Mindanao, Panalipdan! End Martial Law and Resist Imperialist Plunder in Mindanao!

By Save Our Schools Network and KALUMARAN

A hundred of Lumad indigenous people from Mindanao held a protest rally in front of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) today to expose the plunder of their ancestral domains by large foreign mining companies and other extractive industries and agricultural plantation, that intensified, along with the attacks on human rights defenders, due to two years’ imposition of Martial Law in Mindanao.

With the Lumad elders and Lumad youth from the Save Our Schools (SOS) Network, carrying placards bearing the names of their famous mountains --Pantaron Range of the provinces of Davao, Bukidnon and Agusan, Daguma Range of Sultan kudarat, Mt. Malindang and Pinukis of the Zamboanga Peninsula - that are currently being ravaged by foreign owned companies.

Rius Valle of the SOS Network believes that the forcible closure of one of their network schools, the Salugpungan Ta’tanu Igkanugon Learning Center in the Davao Province, was likely related to the three new mining exploration being proposed in Talaingod, Davao del Norte - Metalores Inc., One Compostela Valley Mineral and Phil. Mend Di Mining Dev’t Corp - covering 31,180 hectares of heavily forested ancestral land of Talaingod Manobo and other Lumad groups in Pantaron Mountain Range.

“The schools provide a venue for the awareness of Lumad people - the students and their parents. As our children learn baasic education in school, we also become conscious of our struggle as indigenous people and their rights,” said Nenita Condez of Kalumaran Confederation of Lumad Organizations in Mindanao.

The Salugpungan schools are one of the 215 schools that were forced to close due to military operations and the denial of permit by the Department of Education (DepEd) with at leat 3,633 students displaced.

Another is the Center for Lumad Advocacy Networking and Services (CLANS) that used to operate in Saranggani and Sultan Kudarat province, with enrollees from the tribes of Blaan, Dulangan Manobo and Tboli from Soccsksargen region. The SOS network also believe that this is related to the mining operation of extractives conglomerate David M. Consunji, Inc (DMCI) in Sultan Kudarat. SInce their operations, the Dulangan Manobo has lost their rights to their ancestral domain in the Daguma Mountain Range.

The SOS Network attribute the military encampment in the ALCADEV and TRIFPSS schools in Surigao del Sur to the coal mining operations in CARAGA that the DENR gave at least 15 Coal Operating Contracts encompassing more than 42,000 hectares.

Over the years, by becoming the mining capital of Asia, the Philippine government has paved the way of ravaging the frontier lands of Mindanao for foreign corporations and local businesses. Ten of the largest companies in the world are presently operating in Mindanao such as Bhp Billiton, Anglo American Corp, Sumitomo, St. Augustine Gold and Copper

Aside from mining applications, about 500,000 hectares of land in the five regions of Mindanao are now covered with agro-industrial plantation crops primarily for the export market, equivalent to 12% of Mindanao’s agricultural land. Another 1,000,000 hectares are targeted for oild palm expansion by 2022.

“Tungod sa Martial Law, nagkadaghan ang mining operations sa among lugar, ug mas nisamot ang papanglas sa tawhanong katungod (Due to Martial Law, there are more mining operations in our are and reports of human rights violations),” said Condez.

The November 25 DENR rally is also a solidarity rally for our fellow Aeta indigenous people who were forced to evacuate from their ancestral communities to pave way for the construction of a lavish and very expensive sports arena for the Asian Games.

According to reports, about 20,000 Aeta families within the 10,684 hectares of ancestral domain in Capas, Tarlac will be displaced due to the construction of the New Clark City that will host the Southeast Asian Games.

Valle of the Save our Schools Network expressed disgust and anger at the extravagance in the construction of a sports complex in New Clark City for the Southeast Asian games, an expose by Senator Franklin Drilon during the deliberation of the budget for the SEA Games that detailed the P32 million construction of the SEA Games cauldron, the P4.4 million cauldron’s design, and the P150 to 200 million a year maintenance for the sports complex.

As the decision for another extension of Martial Law in Mindanao nears, Mindanao human rights defenders, leaders of peoples organizations and victims of Martial Law are in Manila to hold a series of protest rallies to expose the continuing human rights violations against the people of Mindanao.

This is a press release copy from Save Our Schools (SOS) Network and Kalumaran. For reference, you may contact KALUMARAN spokesperson Nenita Condez and SOS Network spokesperson Rius Valle.