A total of 195 hectares of Sëzukadang were placed under a collective certificate of land ownership award (CLOA). The beneficiaries—who are non-Lumad—leased it to banana production company Green Arrow Agriventures Incorporated (GAAVI), a subsidiary of agribusiness Kennemer Foods International.

DON CARLOS, Bukidnon — The presence of a banana plantation has deprived an Indigenous peoples community control of their entire ancestral land.

The Lumad living in Sëzukadang (the native name of Barangay New Visayas) in Don Carlos, Bukidnon, cannot assert their rights over the land that their ancestors lived in since time immemorial. They have also been disturbed by the plantation’s agricultural drone spraying which affected their health and livelihood, and by the attempt to establish fences to allegedly prevent them access.

Sëzukadang is the home of the Ompigan Clan belonging to Kirintëkën-Ilantungën Mënuvu, which is a subgroup of the Erumanen ne Mënuvu tribe that has settled in Bukidnon and Cotabato. The more than 2,000-hectare Sëzukadang is part of the more than 40,000 hectares of the tribe’s unified ancestral domain covering some areas in the towns of Don Carlos, Pangantucan, and Kalilangan in Bukidnon.

Tribal Chieftain Datu Benjie Ompigan explained to a small group of reporters who visited their community that prior to the issuance of their certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT) in 2016, their land was placed under Community-Based Forest Management Agreement (CBFMA), a production sharing contract, in 1992. It expired in 2017.

It was in 2019 when the community learned and was able to confirm that 195 hectares of Sëzukadang were placed under a collective certificate of land ownership award (CLOA), a document issued by the government to provide ownership to qualified landless farmers and farmworkers. 

The beneficiaries—who are non-Lumad—leased it to banana production company Green Arrow Agriventures Incorporated (GAAVI), a subsidiary of agribusiness Kennemer Foods International.

What confuses the tribe members was that the collective CLOA was issued by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in 2011 despite an existing CBFMA contract at that time.

Ompigan said they used to occupy more than a hectare only of the 2,000 hectares of Sëzukadang. However, they were able to reclaim a total of seven hectares now through reforestation. Asked if they would continue their collective action to recover more lands, he said they ceased for now to avert any escalated conflict.

“Because of our pushback, in 2019, before Covid, residents from three barangays went to us,” he said in the vernacular. “There is a commotion. Since we believed in the name of spirits, I asked my colleagues to control their emotions considering that there were children with us.”

The Lumad community decided to wait for the resolution on the Agrarian Law Implementation (ALI) case pending before the DAR secretary. The petition seeks to cancel the issued collective CLOA.

Fence them out

The Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC), a non-government organization that serves as a support group for the Kirintëkën-Ilantungën Mënuvu tribe, reported in May that GAAVI-Kennemer was in the process of establishing a perimeter fence after holes were seen in the area.

After a few days, the community found out that company personnel were in the process of cementing the fence.

Prior to these incidents, in April, a pulong-pulong (a customary practice of discussion) was held in the community’s meeting place to talk about the concerns of the Lumad. The meeting was participated in by the affected Indigenous families together with representatives of DAR, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), and the World Bank.

Ompigan said they reached out to these agencies following the attempted fencing, which prompted the World Bank to direct DAR to investigate the matter.

Personnel of the Provincial Agrarian Reform Office (PARO) Bukidnon responded to the area on May 21, upholding the status quo.

Lilia Ompigan-Nonay, a member of the affected community and the one who witnessed the attempted fencing, said that personnel of GAAVI-Kennemer allegedly refused to follow the status quo since there was no document presented to them.

The community was able to secure the printed document of the status quo order. Ompigan-Nonay, who serves as the Indigenous peoples mandatory representative (IPMR) of Barangay New Visayas, presented the document to the company. But the fencing continued notwithstanding PARO’s order. 

