AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT April 7, 2014 HIS EXCELLENCY BENIGNO SIMEON AQUINO III President of the Republic of the Philippines Malacanang, Manila Your Excellency President Aquino: Greetings of Peace and Solidarity! “Fiyo gai”. In our culture, this means Time has
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/25 September)—Harnessing the potentials of indigenous peoples to produce medicines from plants and herbs as a livelihood opportunity is better than allowing mining in their ancestral domains, a lumad leader said. Bae Inatlawan Docenos Tarino, spiritual leader and
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/19 Sept) – Political and economic rights are on top of the eight-point legislative agenda of the indigenous peoples in Malaybalay City, according to a lumad leader. Umayamnon Datu Benjamin “Otto” Omao, mandatory representative of the indigenous peoples
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNew/23 July) — “Silent again on indigenous peoples.” This was the reaction of Lumad (indigenous peoples) leaders here to President Aquino’s nearly 90-minute State of the Nation Address Monday afternoon. Datu Mayda Pandian, a provincial board member representing
BUTUAN CITY (MindaNews/09 June) – Tribal chieftains from Agusan del Sur and a town in Agusan del Norte have come out to claim ownership of some 2,400 confiscated Lauan logs seized along Agusan River here on June 3 and appealed
CAGDIANAO, Claver, Surigao del Norte (MindaNews/11 May) – Mamanwas vowed to continue barricading the mining site of Shen Zhou Mining Group Corporation here until the company shuts down and leaves port. Vilma Coter, a Mamanwa representative told MindaNews on the
BAYOG, Zamboanga del Sur (MindaNews/21 April) – A support group for indigenous peoples (IPs) is calling for support to “multi-stakeholder action and calls to cease provocations and de-escalate the situation” at the gold-rich Balabag Hill in Barangay Depore, following a
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/23 March)—A brewing rift between the military and a tribal community in the coal-rich town of Lake Sebu, South Cotabato was averted after the parties patched things up in a dialogue here Thursday. Present during the dialogue were
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/10 March 2012) — Indigenous People (IP) of the Higaonon tribe from the 13 barangays here and tribal leaders of Bukidnon together with the Manobo tribe from Agusan in Caraga region urged the communities and the
SONGCO, Lantapan, Bukidnon (MindaNews/09 March) – Representatives of eight Moro tribes and most of the Lumad or non-Islamized tribes in Mindanao yesterday signed a five-point kinship covenant in a gathering here filled with festive remembrance of historical relationships and aspirations
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/14 January) – Members of the Bukidnon-Tagoloan tribe today held a ritual symbolizing their recovery of a spring along the Sawaga River bank, which their ancestors had used as a traditional sacred site, even if a private hog
SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/27 Nov) – Members of the Mamanwa tribe in Agusan del Norte and some parts of Surigao del Norte appealed to the city government to implement the law mandating local government units to provide a seat for Lumad
Early in the morning of Thursday, September 1, residents near the regional office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) along the corner of Tiano and Del Pilar Streets in Cagayan de Oro City were caught by surprise upon
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/10 May) – The Lumad communities have express alarm over the consecutive killing of three tribal leaders in Monkayo, Compostela Valley these past few years. The latest killing was of Bae Floreta Caya from the Mandaya tribe last
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/28 Apr) – On the second day of their march for justice and land, at least 300 Bagobo K’lata lumads and farmers from sitio Kahusayan in barangay Guianga will spend the night at the Mintal Gym before they
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/14 Apr) – The location of the early morning “Pamalas” ritual to ward off evil spirits from the “yutang kabilin” was perfect. The even this morning was, after all, the kickoff of the five-day Earth Day
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/28 March) – One of the worst fears expressed years back by the local Catholic Church over the massive Tampakan copper-gold project of foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines, Inc – that of tribesmen taking up firearms in protest of the
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/23 February) — A tribal chieftain who staunchly supported the Tampakan copper-gold project of foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines, Inc was killed Tuesday night by still unidentified gunmen, prompting the company to temporarily suspend operations in parts of the mines
MALAYBALAY, Bukidnon (MindaNews/8 Feb) – A stakeholders’ forum on the proposed Pulangi 5 hydro electric power project in Kibawe town with about a thousand participants turned into a stage for Manobo Lumad elders to call on those opposed to the
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/2 Feb) – The House of Representatives will conduct an inquiry on the alleged irregularities concerning the multimillion-peso royalty payments made by a mining company to the Mamanwa tribe in Claver, Surigao del Norte. The national cultural communities
BAYOG, Zamboanga del Sur (MindaNews/28 January) — Indigenous communities here have asked the local government to reveal the identities of companies that have conflicting mining claims in this town. Timuay Lucenio Manda, barangay chairperson of Conacon, raised the question after municipal officials said that aside from failing to comply with legal requirements, some companies have conflicting mining claims that cover portions of the Lumads’ 30,000-hectare ancestral domain.
