The State of the Indigenous Peoples Address
July 31st, 2008 Posted in IP Rights, Policy Advocacy | No Comments »
We, the bae, datu, fulong, baylan, timuay, the indigenous leaders of indigenous communities in Mindanao, the Lumad, belonging to the different tribes of the Manobo, Talaandig, Pulangiyon, Mamanwa, Bla’an, Dibabawon, Mandaya, T’boli, Tagabawa-Bagobo, Erumanen-Menuvu, Higa-onon and Subanon, together in solidarity with our friends, allies and partners from the local government units, non-government organizations, and support groups, have gathered here in Camp Alano, Toril, Davao City from July 28-30, 2008, to convey the true state of the indigenous peoples in Mindanao.
Together we have heard the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. We have seen the President, the politicians, their families, friends and supporters parade in their finest and most expensive clothes. We listened and watched with disbelief as the images we saw and the statements made by Arroyo were a far cry from our reality – that of increased poverty, worsened hunger and further marginalization. Arroyo’s SONA contained so-called pro-poor policies and achievements, but did not even address the state of indigenous peoples, the poorest of the poor – all the more when she has highlighted jathropa expansions, mining, plantations and biofuels, most of which directly affects us and our lands. Instead, she has only exaggerated the benefits of one, which obviously does not represent the true circumstances of all. Arroyo boasted of her policies to uplift poverty with the value-added tax, the dole outs of subsidies, and the sell-out of national patrimony to foreign investors – temporary reliefs and superficial analyses to deeply-rooted issues and problems of the nation.
Once again, the plight of indigenous peoples was reduced to data on distribution of Certificates of Ancestral Domains Titles or CADTs. Once again, Arroyo lumped our ancestral domains under agricultural reform. How many times do we have to say that we OWN our territories? When will she ever learn? It is not hers to give away. Arroyo cannot hide behind numbers. Her figure of 525,000 hectares distributed as CADTs, falls short of her promise in 2001 to give us 100 CADTs per year.
Arroyo said that the prime reason for the poverty in Mindanao is the ‘endless Mindanao conflict’. She claimed that ‘differences on the tough issue of ancestral domain were resolved’. This ‘ancestral domain’ refers only to the Bangsamoro claim of their juridical entity. Once again, our presence as indigenous peoples was not acknowledged. We are peoples of Mindanao. We are Lumads. We have claims of ancestral domains, and we have not been sought out as part of this peace process. It is only when the three peoples of Mindanao – the Moros, the Christians and the Lumads – are part of the process can there be resolution.
Arroyo’s SONA was riddled with lies and empty promises. There is no such thing as “special care and attention” from this government.
We, the Lumad, now put forward our TRUE State of the Indigenous Peoples.
Download full text here.
Environmental organizations in Davao Oriental have urged the government to prioritize the solutions on the food crisis rather than organizing mining summits to resolve the rift between the two mining companies in the province.