MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/26 May) — A dialogue between members of the Bukidnon Daraghuyan tribe and the military whom they accused to have bombed their ancestral domain last month has been scheduled by the provincial government for Monday, May 28.
The tribe’s claimed ancestral domain is the Mt. Kitanglad Range Natural Park, also a protected area and a heritage park of the Association of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN)/
Bae Inatlawan Adelina Tarino, head claimant and shaman, told MindaNews that Governor Alex Calingasan informed her about the dialogue on Monday to clarify issues on the tribe’s complaint in a letter to the governor and the Protected Area Management Board on May 7.
Tarino welcomed the dialogue and said a big ritual should be held before the end of May to appease the spirits.
The military should cease bombing their ancestral domain, she said, adding, “if they notice something in our area, they should come to us. We can talk about it.”
Calingasan assigned Provincial Adminsitrator Provo Antipasado to facilitate.
Col. Romeo Gapuz, commander of the 403rdInfantry said he would attend the dialogue.
Tarino said that aside from the Kitanglad Integrated NGOs, the group helping the tribe, the Samdhana Institute will also be attending the dialogue.
She had earlier decried the bombing as “a violation of our culture and an affront to our ancestral territory.”
”Our forests, rivers and other bodies of water, farms, animals, and plants are crying because of the conflict and the bombing,” she said.
Tarino said that on April 21 the military dropped bombs on suspected positions of the New Peoples Army in Dalwangan, particularly in Sinukat, Dinanghaga, and a portion of the Sawaga River near the tribe’s heritage center at the foot of Mt. Kitanglad Range.
Tarino said that as residents and stewards of the mountain range, they want the military to apologize and attend a ritual to reconcile with their ancestors and the spirit guardians of their ancestral domain.
“If they were only firing guns, it could have been less frightening and damaging. But they dropped bombs (which) destroyed the environment (and) wasted the territory,” she said, between sobs.
Gapuz said they will verify Tarino’s allegations. He told MindaNews they requested air support “to ease the pressure on our troops.” He said they were “outnumbered” by the NPA.
On May 7, Tarino, in a letter, reported the bombing to the Governor, Environment regional director Corazon Galinato, Environment provincial officer Felix Mirasol Jr., and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples regional director Pinky Pabelic.
Tarino asked Calingasan and Mirasol, the protected area superintendent, to facilitate a meeting between the tribe’s council of elders, the military, and if possible, the rebels.
Mirasol said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) was unable to verify the report because “the area is critical.”
Tarino said the firing scared people and many of those who were doing pahina or community work at the time of the attack were forced to flee.
She said the bombing destroyed a portion of the side of Mt.Dulang-dulang, the country’s second highest mountain, and caused landslides affecting the Sawaga River, the tribe’s main source of water for domestic and agricultural uses.
She added that the blasts drove out forest animals including the endangered Philippine Eagle, which has a nesting site in sitio Mangasa, Dalwangan.
She criticized the military for allegedly violating the Indigenous People’s Rights Act by not obtaining a free and prior informed consent before entering their domain. “With what they did in the attack, it seems they are not familiar with the law,” she said.
She said the attack not only compromised peace and security in their area but also dishonored their sacred ritual sites and boundary markers.
“In the tradition of our ancestors, we do not even allow anybody from the tribe or from outside to enter those areas,” she added.
The bae, who is also a shaman, said the spirits of the mountains communicated to the tribe about their sadness when they were disturbed by the bombing.
The Bukidnon-Daraghuyan tribe, she said, held two rituals to appease the spirits: the kaliga, a thanksgiving ritual, from April 25 to 27 for the anniversary of the construction of the tribe’s Tulugan Heritage Center, and the panungdan, a ritual of offering.
Mt. Kitanglad Range became a full-fledged protected area inNovember 2000 under the category of natural park, through Republic Act 8978 and declared an ASEAN Heritage Site in 2009.
The mountain range is home to the Bukidnon, Higaonon, and Talaandig tribes.
The NCIP approved the Bukidnon-Daraghuyan Certificate ofAncestral Domain Title covering 4,203 hectares in March 2010. (Walter I.Balane/MindaNews)