Philippine movie actor Robin Padilla said it is high time that both Lumad and Moro should rule over their ancestral land. (Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
QUEZON CITY, Philippines – Philippine movie actor Robin Padilla said it is high time that both Lumad and Moro people should rule over their ancestral land.
“This maybe the time that they can lead their ancestral land,” Padilla said when he visited the Lumad and Moro activists during a protest rally in front of the National Commission on the Indigenous People’s office earlier today.
Padilla said members of the national minority groups could seek Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s help as Duterte himself claims to have a mix blood of being a Lumad and Moro.
“At this moment, the Lumad [and Moro] can now claim the power that they are asking,” he said.
Padilla, a Roman Catholic who converted to Islam, said both Lumad and Moro people were subjected to abuses and by the elites especially those who have vested interest in their lands.
“When you asked them if they have the power over their land? No! It’s not them who call the shot,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lumad and Moro activists and other members of the national minority groups would engage a dialogue with the Department of Justice later today to bring the issue of extra-judicial killings, militarization of IP communities, among others. (davaotoday.com)
