Lumad leaders open ‘Kahimunan sa Katungod’ today

Alarmed by the unabated attacks against their communities despite the election of a new President that promised to institute reforms, Lumad leaders under the Kalumbay Regional Lumad Organization will convene a traditional discussion group which will focus on rights issues starting today up to Dec. 9 in Butong, Quezon, Bukidnon province.

Dubbed as ‘Kahimunan sa Katungod,’ the discussion group will be attended by more than 300 traditional leaders and representatives of community-based indigenous organizations from various parts of Mindanao.

Datu Jomorito Goaynon, chairperson of Kalumbay, said the gathering will serve as a venue where “leaders will share with each other the pressing land and human rights issues our respective communities are confronting, collectively analyse our situation and draft further recommendations and resolutions for lobbying later to various duty-bearers from the state.”

“We chose the traditional form of conference to encourage our Lumad communities speak their minds freely and confidently,” Goaynon said.

Despite condemnations from international human rights organizations, Lumad rights remain dismal. In time before the International Human Rights Day commemoration on Dec. 10, indigenous peoples’ support group ‘Higala sa Lumad’ Network released a report on the situation of Lumad rights. The report divulged that in the last 18 years of former Pres. Benigno Aquino III, 28 cases of extra-judicial killings victimizing 37 Lumad leaders and community members were documented. Out of the 37 killed, 7 are traditional leaders, while 23 are considered as activists as per definition of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders.

“But the human rights challenges continue to hound us under the Duterte government,” said Goaynon. Among the cases he cited to emphasize the unabated attacks against indigenous leaders and communities was the killing of two Banwaon activist, Jerry Layola and Jimmy Mapinsahan, on August 12 in San Luis, Agusan del Sur.

“The Manobo-Tigwahanon families have been denied justice on the death of their kin and have yet to return to their homes after four long months,” Goaynon underscored. He was referring to the displaced families from Kawayan, San Fernando, Bukidnon who took sanctuary in front of the provincial capitol building in Malaybalay City since the first week of August this year. These Manobo-Tigwhanon families fled their communities after a paramilitary rampage that killed a pregnant woman and wounded several others. “President Duterte have yet to deliver his promise to arrest the perpetrators and effect the disbandment of the said paramilitary group,” Goaynon furthered. The warrants of arrest against the group remain unenforced.

Goaynon, a datu from the Higaonon tribe, said the colloquium will also encourage the communities to synergize home-base resources for important concerns such as sanctuaries for Lumad leaders or community members atisk.

Atty. Czarina Golda Musni of the ‘Higala sa Lumad’ Network—co-organizer of the activity—said that educational and parallel events in the colloquium will be held simultaneously for the around 200 support groups from academe, churches and advocacy organizations.

Over-all, Musni elaborated, Kahimunan’s objectives include consolidation of indigenous communities in defense of their rights versus aggressive plunder projects in Mindanao and bringing the opinion-making sectors closely to the struggle of Lumad communities. The participants will also show solidarity to the host community, Tindoga, in their current struggle to reclaim their lands from the grip of a local landlord.

‘Kahimunan sa Katungod’ is an activity supported by the ‘Healing the Hurt,’ an interfaith initiative of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines-Northern Mindanao Region. The project aims to contribute in combatting discrimination, human rights violations and impunity against the Lumad of Mindanao. (pr)