User:Daniellesori/Lumad

Contributions

 * Expand upon Lumad lead section.
 * Expand upon Lumad#Social_issues: Add more information in lead and Lumad information. Include Liyang Network and SABOKAHAN. Include data during previous President Aquino recordings.
 * Expand upon existing Citations and References.

Lead
The Lumad are a group of Austronesian indigenous people in the southern Philippines. It is a Cebuano term meaning "native" or "indigenous". The term is short for Katawhang Lumad (Literally: "indigenous people"), the autonym officially adopted by the delegates of the Lumad Mindanao Peoples Federation (LMPF) founding assembly on 26 June 1986 at the Guadalupe Formation Center, Balindog, Kidapawan, Cotabato, Philippines. Usage of the term was accepted in Philippine jurisprudence when President Corazon Aquino signed into law Republic Act 6734, where the word was used in Art. XIII sec. 8(2) to distinguish Lumad ethnic communities from the Bangsamoro.

On March 2, 2021, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples issued a resolution denouncing the use of the term lumad when referring to Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICC) and Indigenous Peoples (IPs). The resolution stated that elders, leaders, and members of different ICCs and IPs in Mindanao requested that they not be called "lumad", and instead want to be referred to by their ethnolinguistic group names.

(Addition:) The Southern island of the Philippines is home to a substantial part of the country’s Indigenous population, estimating to about 15% of the Philippine’s total population of 100 million. There are claims that Lumads account for about 70 percent of the fighting force of the New People's Army, with the communists collecting as revolutionary tax some P1.2 billion per year in Davao Region alone.

Lead
Lumad peoples confront a variety of social issues. (Addition:) ''' Identical with other Indigenous peoples (IPs) across the globe, the IPs in the Philippines represent the country’s poorest sector who endure disproportionate access to healthcare, education, and human rights.  There are claims that Lumad social issues arise from ethnic grievances that develop into an issue of economic greed.''' They face loss of ancestral lands due to land grabbing or militarization, economic and social exclusion, and threats to their traditional culture and identity. Lumad groups contend with displacement, extrajudicial killings, harassment of Lumad rights defenders, and forced closure of Lumad schools.

Addition to "Ancestral land rights"
Lumads face loss of ancestral lands due to land grabbing or militarization. Some communities have been forced out of their lands for resisting encroachment by mining, logging, and energy companies.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Lumad controlled an area that now covers 17 of Mindanao's 24 provinces, but by the 1980 census, they constituted less than 6% of the population of Mindanao and Sulu. Significant migration to Mindanao of Visayans, spurred by government-sponsored resettlement programs, turned the Lumad into minorities. The Bukidnon province population grew from 63,470 in 1948 to 194,368 in 1960 and 414,762 in 1970, with the proportion of indigenous Bukidnons falling from 64% to 33% to 14%.

Lumad have a traditional concept of land ownership based on what their communities consider their ancestral territories. The historian B. R. Rodil notes that 'a territory occupied by a community is a communal private property, and community members have the right of usufruct to any piece of unoccupied land within the communal territory.' Ancestral lands include cultivated land as well as hunting grounds, rivers, forests, uncultivated land, and the mineral resources below the land. '(Addition:)'' River systems indicate the Lumad people's generations of civilization. Water is used as a "hermeneutic" for how Lumads orient themselves in relation to other ethnic groups, the state, modern Filipino culture, and their own cultural customs. '''

Unlike the Moros, the Lumad groups never formed a revolutionary group to unite them in armed struggle against the Philippine government. When the migrants came, many Lumad groups retreated into the mountains and forests.

For the Lumad, securing their rights to ancestral domain is as urgent as the Moros' quest for self-determination. However, much of their land has already been registered in the name of multinational corporations, logging companies, and other wealthy Filipinos, many of whom are, relatively speaking, recent settlers to Mindanao. Mai Tuan, a T'boli leader explains, "Now that there is a peace agreement for the MNLF, we are happy because we are given food assistance like rice... we also feel sad because we no longer have the pots to cook it with. We no longer have control over our ancestral lands."

Addition to "Lumad killings"
Lumad communities contend with extrajudicial killings and red-tagging. Defenders of Indigenous land rights, environmentalists, and human rights activists have also been harassed.

The Lumad are people from various ethnic groups in Mindanao island. Residing in their ancestral lands, they are often evicted and displaced because of the Moro people's claim on the same territory. The Lumad have lost parts of their ancestral land because of a failure to understand the modern land tenure system. Some NGOs have established schools in their communities, purportedly to supply essential knowledge for the tribe members that would protect their rights, property, and culture. However, the Lumad communities are located in mountains that are distant from urban areas. These areas are also the location sites of armed conflict between the New People's Army (NPA) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Caught in the conflict, the Lumad people's education, property, and security are endangered because of the increasing amount of violent confrontations by the armed parties. In Surigao del Sur, a barangay was evacuated to shelter sites in Tandag City because of increasing military and NPA activity. There are claims that Lumads account for about 70 percent of the fighting force of the New People's Army, with the communists collecting as revolutionary tax some P1.2 billion per year in Davao Region alone.

