Abstract / Excerpt:

The fate of the remaining indigenous peoples (iPs) in our country who have maintained links with the cultural legacy of Filipino ancestors has been appropriately described as one of minoritization (Scott, 1977). Colonization that dates back to the mid-1500s and persisted until the mid-1900s would transform those in the lowlands who embraced the colonial masters' governance and legal systems, cultural and religious practices, language and lifestyle as "the cultural majority." Whereas, those who rejected these, even as they sought sanctuary in the highlands, would be labelled "cultural minorities."

Full Text

The fate of the remaining indigenous peoples (iPs) in our country who have maintained links with the cultural legacy of Filipino ancestors has been appropriately described as one of minoritization (Scott, 1977). Colonization that dates back to the mid-1500s and persisted until the mid-1900s would transform those in the lowlands who embraced the colonial masters' governance and legal systems, cultural and religious practices, language and lifestyle as "the cultural majority." Whereas, those who rejected these, even as they sought sanctuary in the highlands, would be labelled "cultural minorities."

The transformation of the Tagalog, Ilocano, Pangansinense, Bicolano, Cebuano, Bol-anon, Waray, Ilonggo and other lowlanders would later distinguish them from the country's IPS, those who retained their precolonial identity. As the former became more colonized, Christianized and westernized, they found themselves no longer able to identify and associate with those they began to consider as "pagans and uncivilized." This name-calling and labelling would be an instrument of the further marginalization of the IPS (Rodil, 1994).

One effective and insidious manner by which the Spanish conquistadores would institutionalize the IP'S disenfranchisement was through the imposition of their own worldview of land and the corresponding system of ownership and use of land. Then conquistadores armed themselves with the Juna Regalia feudal theory which led to the introduction of the Laws of the Indies and the Royal Cedulas. This theory was the basis of the infamous Regalian Doctrine. Once the colonial laws were in place, all land not privately owned became public land. What used to be the ancestral homeland of the IPS was no longer theirs own. In the words of many IP leaders, they became squatters in their own land.

Those mainly affected were the IPS in Luzon and the Visayas where Spanish colonization was in full force from the late 1500s to the end of the 19th century. Owing to the Moro resistance in Mindanao, the encroachment of the Spanish colonial government in the south was limited to a few coastal areas of Mindanao. Thus, the widespread impact of colonization o Mindanao's lumad (native) would only take place during the American colonial period.

Table 1 shows the laws promulgated by the American colonial government that would have tremendous consequences on the lives of future Mindanaoans---whether Moro, lumad or settler.

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With these laws, the United States asserted its power to have full control over the Philippines' resources, and eventually, its future. This would be especially true for Mindanao and Sulu. Once the above laws were implemented, Mindanao-Sulu would never be the same again. Many of Mindanao's social problems today could be traced back to the implementation of these laws.

The American colonial government's land policy was naturally influenced by their own practice at home. This involved "the American ideal of a stable democracy of small property holders, rooted in the philosophy of John Locke [which] found expression on the Western frontier in the Homestead Act of 1982... based on the Torrens system of land law first introduced in South Australia as the Real Property Act of 1857-58." (Collier, 1997)

Through its superior arms and technology the American colonial government was able to temporarily subjugate the Moro people by neutralizing the power of the sultanates. Having established a foothold in Mindanao, the United States reached more areas than did the Spaniards and at a much faster pace. Eventually, there were lumad communities who succumbed to the aggressive colonizing drive. However, there were also those who fled the lowlands and moved to the rainforests or the higher mountain ranges. The subsequent arrival of wave wave upon wave of landless migrants from the  Visayas and Luzon worsened the lumad's being pushed to the margins.

As the Americans aimed to established their presence in Mindanao, it did not take so long for them to take control over landholdings which expanded into full-scale plantations producing both traditional export crops (sugar, hemp, copra) but also new export crops (pineapple and rubber)(Ofreneo,1980;Edgerton and Edgerton 1082).