“I talked to the three people who were trying to fence the area. I asked them if they were not aware of the status quo,” she said in the vernacular. “They said this was just temporary to prevent people from entering since there were animals.”

The latest incident reportedly occurred in June.

NCIP’s error

Kennemer commented on the Facebook post made by LRC on May 16 regarding the matter, confirming that it operates under lease agreements with agrarian reform beneficiaries awarded with CLOA in 2011. 

The firm also stated that the subject area is outside the approved CADT of the affected Lumad community.

The concerned tribe, however, asserted that NCIP provided the incorrect map and technical description associated with their title after 19,000 hectares of ancestral land covering several Lumad communities, including Sëzukadang, were not included. The approved CADT of the Kirintëkën-Ilantungën Mënuvu only covers 23,200 hectares. 

“We identified in the map that our traditional muhon (boundary) was there, which was also followed during the survey,” Ompigan said. “If they are able to transfer it (muhon), we will no longer appeal. However, if they do not, we are indeed part of the CADT.”

Other areas that were not included are the communities of Reuvan (Barangay Bocboc), Kuliviyen (Barangay Kalubihon), Milewaan (a portion of Barangay Cabadiangan), and Sempew (Barangay San Francisco) in Don Carlos, and a portion of barangays Salvacion and Baroy in Kadingilan town.

In May 2023, however, NCIP issued a certification confirming that these excluded areas were part of the CADT of Kirintëkën-Ilantungën Mënuvu.

Datu Ompigan filed a petition before the NCIP, demanding the rectification of the map. The agency responded on August 6, directing its engineers to conduct an area verification and submit a comprehensive survey report.

As of this writing, the affected Lumad community is preparing to file a resolution for rectification to press NCIP to resolve these inaccuracies. 

Contamination

The Lumad community welcomed the status quo order of PARO, but this remains insufficient as it only covers the establishment of a perimeter fence. The aerial spraying of chemicals remains a major concern of the Lumad folk, as it affects their health, their farm animals, and their water resource.

The house of Datu Tirso “Ipandingding” Ompigan used to be just a few meters away from a banana tree. Because of this, his family was subjected to eviction. 

He received summons from Barangay San Francisco and was allegedly told by a barangay worker that GAAVI-Kennemer wanted his family to leave the place due to the scheduled aerial spray of chemicals and the company wanted to fence the area.

“I have been living here peacefully. I was born here, and since my childhood, I did not commit a violation,” he said in the vernacular.

He said the banana plantation normally starts their aerial spraying at 1 a.m. He noticed every morning that his moringa plants already have white stains from chemicals. “Morning and night, we inhale their chemicals,” he added.

Ipandingding said he no longer received summons from the barangay after he confronted them to direct the summons to their tribal court. He also said that the banana tree near his residence was removed. “At that time, I felt we won.”

Fair for all

Ompigan clarified that their community does not want to kick out the non-Lumad living within their ancestral domain. All they want is to let them exercise their customary practices in governing the land.

“It is disheartened to hear that while they already have [sons and daughters who are] lawyers and nurses, we only have weeders and harvesters,” he said in the vernacular. “We became slaves of our own land.”

Their aim now is to evict the banana plantation. 

In a statement, the Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (Katribu), a national alliance of Indigenous peoples’ organizations, said the situation of the Lumad in Sëzukadang territory is not new. “For decades, giant agribusiness corporations such as Del Monte Philippines, Dole Philippines, and Sumifru Philippines, have plundered ancestral lands and converted vast areas into export-oriented plantations for profit.”

The group stressed how brutal plantation expansion is, as it results in landlessness of farmers and relentless assault on Indigenous peoples’ rights to their ancestral lands and self-determination.

Once they evict the banana plantation, Ompigan said that residents in the entire village, including the non-Lumad, should have a discussion on how to live while protecting the environment at the same time. (RVO)

Disclosure: The Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center provided transportation for the media going to the Lumad community. The LRC has no involvement in Bulatlat’s editorial processes.