Lumad’ want self-rule, too

By Ma. Cecilia Rodriguez
Mindanao Bureau (www.inq7.net)

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Fired up by the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) that would govern an expanded Bangsamoro homeland, the lumad (indigenous peoples in Mindanao) are seeking an autonomous region for themselves.

At a gathering here Monday of around 200 representatives of 13 indigenous peoples’ communities in Mindanao and Palawan, several tribal leaders called for the creation of an Autonomous Region for the Lumad of Mindanao.

The proponents are lumad leaders critical of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) on ancestral domain between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government.

The MOA, aimed at ending the Moro armed struggle in Mindanao, seeks to expand the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Sulu, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan and Marawi City) as a Bangsamoro homeland with broad economic and political powers.

Timuay Nanding Mudai said the lumad should have been primarily consulted in the crafting of the MOA as many areas included in the BJE were their ancestral domain.

“Who gave the MILF the authority to represent all the people in Mindanao and propose the BJE? We have a claim to these lands. There are pending CADT [certificate of ancestral domain title] for these lands,” he said.

Mindanao hosts at least half the 11.8 million indigenous peoples in the country. A third of the 110 ethno-linguistic groups in the country are found in Mindanao.

Unified stand

The two-day Mindanao-Palawan Indigenous Peoples’ Consultation was called to consult the lumad leaders and come up with a unified position on the BJE.

Former North Cotabato Rep. Gregorio Andolana said there were enough bases for the indigenous peoples to ask for autonomy.

“The United Nations declaration and the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) are enough bases for the lumad to call for autonomy. Why not ask the congressmen or senators to pass a law creating the Lumad Autonomous Region,” he said at the gathering.

Andolana said including the lumad in the consultations on ancestral domain based on the framework of coming up with a final peace agreement between the MILF and the government would be another option, which he described as a “shorter route.”

Besides the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the proposed Bangsamoro homeland would include the municipalities of Baloi, Munai, Nunungan, Pantar, Tagoloan and Tangkal in Lanao del Norte; and hundreds of barangays (villages) in the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, Lanao del Norte and North Cotabato, which voted to become part of the ARMM in 2001.

The MOA also provides for the inclusion of the Bangsamoro’s “ancestral domain” in Mindanao, Palawan and Sulu.

The proposed Bangsamoro homeland will be governed by the BJE, which will have authority to send trade missions to and enter into economic cooperation agreements with other countries, provided it does not include aggression against the Philippine government.

Protests from Christian communities in Mindanao and a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court scuttled the signing of the controversial MOA this month, prompting the MILF to stage attacks on several towns in Mindanao and triggering counterattacks by government forces.

Lumad in BJE

Andolana said that indigenous peoples should be made principal representatives in the BJE and not just as observers.

“The indigenous peoples are stakeholders in Mindanao. It is their land that is being discussed here. Historically and legally, they have a big role in juridical entity,” Andolana said.

He said the MOA would have serious implications on the IPRA of 1997.

“The IPRA gives the indigenous peoples the right to the land and their political rights. The BJE does not give due recognition to the ancestral domain claims of indigenous peoples with IPRA as basis,” the former lawmaker said.

Lumad leaders also urged the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to fast-track the delineation of territories and the processing of applications for certificates of ancestral domain title (CADTs).

“The NCIP should help us lobby the government to include us in the review of the BJE and in all consultations as principal members. Otherwise what are they for?” Mudai said.

As early as two years ago, the tribes have been worried that if their ancestral territories were included in the BJE, they would not be able to pursue their political and economic life consistent with their culture and traditions.

They lamented the non-consideration of their position in the Malaysia-brokered negotiations between the government and the MILF.

Lack of recognition

During the gathering of indigenous peoples in Davao City for the State of Indigenous Peoples Address last month, the different tribes in Mindanao conveyed their alarm over the Bangsamoro claim on ancestral domain.

In the State of the Indigenous People’s Address, they said the “the lack of recognition of our legitimate rights to our ancestral domains in the government-MILF peace process is a denial of our existence.”

