The wooden kalasag rests in peace in a small nipa hut called Lawig. His time has ended long ago, but the oppression of IPs continued, and the Tribe has endured it for decades, just don't let the spear and bolo work. It's bloody for sure.
The government who is supposed to protect the oppressed and the poor has refused to extend their arms. Everyone is turning blind and deaf with the exploitation of the rights of the people we called "Lumads" and "Indigents"
Yes! I myself is one of the people you call Lumad, and everytime I see my fellow Manobos in Bukidnon nod to everything what the government says, it breaks my heart especially if I know they are being used and deceived.
We are easy to deceive as what they say. Yes, it's true, and you can barter a stick of tobacco for a piece of land if you wish, or one Carabao for an hectare of land, but that was long ago, at least we can breath deeply now as I say that. Oh sorry, not really, because until now the Indigenous People are still suffering from oppression. And even the government is the one deceiving us and take what is supposedly ours.
I guess no one has ever heard of our rich culture, and the rich history we have back there. We have been preserving a piece of important things left by our great elder. Sadly, we can't mention his name, it's sacred. He is a "Baylan" of the Tribe, and that is a part of the culture, you aren't allowed to call him on his name. We call him Apô or Amâ in short "grandfather". The wooden kalasag, spear, gong, and his bolo rests in a small nipa hut we call Lawig in Adtuyon, Pangantucan, Bukidnon in a land also left by Apô to us. It's a small land cultivated by our great grandfather long long time ago, in the late 1800s for sure.
There is peace in that village in his time, the Muslim tribes has befriended with Manobo tribe for sure because gongs are said to be from Muslim people, and how come Apô got one?
In the late years of 1800s or early 1900s, Apô died and was buried in the Lawig. I would not tell you what happen to his burial site, because you won't believe me for sure. That's according to testimonies of the elders who have said they were witnesses of how Apô has help the community.
Fast forward today, a bogus NGO went to the barangay with hidden agenda in their minds and, boom! A government agency posted a notice in the barangay that they are now accepting applicants because they will now be raffling our Ancestral Land as home lots.
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| Notice posted by DAR at Barangay Adtuyon. |
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| Notice posted by DAR at Barangay Adtuyon. |
I was frustrated! Because our land is supposedly protected by law, and in fact according to RA 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988 section 9, "ancestral lands of each indigenous cultural community shall include, but not be limited to, lands in the actual, continuous and open possession and occupation of the community and its members..." The law also said that the rights of the IPs shall be recognized and protected, and I quote section 9 again, "...The right of these communities to their ancestral lands shall be protected to ensure their economic, social and cultural well-being.n line with the principles of self-determination and autonomy, the systems of land ownership, land use, and the modes of settling land disputes of all these communities must be recognized and respected..."
We have been occupying that land since time immemorial. Our Apô has poured his blood and sweat for that land, that is where he lived, died and buried. Is that how easy for them to get it from us? Excuse me, that is clearly an oppression against us! Why are they not raffling off the sugarcane farm of the mayor and the wide farms of the rich?
They have chosen us because we don't know how to fight for our rights? Because we always nod to what they say? This is already 2016! We are not naïve anymore. We know we can count on to people, and social movement to change everything!
For those of you who have read this far, help us by signing our petition at Change.org here.
Please don't forget to share so people will know about our struggle, and the struggle of the oppressed! Let's #HelpLumads
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| The wooden Shield, the Spear, Bolo and Gong of Apô. |
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