumad leaders, City Mayor Sara Duterte, Davao del Norte Governor Edwin Jubahib and church representatives are expected to participate.

The bishop reiterated the evacuees’ demand for a military pullout from their communities and the disbandment of the paramilitary group Alamara.

He said Davao City Vice Mayor Sebastian Duterte, who came to mediate the initial discussion on Saturday afternoon, had committed to assist in the negotiation so that both camps could arrive at a “win-win solution” acceptable to both parties.

“Nag mediate lang ko to make sure dili mag kagubot atong negotiation. Naay gamay nga tension, luckily walay nahitabo nga altercation (I only mediated to make sure it would be orderly. There was a little tension but luckily there was no altercation),” he said.

He said Lumad evacuees had not decided if they would return home or stay at the evacuation center.

He said their possible return would be tackled in the next dialogue.

Tequis said the outcome of Saturday’s negotiation turned out positive.

He said both parties agreed that the issues between the evacuees and their relatives who stormed the evacuation center on Saturday morning be resolved among them customarily with no interference from the military.

He said both Lumad camps asked Mayor Duterte and Governor Jubahib to sit down with them in the dialogue.

He said the evacuees’ relatives returned home to Kapalong and Talaingod, Davao del Norte after the initial dialogue.

But he added they might press charges against the police for failing to prevent the evacuees’ relatives from destroying the fence of the church when they barged inside the church compound. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 23 February) – As all kinds of disasters greeted us since January – from Australia’s forest fires  to Taal’s eruption to COVID-19 – our attention have been riveted as to how humanity would cope with these nerve-wrecking crises. In the process, some other areas of interest have to be pushed aside. But perhaps, as the urgency of the impact of the disasters may have abated, we might now look at our other concerns.

One of these relates to the 2020 theme of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ (CBCP) preparation for the 500^th year anniversary of the arrival of Christianity to our country which will be celebrated next year. This theme is DIALOGUE TOWARDS HARMONY, involving Inter-Religious Dialogue (Dialogue with other Faith Traditions), Indigenous Peoples (Dialogue with Cultures) and Ecumenism (Dialogue with other Christians).

The three Commissions under the CBCP dealing with these three areas have started to plan out their 2020 activities since last year.  For the Episcopal Commission on Indigenous Peoples (ECIP), a number of activities have already been taking place across the country where dioceses have active IP ministries.

A major event is being sponsored by the ECIP on March 3, 2020 which will be held in Butuan City, specifically inside the St. Peter’s Seminary in Ampayon, just outside the city. Bishops from across the Philippines have been invited to an event where they will have a dialogue with beliyans (or balyans, babylans or shamans – the spiritual leaders-healers of Lumads). They are mostly Higaonons from around the Agusan-Surigao region, and some also coming from the Misamis Provinces. Patterned after the Bishops-Ulama Forum, this dialogue aims at deepening a sense of understanding between the two sets of spiritual leaders while threshing out some of the tensions that have occurred owing to the Church’s manner of dealing with the Lumads’ indigenous belief system.

Since the celebration of the IP Sunday last year, there have been localized dialogues taking place at the local diocesan level which proved to be quite satisfying and fulfilling  to all concerned. Since the March 3 Butuan event is at the national and regional level, organizers hope that with more participants the dialogue session could prove to have significant impact on how the Church personnel would relate with Lumads.

Why was Butuan chosen to be the site of this historical event? One of the major reasons is the place of Butuan in the first evangelization efforts of the Church. While Magellan reached the Philippines in 1521, it was not until the arrival of  Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1565 when the formal colonization-evangelization took place in the archipelago. Jose S. Arcilla SJ’s essay on Ëarly Contact (Jesuits in Mindanao: The Mission – Muse Books, 2013), indicated that 31 years later, in 1896, Fr. Valerio de Ledesma S.J. arrived at the mouth of Butuan River and was joined the following year by Fr. Manuel Martinez S.J. Thus began the evangelization in Mindanao. (However, it was a Portuguese missionary, Fr. Francisco de Castro who became the first to bring the Christian Gospel to northeast Mindanao in 1531 and it was recorded that he baptized a datu in Butuan and his people).