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/25 January) — “A landmark victory for indigenous peoples in Mindanao,” Bae Alma Binayao of the Manobo-Talaandig tribe, said of the Court of Appeals Mindanao decision declaring “null and void” three land titles over 3,080 hectares in the
BUTONG, Quezon, Bukidnon (MindaNews/13 December) — The Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (DARAB) has reversed a decision it made in 1998 that favored a tribe’s claim that the 230-hectare property of the Bukidnon Sugar Milling Company (Busco) was part
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/07 December) — Tribal leaders have disapproved of what has become the practice of Lumads to come down from the mountains for Christmas and do some caroling in the city, a city official said. Ma. Lourdes Bermudo, chief
The tribe’s art is everywhere in the Talaandig village in Songco. It is in their music, paintings, inside their houses and even on their doors. Children learn to beat the drums as soon as their hands can reach thecowhide canvases and Talaandig grandmothers see to it that this tradition is passed on by teaching the children how to dance to the beat of the drums.
SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/02 October) – The congressional representatives of Surigao del Norte are seeking an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the issuance of Certificates of Ancestral Domain (CADT) to alleged fake recipients in two villages in mineral-rich Claver in
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/31 August) – In a ceremony that some leaders of indigenous peoples may frown upon, Cotabato Governor Lala Talinio-Mendoza and the head of a Manila-based non-government organization were conferred the title Bai (Manobo tribal princess). Mendoza, a non-Manobo,
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/19 Aug) – The city government here has filed administrative and criminal charges against top officials of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the Register of Deeds over the issuance of ancestral land title earlier
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/17 August) – Cotabato 2nd District Rep. Nancy Catamco is set to propose the integration in elementary and high school curricula the study of cultures and traditions of the indigenous peoples. Catamco, who belongs to the Manobo tribe
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/15 August) – Opposition to the privatization of Mindanao’s Agus and Pulangi hydropower complexes as provided for in the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) is gaining ground, Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) chair Sec. Jesus Dureza
DAVAO CITY (STN/08 August) — Insisting on the urgency to mitigate the poor health situation in the indigenous community, the Save Talaingod Network (STN) pushed through with its major medical intervention dubbed as Save Talaingod Medical Mission this August 7-11,
SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/03 August) – Taganito Mining Corporation, now under the Nickel Asia Corporation Group of Companies, has paid a total of P72.5 million to the Mamanwa, the indigenous peoples on whose ancestral domain the mining firm operates in Claver,
SONGCO, Lantapan, Bukidnon (MindaNews/27 July) – President Benigno Aquino III must fulfill his commitment in his first State of the Nation Address to include the lumads in the Mindanao peace process by allowing a third panel representing the lumads, said
SONGCO, Lantapan, Bukidnon (MindaNews/27 July) – President Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s first State of the Nation Address was silent on his program for the indigenous peoples, Lumad leaders said. “Where is his policy for the assertion of the rights of
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/24 July) – An estimated 100 Lumads (indigenous peoples) from various parts of the country will gather at the foot for Mt. Kitanglad in Bukidnon for the fourth State of the Indigenous Peoples’ Address (SIPA) in time for
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/19 July) — Cotabato 2nd district Congresswoman Nancy Catamco will file a bill seeking the creation of a tribal municipality in her legislative district once Congress opens on July 26. Catamco, in a consultative dialogue with the indigenous
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/19 July) – The influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) recently called on President Benigno Aquino III to review all “anomalous and controversial” mining contracts and make public all existing mining applications and contracts. In a
MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/17 July) – Manobo tribal leader Datu Ampuan Jeodoro Sulda has a word of advice to the people at the Philippine Eagle Foundation — secure a free and prior informed consent (FPIC) first if they plan to release
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/13 July) – A datu and two women who are among the Lumads from Kibawe town in Bukidnon who have picketed since Monday the regional office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) here had
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/13 July) — A group of lumads from Bukidnon yesterday picketed the regional office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples here to demand the revocation of a Free and Prior Informed Consent granted to a ranch developer. The contested land is a 480-hectare property in Barangays Panalsalan and Dagumbaan , Kibawe town in Bukidnon.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/12 July) – Lumads or indigenous peoples belonging to 12 tribes in Mindanao’s southern provinces have declared their opposition to what they call the deceptive nature of treaty-based schemes to reduce carbon emissions, saying these are being promoted
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/07 July) — Indonesian authorities last night released an official of an indigenous peoples’ rights advocacy group here along with 12 other foreign activists who were arrested Monday in West Java for causing “instability”. Jean Marie Ferraris, Davao
SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/2 July) — Surigao del Norte Rep. Guillermo Romarate Jr. (2nd Dist.) has warned mining firms operating on ancestral lands to pay their royalty share to the Mamanwas or their permits will be revoked. The reelected Romarate, said
MALALAG, Davao del Sur (MindaNews/1 July) — As President Benigno S. Aquino III conveyed his plans and promises to the Filipino people during his inaugural speech at Quirino Grandstand Wednesday, a tribal chieftain here urged the newly installed leader of
