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DAVAO CITY — Youth leaders in Southern Minda-nao, over the weekend, underscored the need for the youth to take an active role in protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples (IPs) or Lumads, as they condemned the alleged militarization that they said displaced Lumads from their communities.

“We are against the actions of the military that affected our Lumad brothers and sisters. They (Lumads) are the first who protect our nature, if destroyed will affect us all. We are here to support their struggle,” Fritz Vegas, convenor of Rise for Education Alliance-University of Immaculate Conception (UIC) said Saturday during the torch march from the Freedom Park to the United Church of Christ of the Philippines’ Haran where some 700 Lumads had taken shelter for months now.

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Representatives from student councils, school publications, and youth-based organizations participated in the torch march held on the eve of the United Nation’s International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, celebrated every August 9.

It also marked the start of the “Pangiyak Ki!” (Shout Out!) Mindanao Youth Summit on August 9 to 10 where 500 young individuals gathered to discuss the role of the youth on alleged militarization in Lumad communities and alleged environmental plunder.

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