Of course there is the controversial claim that the first Mass in the Philippines was held not in Limasawa Island off Leyte but in Masau, which is just outside Butuan City. This claim, however, remains contentious. Up to today, the two schools of historical thought are still at odds and even if the CBCP wanted to resolve this issue so that there can be a commemoration of the First Mass in time for the 500^th year anniversary in the actual site, nothing definite has been decided on. This is why there will be no official commemoration of the First Mass in either sites; instead, the CBCP suggests that all parishes across the country will commemorate the First Mass in their own churches on Easter Sunday 2021.

The Bishops-Beliyan Dialogue is open to the public. And the ECIP is hoping there would be good media coverage so many Catholics across the country are informed about this particular historic event. But it is suggested that those who are not officially within the network of the IP ministry inform the Office of the Bishop of Butuan as to their interest to join so the organizers would know how many people to expect at the site of this dialogue. The actual dialogue begins in the early morning on Tuesday, March 3 with a Higaonon ritual at 6:00 A.M. and will end with a Eucharistic celebration at 5 PM. After dinner, the dialogue might still continue.

From the Butuan dialogue, the ECIP remains optimistic that such a dialogue could be convened as the need arises, just like the Bishops-Ulama forum. These twin developments happening after the post-Vatican II era show how far the Church have come from the days of the Spanish colonial empire – for Christianity became a tool to colonize rather than to dialogue with peoples of other faiths and cultures.

[Redemptorist Brother Karl Gaspar is a professor at St. Alphonsus Theological and Mission Institute (SATMI) in Davao City and a professor of Anthropology at the Ateneo de Davao University. Gaspar is author of several books, including “Desperately Seeking God’s Saving Action: Yolanda Survivors’ Hope Beyond Heartbreaking Lamentations,” two books on Davao history, and “Ordinary Lives, Lived Extraordinarily – Mindanawon Profiles” launched in February 2019. He writes two columns for MindaNews, one in English (A Sojourner’s Views) and the other in Binisaya (Panaw-Lantaw).]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 5 March) – Lawmakers belonging to Bayan Muna have asked the House of Representatives to investigate the “indiscriminate firing” last Feb. 21 in a Lumad village in Surigao del Sur allegedly by the 75th Infantry Battalion.

In a proposed resolution, Representatives Eufemia Cullamat, Karlos Isagani Zarate and Ferdinand Gaite said the incident hit the residence of Naldo Calipay in Sitio Emerald, Barangay Diatagon in Lianga town, injuring his 5-year old child and two relatives.

The resolution said the victims were hit by shrapnel.

It said that around 11am on the same day, residents heard gunshots and explosions from nearby Sitio Simowao that lasted for about an hour. The 75IB reportedly engaged New People’s Army rebels in an encounter.

Two hours after, 10 soldiers allegedly surrounded Calipay’s house and opened fire.

A grenade fell on the house of Naldo Calipay, destroying the roof and injuring his child and two relatives, the resolution said.

The 75IB has been stationed near civilian homes since August 2019, it said.

On Feb. 29, 67 Manobo families fled their homes after getting threats from the military that they would get back at them if the rebels attacked again, it added. (MindaNews)

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews / 28 May) – Nag-search ako ng Global Deluge.  Ayon, maraming links doon. Isa ang madaling maintindihan, meron ding mapa. Nakakagimbal talaga.  Hindi lang yong nakasulat sa bibliya. Maraming iba rin, ganon din ang naganap. Heto ang link na pinagkunan nito:    https://www.nwcreation.net/noahlegends.html

Hindi ako magtataka kung umiikot ang kuwento ng Bibliya sa pinagsimulan ng Kristiyanismo, mula sa Middle East at Europea. Pero mapapansin na labas sila sa daigdig ng Kristiyanismo noon, tulad ng China, sa India, sa Canada, sa Amerika, sa mga Mexico, sa Peru, sa mga isla tulad ng Hawaii, Fiji, Leeward Islands.  Binilang ko umabot sa 35 na mga bansa. Ngayon idagdag pa natin ang apat na mga Lumad na tribu sa Mindanaw, sa  Dibabawon sa Davao Norte, Matigsalug sa Bukidnon, sa Higaunon sa Malitbog sa Bukidnon, at mga Talaandig na nakapalibot sa Mt. Kitanglad sa Bukidnon; 39 na lahat. Malay natin, baka meron pang iba.