This is a very “urgent concern,” said the convenors who included tribal leaders Timuay Fernando Mudai, a Subanen; Normal Capuyan, a Tagbanua; Datu Ompongan Sambili Jr., a Tagoloanon-Talaandig; and Bernardo Linikid, a Mansaka.

They stressed the importance of finding a viable way, this time, for “ensuring that (their) voices will also be heard.”

But beyond territorial questions, the lumad leaders also agreed to tackle equally important peace-enhancing concerns.

Carl Cesar Rebuta of the non-government group Legal Rights and Natural Resource Center (LRC), the secretariat of the meeting, said the lumad leaders identified, among others, seeking workable sociopolitical arrangements that ensure peaceful coexistence with the Bangsamoro people.

This is very much true for the Teduray tribe, which lives within the ARMM, the core area of the BJE.

Peaceful solution

The convenors said the meeting was held “in the spirit of finding a peaceful solution to the issue.”

The community representatives who participated in the meeting mostly came from the affected lumad territory identified under Categories A and B of the BJE area as stipulated in the MOA.

The participants included Subanen, Higaonon, Talaandig, Armunanen Manobo, Ubo Manobo, Manobo Pulangiyon, Dulangan Manobo, Teduray-Upi, Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, Lambangian, Blaan, Tboli, Tagakaolo, Bagobo, Banwaon, Mamanwa, Tagbanua, Mandaya, Mansaka, Ata-Manobo and Mangguangan.

Human rights activists have considered Mindanao a significant terrain for the indigenous peoples’ struggle for recognition and self-determination. With a report from Ryan Rosauro, Inquirer Mindanao

Mayor tells police to watch closely drug havens in Kidapawan

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/11 Dec) -- Mayor Rodolfo Gantuangco has instructed the local police to closely watch two areas in the city believed to be havens for drug pushers.
The mayor named Barangay Nuangan and Alim Street where drug pushing is reportedly very rampant.

Gantuangco made his pronouncement during the presentation of two suspected drug couriers arrested by elements of the North Cotabato Task Force in a checkpoint in Barangay Lanao on Sunday afternoon.

The suspects were identified as Emran Samama, of Alim St., Kidapawan City, and cousin Naot Samama Ibrahim, 25, of Barangay Tungol, Datu Montawal, Maguindanao.

Seventeen sachets of suspected shabu with estimated street value of P5,000 were confiscated from the suspects.

Gantuangco has ordered Chief Insp. Leo Ajero, Kidapawan City police chief, to monitor the mentioned areas and arrest those involved in illegal drug activity.

“I received intelligence reports that there were suspicious looking individuals in these areas allegedly selling illegal drugs,” Gantuangco said.

He instructed Ajero to coordinate with barangay officials and civilian assets for possible arrest of suspected drug pushers in Kidapawan City.

The mayor said that these persons involved in drug selling come from the neighboring towns and provinces of North Cotabato. “But we believe that there are also some individuals from here who are involved in this illegal activity,” he added.

Ajero said he is now coordinating with their assets and other contacts in these areas to identify those behind the illegal drug trade.

The police has warned residents living along Alim Street and Barangay Nuangan that they will be arrested once proven that they are cuddling drug pushers.

Ajero said that since they began strengthening the campaign against illegal drugs in 40 villages of the city, some 20 drug users and pushers have been put behind bars.

He said they already have names of suspected drug users and pushers but noted that his office is conducting further investigations to confirm involvement of these persons in the illegal drug trade.

“Sooner of later we could arrest these persons once we establish solid evidence against them,” Ajero vowed. (Williamor A. Magbanua / MindaNews)

Radio station gets bomb threat

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/08 December) – Soldiers and bomb experts cordoned on Friday night the compound and the area near the Catholic-run dxND-AM of the Notre Dame Broadcasting Corporation (NDBC) after two of its employees received information that an improvised explosive device (IED) was planted inside.

Members of the Explosives and Ordnance Disposal Team (EOD) of the Philippine Army and their bomb-sniffing dog immediately searched the area for the supposed bomb.

They, however, found no explosive and hours later, declared the area safe.

