By CONG B. CORRALES
Associate Editor
AT LEAST 800 Higaonons from different parts of northern Mindanao marked the 47th Global Earth Day on Saturday by taking to the streets here, denouncing the “continued encroachment” of multinational corporations into their ancestral lands.
The Higaonons took to task President Duterte’s campaign promise of change in national government’s priorities.
Carrying the theme “Soberanya ug Pagkaon dili dam, coal plant, ug plantation expansion,” the Higaonons questioned the Duterte administration’s priorities saying food security should be its priority and not corporate plantations.
“Miaproba na man hinuon siya (Duterte) sa one million hectares nga target sa oil palm expansion sa tibuok Pilipinas. Ang 98 percent nga expansion anaa dinhi sa Mindanao, diin 154,000 hectares ang target expansion sa atong rehiyon, partikular sa Misamis Oriental ug Bukidnon,” said Datu Jomorito Goaynon, Kalumbay chairman.
The indigenes opened the commemoration of Earth Day with the Higaonon ritual “Panalabugta” that was led by Datu Felix Bollosoz at the foot of Press Freedom Monument at the capitol grounds here.
Goaynon explained the ritual was to pay homage and respect to Mother Earth which he said is the “actual source of life.”
“Atong ritwal para sa pagtahod ug pahinungod sa yuta kay dira man gatubo ang mga kahoy, talamnon ug uban pa para mabuhi ang tao,” Goaynon said.
After the ritual, the indigenes marched around the city proper, and held a short program at Magsaysay Park in Divisoria in the afternoon.
“Ang kapait pa kay ginahimong legal pa sa gobyerno ang pagpangilog sa yuta, susama sa palm oil plantation, diin ginaduso sa probinsyon sa Indigenous People’s Rights Act ang rekesito sa partnership sa mga dagkong negosyo,” Goaynon said.
Currently, almost 200,000 hectares in northern Mindanao have been planted with agricultural corporation crops: sugar cane (72,208 has), banana (17,168 has), rubber (8,876.31 has), cacao (663 has), pineapple (24,100.40 has), and oil palm (4,290 has).
“Busa angayan lamang nga papanubagon ang rehimeng Duterte sa pagpasagad niini sa katawhan diini misamot pa ang pagkaguba sa kinaiyahan padayon pa gyud ang pagpahilom sa mga lider mag-uuma, lumad, ug mga environmentalists,” Goaynon said.
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