CBCP’s Commission on IPs protests NCIP’s resolution on ‘Lumad’
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“It did arise out of a united people’s concern to defend the rights of the Lumad from the perspective of a Christian faith that is concerned with the least of our brothers and sisters victimized by both an repressive State and business firms interested in usurping the Lumads’ ancestral domains for profit purposes,” the statement added.
It urged the NCIP “not to be derailed in their mandate to serve the IPs of this country by engaging in actions that are only counter-productive and can only lead to fragmentations among our ranks.[]
Instead, the NCIP should concentrate in fulfilling their tasks to support the struggles of the IPs for a better life, lived in justice and peace, free from coercion, harassment and victimization from various forces.”
“On our part, we pledge to continue what we have done in the past sixty years, to align ourselves in the struggles of our Lumad sisters and brothers. By doing so, we are merely following the exhortations of our Holy Father, Pope Francis who has reminded us through his encyclical Laudato Si and talks at various fora that ‘Indigenous peoples are a cry of hope. They know what it is to listen to the earth, to see the earth, to touch the earth.[]
They remind us that we human beings have a shared responsibility to care for our ‘common home’.’”
It concluded its four-page statement by saying that it is “by engaging in generous dialogue and by joining forces, that we will end up becoming more aware of the fact that we need each other, as well as be able to highlight the fact that harmful behavior affecting the environment around us also has a negative impact on the serenity and fluidity of coexistence” and the Lumads “cannot continue to suffer injustice” and young people “have a right to a better world than ours and expect coherent and
The ECIP’s mission is to “work for and with Indigenous Peoples in their effort, first, to secure justice for themselves, second, to protect their ancestral lands, and third, to preserve their cultural heritage.”
It also aims to foster among the Christian majority “a greater awareness of and appreciation for the Indigenous Peoples in order to help in lessening, if not totally eradicating, prejudices against them” and to undertake specific programs “for the realization of the above functions with the approval of the Bishops concerned and in collaboration with their respective Indigenous Peoples’ Apostolate, inclusive of complying with the directives from the Holy See and instructions from the Conference.” (MindaNews)