In 1926, the Philippines  Packing Corporation (Philpak) was set up a s a subsidiary of Del Monte Corporation for the production and canning of pineapple. Its subleased almost 2,000 hectares from the US Navy for this purpose. American businessmen also went into cattle ranching when Dean C. Worcester, then Secretary of the Department of the Interior, opened up Bukidnon pasture lands for leasehold to American capitalists and his chosen Filipino allies (Lao,1987).

American corporations also invested in longging and sawmill operations e.g., Weyerhaeuser Corporation (92,800 hectares in East Mindanao). On the other hand, B.F Goodrich and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. were able to set up rubber plantations in Zamboanga and Basilan.

Such initiatives in the early years of the American colonial era would determine the nature of Mindanao's political economy for the rest of the millennium and beyond. In Mindanao today, there are still a wide stretch of fertile lands that continue to remind us of this colonial legacy. While the corporations operating such plantations are no longer solely American, nonetheless, they are foreign-owned or controlled. In many cases, the lands involved used to belong to the lumad's ancestral domain. Such is the case of the B'laan in South Cotabato where Dole's pineapple plantation continues to hold control over a sizeable area.

These initiatives led to the legal institutionalization of a colonial policy that goes back to the Regalian Doctrine. It would be enshrined in the 1935 Constitution which, in essence, made the lumad squatters in the land that their ancestors occupied since time immemorial. The text that sealed the fate of the lumad for decades to come is as follows:

All agricultural, timber, and mineral lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, and other natural resources of the Philippines belong to the State, and their disposition, exploitation, development,or utilization shall be limited to the citizens of the Philippines, or to corporations or associations at least sixty per centum of the capital of which is owned by such citizens, subject to existing right, grant, lease or concession at the time of the inauguration of the Government established under the Constitution. (Sec. 1, Art. XIII).

The 1935 Constitution was ratified on 11 March 1947, a year after the Philippines became independent. However, the country's independence, ironically, gave birth to political institutions that retained the chains binding the lumad to a legal system that imprisoned them within a colonial framework. It would have made such a difference if the Filipino leaders who took over from the Americans rejected the colonial legacy and reclaimed the more compassionate provisions of the IPS' customary laws. That would have made possible the genuine independence of all Filipino's, including the Moro and lumad. But it was not  to be, considering the manueverings of the United States government committed to keeping a neocolonial control over the Philippines.

The enroachment into the ancestral domain of all the ethnolinguistic groups in Mindanao from the Subanen in Zamboanga to the Manobo in Agusan-Surigao would become more and more vicious. These involved not only foreign capitalists and big businessmen. Soon, the Filipinos who got elected into government positions would be involved in landgrabbing. A few would get involved or be in partnership with companies engaged in logging operations in the interior. Once the logging roads were built, the lumad became more vulnerable. As logging operations expanded further to the interior, landless peasants took over the cultivation of the logged-over areas. Acquiring the right to own such land from the lumad meant  exchanging the land for a few cans of sardines, salt and other commodities. Small businessmen operating in newly-established  towns were also able to gain control over the land of the lumad through exploitative business transactions (Manuel, 1973; Garvan, 1931).

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The Lumad Responses and Support Groups

The lumad's response to their disenfrachisement varied according to various factors including their governance system, the type of leadership and how they dealt with outsiders. If they belonged to what Scott (1977) referred to as "classless communities," e.g., Teduray, Mananua and Ata, they evaded contact with the powerful outsiders to avoid subjugation. This was not true of the warrior societies e.g., Manobo, Mandaya, Bagobo, Tagakaolo, B'laan and Subanen. They fought back through their pangayaw including "suicidal one-man forays."