Puro kuwento ng tubig. Normal lang ang ulan, kahit araw-araw pa. Pero kapag naging baha, sa Ingles, naging uso ang wikang disaster. Ngayon, matapos dumating ang internet sa ating buhay, simple na lang ang global. Kahit saan mangyari, sumilip lang tayo sa kompyuter, kahit sa TV o sa celpon, isang press lang sa Enter, andiyan na kaagad. Di ba madaling malaman kung anong bansa ang nasasagasaan ni Covid-19. Aling bansa ang nasa mapa sa ibaba.  Hindi na kailan lumabas pa ng bahay.

Ayon, sa ngayon, ilang bansa na ang inabot ni Covid-19?  Heto ang report ng WHO, tukuyin lang ang mga kolor sa mapa, maliwanag ang saan lupalop nakarating si Covid-19, 21 May to 27 May:

Ang pinag-iisipan ko, ano ang kaya kong gawin?  Heto ang isa.

Binalikan ko ang scientific research-experiment ni Dr. Masaru Emoto tungkol sa tubig. Una, aniya, tayo bilang tao, 60 porsiyento ng ating katawan ay tubig. Normal ito sa atin.

Hindi tayo mabubuhay kung walang tubig. Pero maraming mga tao na ang nag-fasting ng 40 araw at maraming bagay sa mundo natin ang kanilang nadiskubrihan. Magtatanong tayo sa mga Muslim, alam nila ito. Mag-usisa tayo sa mga Kristiyano, alam nila ito. Umugnay tayo sa mga Budhi, alam nila. Yong mga Lama na pinagkunan ng Fountain of Youth, gawa nila. Maliwanag na maraming gawin kahit sa panahon ng fasting.

Maraming magagandang ipinakita si Dr. Emoto, makalipas ang 20 taon siyang nag-experimento, sa salita (words), prayer (dasal), video (sine o pelikula), music (kanta), sa rice (kanin). Pumanaw na pala siya noong 2014.  Maaaring mag search sa Google o sa You Tube; maraming makikita doon. Heto ang isa.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Moz82i89JAw&t=22s

Matindi ang koneksyon ng ating isip at sa tubig at sa kapwa tao, negative o positive. Maging ang problema natin ke Covid-19, number one pansagip natin ang ating isip. Kahit merong social distancing, kaya nating magkonek sa iba, kahit sa buong daigdig. Heto ang dalawang halimbawa una, ng pagmamahal (love) at ang pangalawa, galit (anger) na nagpapakita ng epekto ng iniisip sa tinutukoy, tulad ng tubig. Kita dito ang itsura ng crystal sa microscope. Sa ibang crystal na iyang ipinakita, kung ano ang laman ng iniisip, ito ang lumalabas sa crystal, pakisilip na lang. Mas mainam doon kasi kasali ang music sa video.

Ang huling mensahe ni Dr. Emoto:

“If thoughts can do that to water. Imagine what our thoughts can do to us.  Up to 60% of our body is water.”

Maliwanag na ang mga salitang ito at umaaplay sa lahat na bahagi ng ating buhay. Kasali ang pagpapaalis kay Covid-19, para maging  normal ang pang-araw-araw na buhay. Puede nating gawin sa kanta, sa dasal, sa meditation, o sa pagsusulat. Yong mga scientists, sila ang naghahanap ng lunas sa mikrobyo. Tulungan natin ang isa’t isa daan sa dasal, kahit well-wishes, basta positive, sa buong daigdig.

