OVER 3,000 Moros and indigenous peoples from Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao will stage a nationwide caravan to Manila starting Oct. 8.
Dubbed as “Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya para sa Sariling Pagpapasya at Makatarungang Kapayapaan” (Journey of the National Minorities for Self-Determination and Just Peace), the national caravan will dramatize their unity to assert their right to self-determination—the right to fully control their land and resources, implement their own form of self-governance, and practice their culture, traditions and religion.
“We want to forward our struggle for the Cordillera people’s genuine regional autonomy and end the control and plunder of our resources and the militarization of our communities,” said Abie Anongos, an Ibaloy leader from Baguio City.
A Tumandok leader from Capiz— Aileen Cataman—said at least 17,000 indigenous peoples would be displaced if the proposed construction of the Jalaur mega dam is pushed.
“Contrary to what the National Irrigation Authority claims, there was no genuine consultation and participation of the Tumandok regarding the project,” she added.
The Lakbayan urged the Duterte administration to firmly uphold its stance to pursue an independent foreign policy to stop the environmental and economic plunder of ancestral lands by foreign corporations, and the US intervention in the country’s governance, economy and security.
“We have been targeted by several wars on terror by the past regimes supported by the US government just because we are Moros and Muslims,” Maguindano leader Bai Ali Indayla said.
She hit Oplan Bayanihan, which was patterned after the US counter-insurgency guide, for the evacuation of over 100,000 of her Muslim brethren.
The Lakbayan will end with a multisectoral march to Mendiola, Manila on Oct. 21, an event aimed at highlighting the non-recognition of the right of indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands.
A kampuhan at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City will be put up to house the Lakbayan participants.