While the Moro was against the American troops are well-documented , this is not so with the armed resistance of the lumad. There are a few stories that are retained in the local oral history of a few lumad communities e.g., the incident involving the Arumanon Manobo in Pikit, Cotabato. Garvan (1931) and Elarth (1949) cited some incidents involving theMandaya of Davao Oriental, the Tagakaolo of Davao del Sur, the rise of the Tungud movement in 1908 among the Manobos living along the Libuganon River in Davao which spread to Davao Oriental, the Subanen uprising in Zambonga  from 1909 to 1914 and the Bagobo resistanc to the entry of the Japanese which lasted from 1916 to 1935 (Rodil 1990.

The pangayaw continues to take place today (Soledad 1998). There have been instances of lumad bagani joining the New People's Army at the height of the Marcos martial rule. There are still such linkages today in the moutain ranges of Davao, Agusan, Surigao, Bukidnon and Zamboanga. Even among those who would rather not establish tactical alliances with NPA, continuing discussions are held among lumad leaders about the need to re-establish their bagani system, if only to defend themselves from those who would grab their remaining ancestral domain. At PANAGTAGBO assemblies, some of them openly express such sentiments. There is no doubt that such sentiments are fuelled by what they consider to be the Moro people's source of strength, namely, that they have armed groups like the MNLF and MILF. Some datu would openly tell their civil society supporters from the lowlands: "If only we have arms, we will be like the Moro who are not as easily oppressed and exploited by the powers-that-be."

In time, the lumad bagani realized that the war instruments they used in their pangayaw were no match against those in the arsenals of the State's military force. if there were still spaces in the interior, they moved further away from the lowlands. When this was no longer possible, they tried their best to live peacefully with the settlers. In many cases, intermarriages took place between lumad and settlers.

As the life of the settlers improved, that of the lumad deteriorated. The government established the Commision on National Itegration (CNI) in 1957 in the hope of responding to the needs of the non-Christian Filipinos also called national cultural minorities. However, the CNI was unable to allevaite the lumad's poverty as well as protect their ancestral domain from further landgrabbing. When
the CNI was abolished in 1978 to give way to the Presidential Assistance to the National Minorities (panamin), the situation went from bad to worse. Not only was the government unable to assist the lumad in terms of their urgent needs, but the government abused and exploited them (Salgado 1990; Miclat-Cacayan 1993).

The nascent civil society in Mindanao would begin to play a role in supporting lumad concerns at a time when there were very few links between and among lumad communities and no one had yet imagined the possibility of the lumad organizing themselves along nontraditional lines, that is, outside of the datu system. The key players of this civil society were both the Catholic and Protestant churches. Through the Mindanao-Sulu Pastoral Conference Secretariat (MSPCS), the Episcopal Commission on Tribal Filipinos (ECTF which later became the EC on Indigenous Peoples or ECIP), the National Council of Churches in the Philippines' People's Action for Cultural Ties (NCCP_PACT), and the Mindanao-Sulu Conference on Justice and Development (MSCJD), the churches evolved a progressive orientation of solidarity work on behalf of the lumad. These were concretized in terms of campaigns, projects and activities at the local grassroots level sponsored by religious congregations, dioceses and parishes.

Once they rejected the traditional pastoral orientation of proselytization, they began to be more active in facilitating education
and organization work among the lumad communities.

The first churches to penetrate the interior were Protestant evangelical and fundamentalist groups, e.g.. Seventh Day Adventists, Southern Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses and the like. They were mainly involved in proselytizing activities which explains why in the interior barangay in Mindanao today, these groups have many chapels and local pastors. From the 1950s to the 1970s, many religious congregations (the Jesuits, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Passionist Fathers, pme Fathers, Good Shepherd Sisters, Columban Fathers and Sisters, Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, Missionaries Sisters of Mary, Society of the Divine Word, the Scarboro Fathers, among others) began establishing mission stations in the interior. At first, they, too, were engaged in proselytization.

