Davao City’s Indigenous Peoples' Mandatory Representative (IPMR) Councilor Rodolfo Mande signified his intention to continue his public service after his three-year term ends this month as he is running for the city council’s third district.
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.