The indigenous peoples of the Malaysian state of Sarawak have to contend with forces of tradition and development that often clash. The resultant cultural, economic and political stirrings are not unlike what the Lumads in Mindanao go through. Davao Today associate editor Germelina A. Lacorte, who spent weeks in Sarawak earlier this year as part of her journalism fellowship with the Southeast Asia Press Alliance, chronicles the struggles of our neighboring tribes.
The Bagobo-Tagabawas, a tribe in Santa Cruz, Davao del Sur, fear not only their displacement if an Aboitiz-owned power company succeeded in building a power plant in Tudaya. Ultimately, their leaders say, the children will pay the price. Text and photos by Davao Today?s Germelina A. Lacorte.
Related story: The Ritual at Tudaya Falls
The Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center- Kasama sa Kailakasan (LRC-KsK) Friends of the Earth Philippines Davao Office has launched two websites to elevate into the cyberspace their campaign against…
The environment group Interface Development Interventions Inc. has criticized City Hall’s recommendations on aerial spraying, calling it a sellout. Below is the group’s statement:
An environmental NGO criticized the report of Eng. Luis Jacinto, city planning coordinator, on the controversial proposal to ban aerial spraying in Davao City branding it as a ?sell-out that intentionally omitted glaring facts to come up with recommendations tailored to favor only banana corporations.?
Mindanaoan senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. today warned the Arroyo government not to neglect the rights of small-scale miners as the government opens the Diwalwal gold-rush site to big mining companies, among them foreign-owned.
Pimentel said small-scale miners ?want an assurance that their means of livelihood and their welfare will be protected with the entry of mining firms and their foreign partners.?