Their vividly colored indigenous clothing shout like a blast of dynamite ripping through the mountains they call home. It is Tuesday and they are standing in a busy avenue in the snotty business district of Makati. “It is where the mining companies are, and if they cannot hear our pleading screams while they kill us…
DAVAO CITY– Three years after their datu leader was killed, the Kahugpongan sa mga Lumad (KSL) together with PASAKA Regional Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Southern Mindanao in a press conference today condemned the latest threats and harassment by forces believed to be Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s private army and the military soldiers under 84th Infantry…
By CHERYLL D. FIEL
Like the Moro in many parts of Mindanao, evacuation has become a way of life for the Lumads . They would rather sleep in schools, at village halls or town gymnasiums than stay in their villages and bear the brunt of military operations.
The living conditions of the Lumad in the evacuation center make them, especially the infants and children, vulnerable to illnesses resulting from lack of food, water and facilities for sanitation. “Their daily lives, work and schools have sadly become “collateral damage to the Arroyo’s counterinsurgency campaign,” says Gabriela Rep. Luz Ilagan.
BY JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat Posted 5:01 p.m., May 15, 2008 More than a hundred Lumads from Mangayon, Compostela Valley have fled from their homes because of the military operations conducted by the Philippine Army’s 67th Infantry Battalion in their ancestral territory last May 13, fearing that this may give rise to human rights…
BY GERMELINA A. LACORTE Davao Today Posted by Bulatlat Vol. VIII, No. 9, April 6-12, 2008 DAVAO CITY – Pencils and notebooks made in Germany and Switzerland, durable umbrellas, raincoats as big as blankets because European sizes are almost twice as big as average Filipino sizes, used toys curiously making their way to the lumad…
As the city announced a shift in the way the annual Kadayawan Festival is celebrated — that is, for one, showcasing Lumad culture and tradition not for tourism’s sake — tribal leaders remain concerned that the festivities hardly depict the struggle of Mindanao’s indigenous peoples to pursue their unique way of life and retain control…