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National minority groups hold national assembly

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National minority groups from all over the country gathered at the University of the Philippines in Diliman Quezon City last October 26 for the Second National Political Assembly of Sandugo (Movement of Moro and Indigenous People for Self-Determination).

They held a mass action in Mendiola in Manila in the afternoon.

Sandugo called for the ouster of President Rodrigo Duterte as they assailed the widespread human rights violations perpetrated by the state forces.

They cited the martial law in Mindanao that caused Marawi City’s destruction, the escalated number of killings of their leaders and organizers, as well as red-tagging, forced surrenders and illegal arrest.

They also condemned the continuous bombings and militarization of state forces that cause forced evacuation of Lumad and Moro communities.

The groups also scored the intensified plunder of ancestral lands of big foreign agricultural corporations and mining.

According to Sandugo, Duterte is subservient to the policies of imperialist countries such as US and China and surrendered the country for foreign plunder, including ancestral lands of minorities. # (Video and report by Joseph Cuevas and Maricon Montajes)

Rally held at San Francisco airport in support of detained Filipino activist

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Dozens of supporters held a rally at the arrival area of the San Francisco International Airport upon learning that Sandugo co-chairperson Jerome Aladdin Succor Aba was held by the United States Immigration Service and denied entry despite a valid 10-year multiple entry visa.

Aba was supposed to address church groups and go on a speaking tour about human rights violations in the Philippines.

Aba was nonetheless deported back to the Philippines on board Philippine Airlines at 12:30, San Francisco time.

He is expected to land in Manila on Friday, April 20, at six o’clock in the morning.

Lumad community radio station launches at Sitio Sandugo

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Under pouring rain, Lumad from Northern Mindanao launched their community radio station at the camp out of national minorities at the University of the Philippines (UP) in Quezon City Monday afternoon.

While waiting to be back home at the end of Lakbayan 2017 on Thursday, Lumad broadcasters held several programs throughout the day to mark their takeover of a Radyo ni Juan network station in Manolo Fortich town, now called Radyo Lumad 1575 AM.

 Many of Radyo Lumad volunteers who underwent trainings the past months are participants of the ongoing Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya para sa Sariling Pagpapasya at Makatarungang Kapayapaan (Journey of National Minorities for Self-Determination and Just Peace).

“Radyo Lumad 1575 AM is the expression of the struggles of the Lumad who have been marginalized, discriminated, and oppressed. The radio is the voice of the Lumad in Mindanao that seeks to be heard,” the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines-Northern Mindanao Region (RMP-NMR), project implementers, said in a statement.

Radyo Lumad is the country’s second community radio station operated by national minority groups after Radyo Sagada in Mountain Province launched in 2012.

“Through this radio station, the Lumad can impart their culture and foster understanding and dialogue,” RMP-NMR’s Healing the Hurt Project Officer Ailene Villarosa said.

Kalumaran chairperson Datu Jumorito Goaynon for his part said the station will amplify Lumad voices as they defend their ancestral domain from land grabbing and mining activities in Northern Mindanao.

Radio station by the Lumad for the Lumad

Radyo Lumad shall broadcast from Monday to Friday from five in the morning to five in the afternoon, starting with newscasts and commentaries at five to eight o’clock in the from the Radio ni Juan Network.

Regular programs by Lumad communities and organizations, local and regional organizations, and basic sectors in Northern Mindanao and Caraga regions shall be complemented by entertainment shows throughout the week.

“Our new station is dedicated to Lumad stories, news reports, alternative music and advocacy songs for the Lumads produced by Mindanao musicians, and the traditional music of the Lumad communities,” RMP-NMR said.

“Aiding the work against the discrimination of the Lumad, live reports of cases of rights violations direct from communities and interviews with victims are also included in its programming. A specific segment will be allotted for interactive discourse on Lumad issues where questions from listeners via text messages or phone calls will be entertained,” the group added.

RMP-NMR said the station shall also target listeners from both urban and rural communities who have long developed socio-political prejudice and religious biases against indigenous peoples because of the usual negative information they get from dominant media groups.

Monday’s launch started with Lumad ceremonies as well as dances and songs, joined in by member of other national minority groups across the country.

While waiting for the Lakbayan participants to be back in Mindanao, Radyo Lumad broadcasts from UP with the assistance of the Radyo ni Juan station in Cagayan de Oro City.

RMP-NMR partnered with the Kalumbay Regional Lumad Organization and the Kodao Productions in setting up Radyo Lumad, with funding support from the European Union and the World Association for Christian Communications. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Sitio Sandugo as a cultural center

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Sitio Sandugo is what the national minority groups participating in Lakbayan 2017 call their camp at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

On most days and nights, the camp is a bevy of activities that include those who visit them such as students, artists, medical workshops and others.

Watch this slideshow of how Sitio Sandugo becomes a center of cultural activities.

(Photos by Raymund and Pom Villanueva)

Lakbayan 2017 arrives in Metro Manila

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Here is a photo slide of the first day of Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya 2017 last Thursday, August 31 in Mendiola and UP Diliman.