Manila-based activist groups claim that the Lumad territories were being militarized by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and that community leaders and teachers were being detained by the military on suspicion of being rebels. They also say that alternative schools within the communities (aided by NGOs and universities) face concerns of closing down or demolition of their property, with some buildings converted by the military for their use. They have staged demonstrations to gain the public's attention, calling for the halt of the alleged militarization of Lumad communities. Groups like the Manilakbayan supported the movements through recruitment and the handing out of national situationers to students to spread awareness about the Lumad's dilemma. The Philippines' Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has been investigating the incidents in regard to the 2015 murder of Lumad leaders and a school official by a paramilitary group called Magahat/Bagani (in line with the idea of CAFGU) created by the AFP to hunt for NPA members. The AFP denies the allegation and attributes the killings to tribal conflict. However, the AFP has admitted that CAFGU has Lumad recruits within its ranks while asserting that the NPA has also recruited Lumad for the group. There is also a delay of a decision on the CHR investigation because of the non-cooperation of the Lumad group after the interruption of the investigation by the spokesman of Kalumaran Mindanao, Kerlan Fanagel. Fanagel insists that the group need not have another 'false' dialogue with the CHR since CHR has yet to present the results/findings of the investigations from the past months when Lumad leaders were killed. Because of the lack of data, CHR decided to postpone the presentation of their initial report to the second week of December 2015.

(Addition:) ''' Abroad-based activist groups emerged from the call of Lumad organizing by Sabokahan Unity of Lumad Women.   Being located in the mountains, community evacuations then became the highest form of protest for the Lumad. They all pick up as a community and move in mass—very visibly—down the mountains, into highways, and enter the urban cities to set camp in evacuation centers. By this movement, the Lumad people emphasize to the public, “We are here, and we are not going back until our land is free from troops and corporations, so that we can take back our ancestral land.” The women of the Indigenous group, specifically, take matters into their own hands by assembling the organization SABOKAHAN. They utilize this proximity from community evacuations in order to broadcast towards local and even transnational audiences in order to evidently highlight their plight. In the midst of doing so, SABOKAHAN engaged in conversations with advocates all over, realizing that their protests needed some type of umbrella work to organize their international advocates together. This led to the creation of the Liyang Network, out of the request of the Lumad people. The organization Liyang Network works alongside the Lumad people to amplify the voices of their environmental defenders and highlight Lumad social issues.   Liyang Network work entails organizing forums and webinars for educational discussions on current socio-political issues and root causes—mainly the needs of Lumad and rural communities. '''

In 8 December, the Karapatan group asked the United Nations to probe the killings, after eight T'boli and Dulangan Manobo farmers were allegedly killed by members of the Philippine Army.

However, these accusations were rebutted by some Lumad leaders who instead claim that it is the NPA who are responsible for the killings and that none of the alleged "militarization" is actually happening. Datu Malapandaw Nestor Apas of the Langilan Manobo people in Davao del Norte said, "There are no armed government forces in the community. The NPA rebels are the ones occupying our area to control indigenous peoples and seize ancestral lands." They also accuse protesters in Manila of pretending to be Lumad by wearing Lumad clothing, denying that the Lumad participating in rallies in Manila were members of Lumad tribes. They have also held anti-NPA rallies in Mindanao. There have also been several assassinations on Lumad leaders sympathetic to the government blamed on NPA members. Some of which are acknowledged by NPA members.

'(Addition:)'' Under the previous President Aquino administration (2010-2015), a total of 71 Indigenous leaders were killed. Ninety-five cases of attacks against the 87 Indigenous schooling for children were also recorded. More than 40,000 Indigenous peoples—whole communities whose social, political, and economic life had been obstructed—had no choice but to evacuate because their schools attacked or their leaders had been murdered or incarcerated. '''

In 2018, Duterte threatened to shut down or destroy NGO-funded community schools because of suspicions that they radicalize Lumad students into joining the NPA communist rebels. This was supported by some Lumad leaders, who also felt that they were being infiltrated by the NPA and their children being exploited.

On 9 August, Lumad evacuees in Surigao del Sur formally returned to their homes after days to months in evacuation camps.

In December 2019, the Philippines under Duterte became the deadliest for farmers and indigenous peoples.

Addition to "Lumad schools"
Many Lumad youths live in indigent, hard-to-reach communities. In the 1980s, the Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur (TRIFPSS), began a functional literacy program for Indigenous children in these communities. TRIFPSS established 10 schools in 10 indigenous people's communities in three municipalities of Surigao del Sur in 1997. The Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture Livelihood Development (Alcadev), formed in 2004 with support from TRIFPSS, established community schools for Lumad communities using lessons tailored to suit Indigenous culture and tradition.

The Department of Education (Deped) recognized community schools and the Alcadev system through the Indigenous framework of education now observed by alternative tribal schools nationwide. The policy framework was signed in 2012 by then-Secretary Armin Luistro.

(Addition:) ''' On February 15, 2021, 22 students, 2 teachers and 2 tribe elders were arrested in what was labeled as a “rescue operation” against the charges of illegal detention and kidnapping. Philippine broadcasting media dub this raid as "Lumad 26," as they were taken into custody by by members of the Philippine National Police's (PNP) Central Visayas office (PRO-7) of Bakwit School in Cebu. Local officials claims the operation's aim was to reunite the children with their parents. '''