DAVAO CITY – Almost a thousand youth marched along the main thoroughfares here carrying torches on Saturday night to mark the beginning of a two-day youth summit where they will discuss issues such as militarization of indigenous communities and environmental protection.
The delegates came from student councils, school publications, and youth-based organizations from all over Mindanao.
Fritz Vegas, spokesperson of Pangiyak ki! Mindanao Youth Summit, said that the torches “represent the nationalist spirit of Mindanao youth in their unity in the struggle of lumads, who for years have remained marginalized and oppressed by the state, just as majority of the youth are today.”
A welcome program at Freedom Park where speeches coming from representatives from the five regions in Mindanao and from the international youth community called for attention to the “worsening state of human rights and environmental situation in the country” was held by the group.
A symbolic candle lighting activity followed, with the delegates arms-linked circling a dove art installation.
“The Filipino tradition of the ‘kapit-bisig’ (linking of arms) signifies the youth’s collectively solidarity around the world in bringing a decisive action to defend Mindanao’s environment from plunder and militarization,” Vegas said.
“Our advocacy has gained international support from the California-based Kapit Bisig Kabataan Network (KBKN), echoing our calls in the international level to save our schools, our environment, and its people—to save Mindanao”, said Vegas.
Filipino-American Jeremy Alvarado De Nieva, a young teacher from the US and a representative of the KBKN, said the International Solidarity Mission (ISM) “served as an eye-opener for internationals”.
“Our experience in the Philippines has opened our eyes to social realities we never quite fathom and fully understand before,” De Nieva said.
De Nieva said he was able to witness the daily struggles of community teachers and school children in Talaingod, Davao del Norte, who he described as “passionate to get education despite threats in their community.”
“Massive human rights violations caused by militarization of communities, the plunder of resources through large-scale multinational mining, attacks on community learning schools for indigenous peoples and poor farmers, insufficient delivery of relief and rehabilitation programs to survivors of natural disasters, and the general lack of food security, are the pressing issues in Mindanao demands immediate action from the government,” De Nieva said.
De Nieva said they would encourage more Filipinos from abroad to help the IP communities in Mindanao when they go back home.(davaotoday.com)
