15 November 2019, Quezon City, Philippines — The T’boli-Manobo indigenous people has filed a special civil action today at the Regional Trial Court, Quezon City Hall against environment secretary Roy Cimatu for neglect of duty to cancel a permit for a coffee plantation illegally operating in their ancestral domain. M&S Company operates Dawang Coffee Plantation, a part of which has encroached on the ancestral domain of the T’boli-Manobo S’daf Claimants Organization (TAMASCO) i

Kaming 26 na miyembro ng konseho at peace panel ng Independent Indigenous Peoples’ Voice na nanggagaling sa iba’t-ibang tribu ng Lumad sa Mindanao ay mariin na kumukondena sa walang patid na patayan sa aming hanay. Sa Munisipyo ng Arakan, North Cotabato lamang, pito (7) ka tao na ang namatay simula pa noong Oktubre 2017 hanggang sa buwan ng Enero ng kasalukuyang taon. Karamihan sa mga ito ay Lumad. Pito (7) ka tao na ang napaslang na naitala namin sa pagitan noong Oktubre han

Reacting to statements made by President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday, February 1 at a gathering at the military’s Mindanao Eastern Command headquarters that he would open up ancestral domains to investors (https://www.rappler.com/nation/195043-duterte-find-investors-ancestral-domains), Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC/Friends of the Earth Philippines) said: “Investors and corporations have historically been the cause of injustices against indigenous peoples. Pre

In the culturally-rich province of Marinduque, we will find Gorgonio “Uncle Ugor” Licon, 77 years old, a former Barangay Kagawad (Councilor), a father, and a loving husband. He was born in 1939 and has resided in barangay Magapua since then. As he narrated his story, he sorrowfully remembered that day, at around 3 o’clock in the morning of December 6, 1993, when the entire community was shocked to find high volumes of water immediately flooding their home. It was the first ti

At the witness stand, Nanay Natividad “Naty” Nagutom sat comfortably. She appeared unflappable while on cross examination by the lawyers of Marcopper Mining Corporation (“Marcopper”). With great conviction, Nanay Naty testified that because of the December 1993 mining disaster allegedly caused by the Marcopper’s negligence , she and her family lost their sweet potato crops, banana trees, domesticated chickens and water source; suffered ailments caused by toxic mining wastes;