The Teduray, Lambangian, Dulangan-Manobo and Erumanen ne Menuvu have deep respect for the struggle of the Bangsamoro for their rights to Identity, way of life, territory, self-determination and selfgovernance. This deep respect is unavoidable because they share in the historical struggle to assert their rights to their existence against all foreign colonizers and against those who have been so thoroughly colonized that they have lost touch with their indigeneity and have learned the foreign ways that view land as a commodity or a mere tool for development. 

 

The Tribes suffered the same fate as with their “Moro” brothers and sisters IPs in the sufferings brought by colonization and discrimination. Throughout Philippine history since the nation-state was established, the tribes have resisted government policies of integration and assimilation so that their jealously guarded culture and their rich natural resources within their Domains are not lost in the illusion of development that destroys the Domain instead of nurturing its capacity to sustain future generations.  

 

Perhaps too late, the governments of the world now acknowledge that their way of life that is in complete harmony with creation is the better path to development.  

 

But now, with the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), they feel that they face another kind of Discrimination; another form of Assimilation this time with brother fighting brother in a mad scramble for territory and natural resources; another source of tension where the right to regulate the entry of migrant settlers guaranteed by the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) attains a new dimension in guarding their Ancestral domains (AD) borders against incursions for a possible 10% petition or guarding their LGU executives from the temptation of big projects in exchange for passing a resolution seeking inclusion within the new political entity.