Click this link: https://spark.adobe.com/video/3KnmOOvtegiIG

National minorities vow to continue fight for self determination

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THE indigenous and Moro peoples will never be stopped in their struggle for self-determination, national minority groups said as they wind down their Pambansang Lakbayan ng mga Pambansang Minorya 2016 at a rally in Mendiola last October 21.

Two days after the brutal police dispersal in front of the United States Embassy in Manila, thousands of Lakbayan participants said they will go back to their communities and continue their fight for self-determination and other human rights.

“We will not be stopped by state violence and imperialism,” Josephine Pagalan, a Lumad Manobo said.

“We Lumad have developed our communities and founded our schools in the face of the worst kinds of discrimination. This is proof that the national minorities are more than capable of relying on themselves,” Pagalan said.

Pagalan added their our progressive initiatives are directly attacked by a “rotten, fascist social system.”

“But we continue to fight, because our struggle for self-determination is justified, she said.

Why they travelled to Manila

The national minorities addressed the many questions about their struggle and why they travelled to Metro Manila as part of the Lakbayan.

“Our struggle is for our right to self-determination, which is strongly tied to the anti-imperialist struggle of the Filipino masses. It is our right to freely determine our political wellbeing and freely pursue our socioeconomic development at our own pace,” Windel Bulingit, spokesperson for Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance, said.

“It is a struggle we can win only if the Philippine society achieves true progress, when the rule of US imperialism is brought to an end,” Bulingit said.

“All of us who took part in the Lakbayan also call for an independent foreign policy,” added Piya Macliing Malayao, spokesperson for Sandugo.

“The national minorities have a lot of experience with foreign powers and we can say that they, led by US imperialism, have brought nothing but harm, not just to us, but to all Filipinos,” Malayao said.

“Foreign intervention only brings mass landgrabbing and environmental destruction thanks to destructive mining and energy corporations and plantations. There are also US military bases that destroy our communities and violate our rights – and our own military is, unfortunately, taking a page from them. There have been too many massacres of our brethren by the US military via the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” Malayao added.

“The violations against us do not appear enough in the mainstream media,  nor in social media,” Bulingit added. “That is why we are here to bring our issues to the people in the city, to the seat of power.”

Post-brutality

The protesters also condemned the excessively violent dispersal of their protests in front of Camp Aguinaldo and the US embassy.

The national minorities held a protest in front of Camp Aguinaldo last October 18, where their peaceful condemnation of the military presence in their communities was met with dispersal with water cannons.

Their protest in front of the US embassy last October 19 was met with worse violence.

As the rally was ending, Col. Marcelino Pedrozo of the Manila Police District arrived and ordered the arrest and dispersal of the rally to save face with the embassy..

The PNP proceeded to violently push the protesters back while a police mobile unit driven by PO3 Franklin Kho ran over rallyists, including Malayao.

They proceeded to violently harrass and pursue protesters, medics, mediamen and bystanders filming the events.

At least 50 were injured while 29 were arrested.

“What the US embassy and their puppets, the PNP, did to us was not right. That is not the work of policemen. That was the work of terrorists. Do they think that our status as national minorities makes such violence ok?” Bulingit said. ”

“The Philippines is for Filipinos. The PNP must serve the Philippines and not foreign powers,” Bulingit added.

Einstein Recedes, secretary-general of Anakbayan, defended the protesters.

“There are those who falsely believe that we have been paid,” he said. “That is nothing but vicious imperialist propaganda spread by the PNP. None of us were paid to protest and hold rallies because our principles do not have a price.” # (Abril Layad B. Ayroso)

Pambansang Lakbayan ng mga Pambansang Minorya 2016 ends in defiance

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The Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya 2016 closes at Mendiola in Manila after weeks of marches from as far as Northern Luzon and Southern Mindanao.

Indigenous peoples and Moros asserted their right to self-determination, peace and the pull-out of military troops from their communities. Despite being teargassed, caned and ran over by the police at a picket in front of the U.S. embassy, the minorities in their newly-formed national alliance Sandugo vowed to fight U.S. imperialism and support Pres. Duterte’s independent foreign policy.

Pia Macliing Malayao, lead convenor of Sandugo and one of those injured by the ramming of a police van, spoke on behalf of the 14 million indigenous peoples and national minorities oppressed in the Philippines.

She was later summoned to Malacanang Palace to air their demands. (Contributed video by ILPS)

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Police brutality victim explains why national minorities are marching in Manila

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Piya Macliing Malayao, SANDUGO spokesperson ang Katribu secretary general, speaks in a press conference a day after the brutal police dispersal in front of the United States Embassy last October 19.

Malayao, a third generation activist in her family who fights for national minorities’ self determination, was among at least 50 activists brutally dispersed by the Manila Police District of the Philippine National Police.

In the press conference, the victims said they are set to file criminal and administrative charges against police officers led by deputy MPD commander Marcelino Pedrozo. Read more

IPs march to Mendiola to press fight for self-determination

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Indigenous peoples who are participating in the Pambansang Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya 2016 marched to Mendiola, Manila last October 20 to press their fight for self-determination.

The march was also in condemnation of the brutal dispersal of their rally in front of the United States Embassy the previous day.

The indigenous peoples formed a new national alliance called SANDUGO, which opposes US imperialism that they claim violates their collective and individual human rights. Read more