Press
Statement on the SANDUGO 2004
Cordillera Peoples Alliance
August 10, 2004
Indigenous peoples
reaffirm unity against ethnocide
Delegations of indigenous peoples from all over the country
will converge in Quezon City on August 13-16 for the 3rd SANDUGO (“Blood
Pact”), Solidarity Festival. The festival, which was first held
some twenty years ago, gave birth to the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan
ng Pilipinas (KAMP) or the National Federation of Indigenous Peoples Organizations
in the Philippines. The federation eventually took the lead in advancing
the nationwide struggle of indigenous peoples in the country.
This year’s celebration of National Minority Week
coincides with the closing year of the UN-declared International Decade
of Indigenous Peoples. The celebration also commemorates the annually
celebrated International Day for Indigenous Peoples every August 9. This
activity is sponsored mainly by Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan
sa Pilipinas (KAMP), National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP)
and Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA).
The gathering will be attended by 500 IPs and advocates
from different regions of the country. The Cordillera delegation under
CPA with 75 participants will be a major group in the said event.
Highlights of the Sandugo Solidarity Festival 2004 include a National
Conference on Ancestral lands and Self -Determination on August 14-15.
Cultural events will be held in the evening during camp-outs. A march-rally
towards Mendiola will follow the next day.
Solidarity missions and visits to various indigenous communities
are now being held in the provinces of Rizal, Capiz, Misamis Occidental
and South Cotabato until August 12. These communities are under threat
of more and massive displacement; plunder of their ancestral territories,
and destruction of their environment, sources of livelihood and survival
in the face of threats posed by mining, dams, military reservation, forestry
and projects under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS).
Another highlight of the Sandugo 2004 is the filing of complaints
for violations of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect of Human
Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) before the Joint
Monitory Committee (JMC) on August 13.
The CARHRIHL is the agreement signed on the first substantial
agenda in the peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the
Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. Cases
to be submitted are human rights violations committed by the Armed Forces
of the Philippines (AFP) against the indigenous peoples.
For the Cordillera region, some of the cases to be filed
are the summary executions of civilians committed by elements of the AFP.
The victims include Etfew Chadya-as of Mountain Province, Bernabe Banguey
of Abra, and Victor Balais of Kalinga. In addition, a case of violation
of the International Humanitarian Law will be submitted to cover the case
of Leonardo Angid, a wounded NPA who was denied by the AFP of medical
treatment for three months. These cases were perpetrated by the AFP in
violation of the CARHRIHL, hence these will be submitted to the GRP section
of the JMC.
Human rights violations in this era of globalization continue
to worsen.
In the case of indigenous people, ethnocide aggravates their
situation. Ethnocide describes the very difficult situation of indigenous
peoples due to development aggression, increased militarization, and heightened
political repression. Backed by national laws and policies, development
aggression led to the unprecedented plunder of ancestral territories and
destruction of the environment and sources of livelihood of indigenous
peoples. Large-scale mining, megadams, and other extractive projects by
corporate interests and the government are the main culprits.
Even with the passage of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act
(IPRA) which the Philippine government boasts as landmark legislation
in international forums, ethnocide continues. State terrorism and repression
have been used to suppress the peoples’ defense of their ancestral
lands and territories resulting in the rising cases of violations of the
civil and political rights of the people, especially indigenous peoples.
This further intensified with the all-out support given by the Arroyo
government to the terrorist US-led “global war on terror”.
While there were significant gains achieved during the International
Decade of Indigenous Peoples, long-standing issues of indigenous peoples
on ancestral land and resources and the systematic violation of their
right to self-determination remain unabated. It is ironical that the primary
objective of the International Decade is its biggest failure. The Draft
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples failed to be passed within
the Decade. Imperialist powers like the US, Canada and Australia have
consistently blocked the approval of the Draft Declaration containing
collective rights of IPs over their lands and resources. A Draft may still
be approved with the meat on ancestral land rights and self-determination
much watered down.
The International Decade of Indigenous Peoples is ending
this year. But the struggle for self-determination of IPs will go on.
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN has recently endorsed another
IP decade to follow the 1st decade. As IPs become more marginalized, they
are faced with the challenge to intensify their struggle for their ancestral
land rights and self-determination as a distinct people.
Sandugo 2004 calls for indigenous people to “consolidate
and strengthen their ranks and continue resisting ethnocide, national
oppression and imperialist globalization”. Inspired by their martyrs,
they will have to hold on to their spears and shields for the defense
of their land, life and resources.
With the gains and lessons of more than twenty years of struggle, the
indigenous peoples’ movement in the Philippines is confident to
win the historic battle for self- determination and national democracy.
SANDUGO 2004 reaffirms that objective. #
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