COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Disposession and displacement from ancestral domain remain the biggest problem for indigenous peoples in the southern Philippines, community repsesentatives said.
Leaders of the Higaonon, Lambangian, Teduray, Blaan, Erumanen ne Menuvu and Menubo Dulangan communities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao told reporters, during a dialogue Thursday, that they are expecting the BARMM legislature to focus attention on the issue.
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"We are being driven away from our ancestral lands through so many ways. We need protection. Some of these culprits have shown us very new land titles inside our ancestral lands," Teduray chieftain Leticio Datuwata said.
Datuwata represents a big IP sector in Maguindanao province.
A number of Tedurays were killed in a spate of attacks by heavily-armed non-Tedurays in at least four barangays in South Upi from 2019 to February last year.
"Their intrusion into our ancestral lands stopped only after the 6th Infantry Division had set up detachments in areas that were prone to attack," Datuwata said.
Romeo Saliga, a member of BARMM’s 80-seat regional parliament said they are focusing attention on IP issues and concerns, one of which is "insulation" of ancestral lands from intruders with vested interests.
Thursday's dialogue between IP chieftains and reporters was part of the April 19 to 21 summit on IP political structures organized by the Non-Moro Indigenous People’s Council and assisted by the Institute for Autonomy and Governance.
Among the topics at the summit are the right to self-determination, autonomy on utilization of obtainable resources in their domains, access to free education, and social welfare and health interventions from the government,
The Indigenous People's Rights Act recognizes the collective ownership of IP communities over their ancestral domain.
Saliga said he is certain the 80-seat BARMM parliament, led by Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim, would work on on pro-IP legislation.