In the wake of a new missiological and pastoral orientation that came with the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the Catholic missionaries slowly shifted from solely doing proselytizing work to being engaged in social action and development work. With the help of lay cooperators, they implemented adult literacy, agriculture, health and sanitation and other community development projects. However, this orientation again shifted with the impact of Marcos' martial rule especially in terms of human rights violations. As PANAMIN became an instrument of State repression and oppression among the lumad communities, the Church groups working among the lumad, in collaboration with the MSPCS, ECTF and the MSCJD, began to shift towards conscientization and organization.

The organizing efforts centered on the silingang dapit {lumad neighborhoods adjacent to one another) scheme which aimed to establish indigenous people's organizations (IPOS) Gradually, the Subanen, Manobo, B'laan, T'boli, Mandaya, Mansaka, Talaandig, Higaonon, Teduray and others began to be in touch with one another. They began to share what was happening to their people under the dictatorial regime, how they were being driven away from their ancestral domain owing to development projects, how they were being forced by the military to join the CHDF/CAFGU, how they were arrested and tortured if suspected of supporting the NPA and how Panamin were driving a wedge between them and their datu through cooptation and manipulation. These abuses led to some lumad communities, especially those with the bagani tradition, to be supportive of the NPA troops who established their guerrilla base in the interior.

In time, the local organizing work among the lumad progressed towards regional clusters. After the Aquino assassination, when the anti-Marcos movement expanded and deepened, the lumad organizing work developed a Mindanao-wide network supported by the Mindanao Tribal Resource Center (MINTREC). This was no longer solely a Church effort. While priests and religious engaged in lumad work were still part of this network, it began to encourage the lumad themselves to provide leadership. Other civil society actors began to be part of this network. The MINTREC helped established the Lumadnong Alyansa Alang Sa Demokrasya - Mindanao (Tribal
Alliance for Democracy - Mindanao) or lumad Mindanao.

With People Power and Cory Aquino's ascendancy to the Presidency, major changes would take place in the arena of lumad social movement, lumad Mindanao gave way to a new expression of this movement as the IPOS and their solidarity groups parted ways owing to various internal conflicts, including differences in ideological outlook. Organizing work began to be more focused locally towards organizing and consolidating IPOS. Two groups emerged as Aquino's government began to deal with the ancestral domain discourse. One group, maintaining a radical left position, was not interested in engaging the State in the wake of the Mendiola massacre that took place at the beginning of Aquino's presidency. The other group was willing to give her government a chance and would be engaged in advocacy work to push the lumad agenda. They would become the new actors in civil society who would push the government to pay attention to the lumad's sorry plight.

A new chapter in the lumad social movement emerged which would have profound consequences in terms of their continuing struggle to have their voices heard, especially in terms of their interest to reclaiming their ancestors' abode.

In the hope of dismantling all vestiges of the Marcos era, Aquino convened a Constitutional Convention immediately after taking power. The ensuing 1987 Constitution brought about positive amendments of the 1973 Constitution which saw the light of day right after Marcos took power. A major amendment that would manifest the center's commitment to reach out to the lumad at the margins of Filipino society was on the question of ancestral land. This was to be the center's expression of being in solidarity with their age-old dream of reclaiming their ancestral land. The text in the 1987 Constitution is as follows:

The State, subject to the provisions of this Constitution
and national development policies and programs, shall
protect the rights of indigenous cultural communities to
their ancestral lands to ensure their economic, social, and
cultural well-being.
The Congress may provide for the applicability of
customary laws governing property rights or relations in
determining the ownership and extent of ancestral domain.
(Art. XII, Sec. 5).

The State shall recognize, respect, and protect the rights
of indigenous cultural communities to preserve and develop
their cultures, traditions and institutions. It shall consider
these rights in the formulation of national plans and policies. (Art. XIV, Sec. 17).

