Posts by tag: indigenous people

Datu Benito Bay-ao was one of the Lumad leaders who were taken into custody after that disgraceful raid at the Bakwit School in Cebu City. Just six years ago, Dats Bens (as we call him) spoke with pride and optimism in this documentary about their Lumad school in their village of Dulyan, and across the other upland villages in the Pantaron under the Salugpongan Ta Tanu Igkanugon organization. Schooling in the cities made them ashamed of, and forget about, being a Lumad, he said. But with their schools built right in their domain, young Lumad could learn while keeping their tradition alive.

The military claimed they captured two volunteer Lumad school teachers in an encounter with guerrilla forces in Paquibato District, a claim disputed by the Save Our Schools Network as another propaganda spin to discredit Lumad schools.

The ninth death anniversary of Italian missionary Fr. Fausto ‘Pops’ Tentorio PIME will fall on October 17. While the quest for justice has dragged on this long, the young people, the Lumad and scholars he had supported will honor his legacy with a tribute for his being “a true servant of the people”.

It is supremely dissonant that, on what is supposedly Indigenous Peoples’ Month in the Philippines, the local police of the province of Kalinga proposes to demolish the monument to three historical figures to the Indigenous struggles of the Cordillera region.

Rights advocates say that presidential peace adviser and retired general Carlito Galvez’s challenge to let European Union and United Nations investigate UCCP Haran’s alleged profiting from the Lumad in its sanctuary may reveal instead the real reason why the Lumad are displaced.

The struggle of the Lumad children to continue their education amid the tension of militarization and closure of their schools is featured in a documentary premiered in the Daang Dokyu Festival.

The alleged leader of a paramilitary group in Surigao del Sur tagged in the 2015 Lianga massacre of a Lumad school administrator and two community leaders was among those killed in an ambush staged by the New People’s Army on October 4.

The popular indigenous bracelets are commodities for sale during the week-long Kadayawan Festival. (Ace R. Morandante/davaotoday.com)

But with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s plan of calling off the festival due to security threats, the deputy mayors would have to make do with less festivities this year.

By DAVAO TODAY

Hanimay Suazo of Karapatan Southern Mindanao who was with the medical team coming from Davao said there was chaos as they wanted to talk to provincial government officials to calm down the situation, especially when the adults were contained later by the police away from the children awaiting them. “They still have not eaten, it was like they were placed in a concentration camp,” exclaimed Suazo.