On the 13th of October of this year, over 3,000 indigenous people and Moros converged and demanded their right to self-determination. This protest was dubbed as “Lakbayan” of National Minorities for Self Determination and Just Peace.
This is not the first time that thousands of indigenous people from Mindanao, including the Lumads and Moros, marched to Metro Manila from their ancestral lands to demand recognition for their basic human rights.
“Manilakbayan” is the term for their journey towards the city.
The indigenous people were on the road since October 8, making short stop-overs in between regions to call for support.
Last year’s Manilakbayan 2015 only brought Lumads to the capital, but this year they banded with the Moros on the hopes that there would be a greater chance for their demands to be heard.
They are here to scrap unjust laws and stop militarization from ruining their ancestral homes.
For them, their land is their life. The destruction of their ancestral lands strongly affects their livelihood. Today, they are displaced from their culture and many of their human rights are trampled.
The Lumads are based in Mindanao and are divided into 18 distinct ethnic groups. They hold 63% of the population. They are situated at remote places where most of the multi-national mining and logging companies come to exploit their local natural resources.
The Lumads were forced to vacate their ancestral homes to be safe, leaving behind their mineral-rich lands and abandoning their fields and ancestral domains.
The rampant militarization and exploitation in their lands is a violation of their basic human rights, as large battalions of armed troops push them out of their homes. Even at home they feel unsafe.
The threat against the Lumads’ livelihoods caused various organizations to render their help.
And now, every once in a while, these Lumads march to Manila in the hopes that their voices will be heard and the government will consider their situation.
Although the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) passed in 1997 was enacted to help ensure the self-determination of indigenous peoples, it is obviously not being implemented today.
Malayao from National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) believes that since its implementation, the IPRA, “rather than stand for the rights and interests of Indigenous Peoples, has acted more for the benefit of the government and big businesses.”
Indigenous people’s rights activists who joined the Lakbayan strongly doubt that IPRA and the Mining Act will solve their problems.
Recently, the indigenous people, along with militant groups rallied in front of the US embassy where they were subjected to even more violence by the police.
These indigenous people are currently situated at the campus of the University of the Philippines Diliman and anyone is free to come and integrate with them.
Post a Comment