Unfortunately, despite the popularity of Cory Aquino,  government legal processes remained quite slow. Even as the advocacy work of the lumad social movement went into high gear, this was not forceful enough to move the people in Congress to enact an appropriate law. By the time her term of office ended, there was still no law passed in Congress that would implement the Art. xii. Sec. 5 and Art. xiv. Sec. 17 of the 1987 Constitution. Fortunately, Mrs. Aquino had an astute Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, Atty. Fulgencio Factoran Jr. In the absence of a law enacted by Congress, he issued the Department Administrative Order  No. 2, Series of 1993 (known as dao-2), obviously a stop-gap measure to respond to the iPs' demand for control over their remaining ancestral domain.

DAO-2 recognized that the IPs had a right to their ancestral domain and that they were in a better position to manage natural resources in their domain in a sustainable way. But dao-2 had an inherent inadequacy: while it provided for the issuance of Certificates of Ancestral Domain Claims (CADCS), these CADCS were not titles. These were merely a recognition of the right of claim and therefore open to contesting by any party.

The lumad social movement open to engaging the State— including the IPOS within the network of the ECIP, Panlipi, the GZO Peace Institute—was not totally pleased with dao-2, but it took a pragmatic view of this development. Sensing that the passage of a  law would still take time, they seized the DAO-2 and appropriated this for their struggle.

One of the first groups to do so was the Manobo Lumadnong Panaghiusa (Manobo Tribal Unity) or MALUPA based in Arakan, Cotabato. Immediately after dao-2 was issued, the MALUPA began to work on the requirements towards the issuance of CADCS over their remaining ancestral domain. Assistance was provided by two nongovernmental organizations (NGOS) that had been their partners, namely, the Tribal Filipino Program for Community Development, Inc. (TFPCDI) and the Kaliwat Theatre Collective. Once the needed survey and consultations were conducted, the applications were submitted to the PENRO on 25 May 1994. Seven CADCS applications were approved; the same number of applications were not. The CADCS covering a total land area of 8,861.08 hectares, were released in April and August of 1995. Table 2 shows the areas which were included in the CADC applications.

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Many other IPOS in Mindanao followed the example of Malupa, especially after the convening of PANAGTAGBO, which was to become the new expression of Mindanaoan lumad networking in the 1990s. The roots of PANAGTAGBO goes back to a consultation held in Davao City on 14-16 March 1995 attended by church groups and NGOS. The Kaliwat Theatre Collective played a significant role in facilitating this consultation; its offices served as the first office of PANAGTAGBO. Government officials from the Office of the Presidential Assistance for Peace Process (OPAPP) and the DENR were invited to this meeting. This consultation convened in Kidapawan City on 6-10 December 1995 where more than 60 IPO/NGO representatives attended. This assembly gave birth to a new broad alliance of IPOS/NGOS who were interested in pursuing the agenda of ancestral domain of the iIPS within the perspective of engaging the State which they called PANAGTAGBO (Encounter).

PANAGTAGBO's general principles were the following:
1. For the IPOS: to engage in massive education activities among tribe members, and discussion of issues/threats, and to formulate appropriate courses of action within the framework of their inherent rights over their ancestral domains and resources therein.

2. For the NGOS: to participate in activities originating from the local, provincial and regional levels which would lead to the pursuit of a Mindanao-wide forum, to extend regular services relevant to the IPs' needs, and to have regular sharing of experiences (PANAGTAGBO 1995).

PANAGTAGBO's Convenors' Group was set up to organize various activities. These included: paralegal trainings, setting up of a databank, organizing Task Forces to facilitate the conduct of fora, e.g., the Mining Forum, media advocacy, and expansion of its network to involve more IPOS and NGOS. It also participated in lobbying for the passage of the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act (IPRA).

Through PANAGTAGBO, the Kaliwat Theatre Collective was able to showcase the malupa experience for those interested in working towards a CADC in their own remaining ancestral domain. In one consultation, other ipos studied the MALUPA experience in the hope of gaining lessons useful for the time when they, too, would be applying for CADCs. One such group the Mesaligan sa mga Subanens sa Lakewood (Trusted Leaders of the Lakewood Subanen) of Zamboanga del Sur. Tapping the assistance of the Kaliwat Theatre Collective, the Mesaligan went through the complicated process of applying for CADCS. Close to two years after they began working on their documents, their cCADC applications were also approved covering close to 10,000 hectares (San Pedro 1996; San Pedro and Villanueva 1996).