[Si Prof. Rudy Buhay Rodil ay aktibong historyan ng Mindanao, tagapasulong ng kalinaw (Bisaya sa kapayapaan). Kilala siyang espesyalista sa paghusay ng mga gusot sa Mindanao-Sulu. Naging Komisyoner noon ng Regional Consultative Commision sa siyang nagbuo ng draft organic law ng Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao noong 1988. Dalawang beses siyang naging miyembro ng GRP Peace Negotiating Panel. 1993-1996, pakikipag-usap sa Moro National Liberation (MNLF), at noong 2004-2008 sa pakikipag-negosasyon sa Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Naging visiting propesor sa Hiroshima University, Oktubre-Disyembre 2011. Nagretiro noong Oktubre 2007]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 28 May) — I have always been mystified by the woven fabrics of our Mindanawon weavers. This fascination to anything indigenously woven can all be traced back to my childhood. My aunt used to be an evangelical missionary pastor to Lake Sebu in South Cotabato. She would always come home with beautiful rolls of T’nalak from our dreamweavers down South. Such childhood encounter with woven fabrics left a lasting impression on me as a child as to the richness of Mindanao cultures.

In Mindanao, the Blaans are proud of their ‘tabih’, the Mandayas of their ‘dagmay’, the Meranaos of their ‘landap,’ the Bagobos of their ‘inabal,’ and the Maguindanaoan of their ‘inaul.’ The patterns are so intricately woven out of love. And each time I wear any of these fabrics, I can’t help but feel that primeval connection to an identity I call my own — Mindanawon.

I am no collector, but I keep a roll of T’nalak woven by the daughter of the National Living Treasure Awardee, the late Lang Dulay.

When I was given my first ‘Inaul’ by my friend, Ging Panda, I refused to have it tailored into a vest.

At times, I would also give a roll or two of Mindanao fabric as special gifts.

Before the Luzon lockdown, I remember unfurling rolls of t’nalak from the Tboli of Lake Sebu and the Meranao landap of Jamela Aisha Alindogan woven by the weavers of Sinagtala.

Then, the pandemic reached our shores. Our lives exponentially shaken and disrupted. Everyone turned anxious and scrambled for the “world’s most coveted commodity” — the face mask.

N95 and surgical masks became household terms overnight. Almost all of these masks are disposable and this raises concern among conservationists as these disposed masks would greatly contribute to the world’s ocean garbage.

I thought having an ecologically friendly and yet equally protective mask from our local materials would make a difference.

My friend, Davao-based fashion designer Windel Mira, thought of customizing Mindanawon fabrics such as the Maguindanaoan Inaul and the Dagmay of the Mandayas into face masks.

As a member of Davao Fashion and Design Council (DFDC), Windel shares how he and other fashion designers were dismally affected by the pandemic. Some beleaguered designers in town were even forced to close their shops as they could no longer afford to pay the rent.

Yet in season or out of season, designers like Windel find hope in the familiar fabrics Mindanawon weavers painstakingly weave in their looms.

Those beautiful Mindanao fabrics found a new purpose in a world threatened by a global health crisis.

These special face masks are for my new normal. They have sturdy nose bridge pinch wire features for snug fit, pocket linings where one can put a tissue or wipes as filter. They come with small storage pouches. and they are reusable.

We thank our Mindanawon weavers and our fashion designers for innovating the ‘inaul’ to be part of our everyday life in a COVID-19 world.

Buying these artisanal face masks will exceedingly help alleviate the plight of our local designers, “sastres,” and yes, the weavers. By doing so, as Mindanawon, each one helps one.

No pandemic can stop us from celebrating who we are…

(Hadji Balajadia is a full-time faculty of the Psychology Department of the Ateneo de Davao Universiy. She teaches social psychology and Filipino psychology. She is a member of the Social Psychology Division of the Psychological Association of the Philippines and the Philippine Sociological Association. She first posted this on her FB page. MindaNews was granted permission to publish this)

For inquiries on how to order these special face masks, please visit the FB page of Windel L Mira