DXND’s finance and administrative officer Ping Barrientos and disc jockey Ritchie Joy Mamburao of dxDM-FM received information from “reliable sources” that an explosive was planted inside the compound, around 7 p.m., Friday.

The information came hours after a progressive peasant group and non-government organization in North Cotabato held a forum opposing the use of genetically-modified organisms (GMO).

It also came after the radio station, in its public affairs program over the weekend, read press statements from the militant Bayan Muna party-list group condemning the latest bombings in Metro Manila, including the latest blasts in the city.

The group accused the Arroyo government and the military as behind the explosions.

Chief Inspector Leo Ajero, city police director, said it is not only dxND that has received bomb threats after the November 22 blast that killed a mall employee and injured seven others, including a police officer.

Other business establishments, bus companies, and even the city government, had been receiving bomb and extortion threats from a group that identified itself as Al Khobar, Ajero said.

Ajero said they have yet to determine where the bomb threat against dxND-AM came from.

The Al Khobar, according to City Mayor Rodolfo Gantuangco, admitted it orchestrated the twin blasts in the city on October 5 and the mall explosion on Nov. 22. The group, he said, tried to extort half a million pesos from the city government as protection money.

Gantuangco, however, said he is not bowing to the demands of the Al Khobar.

Kidapawan City starts solid waste segregation

KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Local government officials, including environment experts from southwestern Mindanao, on Saturday led the dry-run of the implementation of the solid waste management project which aims to address the city's growing garbage problems, especially in the public market.

City environment officer Edgar Paalan said the volume of garbage being collected daily at the public market weighed about six tons, almost 30 percent of the total chunk of garbage collected in the city.
This is the reason why there's a need to manage the waste, Paalan said.

The first step, he said, is the segregation of waste into biodegradable, recyclable, and residual.

A biodegradable waste is a type of waste originating from plant or animal sources, which may be broken down by other living organisms. A biodegradable waste can also be composted or used to produce biogas.

A recyclable waste is a type of waste that has the potential to be recycled, including scrap iron, non-ferrous metals, bottles, glass, plastics, and paper.

The dry run, which is to be completed on November 26, includes the clean-up drive within the market and poblacion area, distribution of information materials, posting of solid waste management signages, and actual waste segregation.

The full implementation of the program will be on November 27.

Paalan said with a reinforced solid waste management plan, they hope to convert at least 40 percent of their biodegradable waste into other types.

The city is also set to construct a P5-million wastewater treatment facility intended for the wet market.

Paalan said the market, including the slaughterhouse, releases at least 35 cubic meters of wastewater everyday. This wastewater is discharged at the Nuangan River, one of the longest rivers in the city.

The facility, according to Paalan, has the capacity to convert at least 70 cubic meters of wastewater daily.

City Mayor Rodolfo Gantuangco is set to enter into a loan agreement with the Development of the Philippines (DBP) after the City Council grants him an authority to do so.

The City of Kidapawan is only one of the many assisted LGUs in the urban environmental management of the EcoGov Part 2 project.

The project, which is an initiative of the Philippine government, is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) and implemented in partnership with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and being managed by the Development Alternatives, Inc., (DAI).

The DAI is providing technical assistance to local government units in cities of General Santos, Koronadal, and Davao and provinces of South Cotabato, Saranggani, North Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat in implementing forest and forestlands management, coastal resource management, and urban environmental management. (Malu Cadelina Manar )

Kidapawan City, The City of Fruits and Highland Springs

Kidapawan City is situated at the southeastern portion of Cotabato province, located almost midway between the cities of Davao and Cotabato at a distance of 110 kilometers and 120 kilometers, respectively. It is the capital city of Cotabato Province and currently the seat of the Provincial Government.

Kidapawan, the city hailed as “A Spring in the Highland”, comes from the Manobo words “tida” which means spring and “pawan” meaning highland. The city is found at the bottom of the majestic Mt. Apo, the country’s highest peak. The city is a favorite tourist destination from late October to December and also during summers as many tourists cannot resist the lore of trekking the tallest mountain in the country.

Its first settlers were predominantly Manobos. The influx of Christian settlers from Luzon and the Visayas has resulted in the evolution of the word Tidapawan to Kidapawan.