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Meanwhile, something developed after Fidel Ramos took over as President. His administration decided to give priority to a social reform agenda. One significant component of this agenda was to respond to the urgent needs of the iPS vis-a-vis their demand to have control over their ancestral domain. This led to the resuscitation of the bill in Congress dealing with ancestral domain. Senator Juan Flavier filed RA 8371 which became popularly known as IPRA.

This time. Senator Flavier's move would have a happier outcome. There were many Senators and Representatives in Congress who were supportive of this bill. One factor was the strong lobbying from Malacafiang. The civil society's advocacy was also quite strong. In a few occasions, hundreds of indigenous people in Luzon came down to Manila to express their strong wish that the bill be passed. Support from other sectors of civil society—especially the media—was most helpful in ventilating the demands of the iPS. The groups of the ECTF-Panlipi-Gzo were tapped by Senator Flavier to be part of the Technical Working Committee, thus guaranteeing the active participation of civil society in the enactment of the bill.

Still, the process got bogged down every now and then over technical questions and negative reactions from sectors who were opposed to the bill. A sector of the lumad social movement was even against the bill; they claimed that it was not what would solve the centuries-old problem of the iPs. However, the process of pushing the social reform agenda took a positive tum as the popularity of Pres. Ramos also improved. Eventually, the bill got enacted.

The passage of IPRA was good news for the majority of the IPS. Many lumad communities in Mindanao were very pleased with this development. A good number of them became very hopeful about the future, thinking that IPRA would solve many of their problems. Their hopes rose as they saw the Ramos administration quite intent on implementing the law. First step was the setting-up of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), followed by the appointment of the NCIP National Commissioners. There was a positive response to the appointment of a few of the Commissioners, e.g., Datu Vic Saway of the Talaandig of South Bukidnon.

Unfortunately, there were individuals who opposed the IPRA and went to the Supreme Court questioning its constitutionality. The government had no choice but to suspend the full implementation of IPRA. Until today, the law remains on hold since the Supreme Court still has to issue its opinion on IPRA. One wonders why it is taking so long for the Supreme Court to pass a judgement, but such is the present reality confronting the lumad.

This turn of events has been heartbreaking for the lumad. Just when they thought that their future would turn bright, a dark cloud, once more, hovered over their heads. It refuses to go away, leaving them quite disappointed and frustrated. Those who hope that their CADCS could be transformed to Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) have to wait. Those who are applying for the CADTS also have to wait. The waiting has been long; the lumad are starting to lose patience. However, it looks like the waiting will still take a long time. If the bill remains frozen for many more years, for sure, there would be IPOS who would lose their patience and would entertain new alternatives in terms of their struggle for self-determination.

The IPOS and their support groups who had rejected the dao-2 and IPRA feel validated in terms of their position with IPRA"S suspension. They claim that they were right after all. For some of them, this has consolidated their option to be open to an alliance with the NDF-CPP-NPA. For others, it means seriously pursuing arming their bagani who could go the way of the MNLF-MILF.  In either case, they would be more open to waging an armed struggle to protect their ancestral domain.

However, there is also another alternative even as IPRA remains suspended. The main proponent of this strategy is Datu Vic Saway.

The "Cultural Monuments" of the Talaandig

Datu Vic Saway comes from a Talaandig clan residing in Sungco, Lantapan, Bukidnon. Owing to the leadership provided by us family, the Sungco lumad community has an organizational set-up quite advanced compared to others. They have an indigenous governance system that remains operative. They still practice their traditional religious practices. They have built a School of Living Traditions, aimed at retaining their cultural traditions and heritage. They have zealously guarded the integrity of their forests and kept outsiders and prospectors at bay (GZO Peace Institute 2000). They were invited to showcase their rich culture at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. And one among them has been appointed NCIP Commissioner.

