Supreme Council of Datus-Alimaong

 Dear Editor,

 A report entitled “Tribesmen, caretaker arrested, trouble erupts at Sesbreño lot” appeared on your April 9, 2012 issue, the content of which implicated the names or members of the Datus-Alimaong Tribe.

 Please be informed that Datus-Alimaong is not a tribe. It is, however, the name of our duly-registered and accredited confederacy of the SUPREME COUNCIL OF DATUS-ALIMAONG (The Holy Warriors) or SCODA for short. SCODA is a peoples’ organization/non-government organization and confederacy of different tribes in the entire country, which has its focus for the meantime in the Visayas and Mindanao. Datu means tribal chieftain or leader and an Alimaong is a tribal soldier. Thus, the two-coin words connote for the confederacy not only of the tribal leaders and tribal soldiers but also the constituents/people or Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) whose vital interests the Datu (Chieftain or Tribal Leader) duly represent, protect, preserve, and defend to the bests of his abilities.

 As far as we are concerned, the SUPREME COUNCIL OF DATUS-ALIMAONG (The Holy Warriors), for several decades, is so far the only legitimate organization consolidating the ICCs/IPs in the Province of Cebu and the Metropolis City of Cebu whose tribal leaders continue to serve the interests of the ICCs/IPs without salaries or remuneration, whatsoever. However, with the latest involvement of so-called tribesmen in the article published in your prestigious newspaper, we dare send this notice of disclaimer for clarifying the position of our beloved organization.

 Per our computerized data base, the following individuals who were arrested by Talisay City Police are not members of the Supreme Council of Datus-Alimaong (The Holy Warriors): Bernardino Nipa, 44, of barangay Guindaruhan, Minglanilla; Benjamin Aleonar, 57, of barangay Cogon; Lorenzo Barazon, Jr., 40, of barangay Upper Cogon; Ramon Eldon Noel, 63, of Sitio Cogon, barangay Camomot, all of Carcar City; Ricardo Plariza, 55, of Upper Inayawan, Cebu City; and Rissah Amahan, 37, of barangay Lawaan II, Talisay City. Moreover, it is not the policy of SCODA to allow its members to conduct illegal intrusion into private lands in deference to the provision of Section 56 of The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 (Republic Act 8371).

 The use of the words Datus-Alimaong or Alimaong of some tribesmen or unscrupulous individuals is highly regrettable as the term Datu/Datus (Tribal Chieftain or Leader/Leaders) or Alimaong (Tribal soldier) are considered sacred to the ICCs/Ips of different tribes. The respect and honor due to the Tribal Chieftain or the tribal soldier is part of the customs and traditions of the natives since time immemorial, which are likewise respected by the unseen beings. Those who assume the designation of a Datu or an Alimaong, without undergoing the necessary rituals and recognized traditional conferrals, run the risk of incurring the wrath and curses of the angry gods (the unseen beings or known as the local deities as respected and honored by the ICCs/IPs), which could translate to a curse to the generations of blood relatives to come.

 The national leadership of SCODA is oftentimes aware that discharged erring members or opportunistic individuals deceptively assume the designation and organizational setup of Datus-Alimaong to the great prejudice and damage of the innocent public. Breakaway groups likewise proliferate suspiciously. Hence, the urgency of this notice of disclaimer.

 The actuations of some individuals at the Sesbreño lot are highly condemnable and not the acts of the members of SCODA who are law-abiding citizens and whose members are always guided by the tenets, principles, institutions, customs and traditions of DATUISM.

 Your office, as well as the public in general is NOTIFIED and hereto informed that these alleged tribesmen arrested at the Sesbreño Lot are not members of the SUPREME COUNCIL OF DATUS-ALIMAONG (The Holy Warriors) and there is no other duly recognized and accredited organization coined by the words DATUS-ALIMAONG except SCODA. Any transactions in the name of Datus-Alimaong are theirs alone and the national leadership of SCODA will not take any responsibility for whatever acts they did, specially those acts that intrude or otherwise infringe the right of innocent persons.

 Datu Dimantag

 Vice Chairman for Operation and Cultural Affairs