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Ama Lumbaya: Tatang ti Ili (father of the tribe)

April 17, 2017

On April 23, 2017 in Tinglayan Kalinga, we pay tribute to all heroes of the Chico Struggle with the unveiling of the marker dedicated to all men and women of the Chico resistance, such as Macliing Dulag. This historic occasion is part of the 2017 Cordillera Day (33rd) commemoration. From Tinglayan, delegates will proceed to Brgy. Balantoy in Balbalan for Cordillera Day 2017.

Ama Lumbaya: “Tatang ti Ili” (Father of the Tribe)

Ama Lumbaya was born in 1932 in the village of Ngibat. He was also a pangat (peace pact holder) like Macliing Dulag. He was very interested in maintaining peace through the bodong(pace pact). He united two tribes and ended the tribal war between the two tribes and they forged deeper unity against the common and bigger enemy- the Chico dams and the Marcos dictatorship.

As one of the leaders of the anti-Chico dam struggle, he held mass meetings in the villages along the Chico River to explain how the dam project will submerge their communities and displace them from their rice fields and forests. He went from community to community to explain the destructive project. In 1978, Ama Lumbaya started receiving death threats. This heightened after the death of Macliing Dulag in 1980. This led him to join the New Peoples Army (NPA). There he continued organizing and giving educations especially to the youth. In 1984, during the bombings and pursuit operations by the military, Ama Lumbaya ,who took shelter in the forest, got sick with pneumonia and died. *

Source: Cordillera Heroes published by Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact

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