Datu Saway is very frustrated in his work as Commissioner. However, out of this frustration he and the Talaandig of Sungco have come up with a strategy that would make the lumad the key actor in the implementation of IPRA even if the State is inutile in doing so. They have began to implement it in their ancestral domain that includes part of the Mt. Kitanglad range. They are confident that this is an effective alternative action. Rather than wait for IPRA to be finally implemented, the lumad can appropriate IPRA on their own terms and thus, if need be, push the State to honor such an appropriation.

This strategy involves the following assumptions:
1. If the State passes a law beneficial to the lumad but can t implement it, it is left to the lumad to implement the law.
2. The lumad community, however, needs to be organized and to have the needed political will so that they will not only push for the law's implementation but will actually be involved in various aspects of the law's implementation. As much as possible, all the members of the lumad communities should be involved in this endeavor.

3. The lumad needs to return to their indigenous faith tradition and to practice their indigenous beliefs. Rejecting or ignoring these beliefs would render their moves ineffective and with no force at all.
4. The baylan or religious leaders play an important role in such an action since the rituals are integral in the whole process.
5. Other cultural practices and traditions should also be fully integrated into the actions conducted for the law's implementation.

The lumad's appropriation of IPRA centers on what Datu Saway calls "the cultural monuments." This involves the reappropriation of the bangkaso, which parallels the "altar" of the Christian churches. Datu Saway also uses the word **alampoanan" the spot where you pray. Talaandig's rituals are conducted in the bangkaso. This time, however, the bangkaso serves also as a banner, poster or signboard. In Derridian parlance, the bangkaso becomes a "text" that carries significant meanings. Thus, it gets transformed into a cultural monument. As a monument, it becomes symbolic and sacred and cannot just be tom apart by anyone.

There are bangkaso in the most significant spots in the Talaandig homeland. These are places of worship and prayer. These spots are those that are tied to the life cycles of the lumad, e.g., source of food and medicine. These are places where they can hunt, fish, find honey and medicinal plants. Other spots are those where the Talaandig can find manifestations of the spirit world, including their ancestors. In the Talaandig site of Mt. Kitanglad, there are close to 200 hundred worship areas. These are the sites of the bangkaso.

So far, they have put up four bangkaso. Each time a bangkaso was erected, the baylan led a ritual. The one whom Datu Saway calls on to do the ritual is Bae Inadlawan. Since the baylan will henceforth risk her life to protect the bangkaso, she is assigned guards known as talawtawan. However, all those with key positions in the community share in the responsibility of safeguarding the bangkaso. This time the bangkaso is made of more permanent materials, e.g., cement. The ritual includes a community feast shared by all those who take part in the ceremony.

Datu Saway is confident that this strategy will work. On the part of the lumad, this helps them internalize the value of their remaining ancestral domain to the point where they would protect these with their lives. From a symbolic perspective, it provides a message to outsiders that the original owners have a stake over the land, in the same way that the mohon (the piece of round cement that indicates boundaries of land properties) does with private land. The State could not but recognize the validity and sacredness of the bangkaso  and help protect the ancestral domain from landgrabbers.

On both occasions when the author heard Datu Saway present this scheme, the eyes of the iPs brightened. They found it easy to be convinced of the validity of this scheme. Something resonated in their hearts with the way Datu Saway explained the whole strategy. While only time can tell if this strategy will work, there is no doubt that, viewed from the desperate impasse that they find themselves in these days, this is the only peaceful option left for them.

 

 

 

 

 

Info

Source Journal	Tambara
Journal Volume	Tambara Vol. 17
Authors	Karl M. Gaspar
Page Count	12
Place of Publication	Davao City
Original Publication Date	December 1, 2000
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