A simple yet meaningful ritual was performed May 23 at a hotel in Mandaluyong City to reaffirm the ancient kinship between the Bangsamoros and Indigenous Peoples (IPs).
Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) member Melanio Ulama and Nuroddin Abdulrahman represented the descendants of Rajah Mamalu and Rajah Tabunaway, respectively, in performing the age-old tradition symbolizing the historic ties of Moros and indigenous peoples.
The solemn rite was set in the solidarity program organized by the BTC and Center for Humanitarian Dialogue with the theme “Celebrating Common Ground, Building a Shared Future.”
Moros trace their lineage to Rajah Tabunaway while IPs descended from Rajah Mamalu. Tabunaway and Mamalu were mythical brothers who pledged to do no harm unto one another as well as their descendants inspite of Tabunaway embracing Islam and Mamalu keeping their indigenous belief.
BTC Chairman Mohagher Iqbal said they were celebrating the consensus reached in the BTC on proposed public policy governing IPs in the Bangsamoro.
Iqbal revealed the salient provisions of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) concerning IPs. He enumerated specific rights for IPs such as those pertaining to their native titles (fusaka engid); equitable share in exploration of natural resources; free, informed, prior consent; political participation, basic services and freedom of choice in identity.
To address the various issues on IPs, Iqbal urged interested stakeholders to engage the newly-created BTC Task Force on IP Concerns being headed by Guiamal Abdulrahman whose father, the late MILF founding member Sheik Abu Halil Yahya, was a pure-blooded Teduray of Upi, Maguindanao.
Iqbal described the task force as concrete demonstration of their “commitment to respect and promote the rights and welfare of all IPs especially those who continue to feel that they are marginalized in the Bangsamoro.”
In appealing to those who believe that the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) answers the long struggle of the IPs to protect their ancestral domain , Iqbal said they hold no rancor in their hearts against them as the MILF acknowledges this as part of IPs right to self-determination. Yet, he likewise appealed to them to “respect the MILF stand clearly contained in all signed documents and proposed BBL that there is only one ancestral domain owned by Moros and IPs.”
In her message of solidarity, OPAPP Sec. Teresita Deles hailed the event as a “showcase of the capacity of the BTC to build consensus and establish mechanisms within itself on how these issues will be addressed to ensure peaceful, dynamic and constructive resolution of the concerns between the descendants of Mamalu and Tabunaway in recognition of their common roots as peoples of the region.”
She said they “will be awaiting the results of this difficult but essential effort in moving forward.”
Cotabato 2nd District Rep. Nancy Catamco, herself a member of Bagobo and Banobo IPs, pledged before the audience that they can “count on (her) fullest support for the passage of BBL once it is deliberated in Congress,; relatively may I count on your equal support to recognize the rights of our IPs as enshrined by law and observed according to the principles of peace, justice, equality and kinship.”
In his videotaped message, Cardinal Orlando Quevedo congratulated the BTC and the Task Force on IP Concerns for having “sufficiently covered and dealt with IP issues and concerns.”
Others who attended the solidarity program were Mayors Ramon Piang and Abdullah Campong (North and South Upi, Maguindanao, respectively), European Union officials, MILF Peace Panel Secretariat, ARMM bureaucrats, IP champions, members of the academe and media.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/995-kinship-renewed-between-moros-and-ips
The solemn rite was set in the solidarity program organized by the BTC and Center for Humanitarian Dialogue with the theme “Celebrating Common Ground, Building a Shared Future.”
Moros trace their lineage to Rajah Tabunaway while IPs descended from Rajah Mamalu. Tabunaway and Mamalu were mythical brothers who pledged to do no harm unto one another as well as their descendants inspite of Tabunaway embracing Islam and Mamalu keeping their indigenous belief.
BTC Chairman Mohagher Iqbal said they were celebrating the consensus reached in the BTC on proposed public policy governing IPs in the Bangsamoro.
Iqbal revealed the salient provisions of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) concerning IPs. He enumerated specific rights for IPs such as those pertaining to their native titles (fusaka engid); equitable share in exploration of natural resources; free, informed, prior consent; political participation, basic services and freedom of choice in identity.
To address the various issues on IPs, Iqbal urged interested stakeholders to engage the newly-created BTC Task Force on IP Concerns being headed by Guiamal Abdulrahman whose father, the late MILF founding member Sheik Abu Halil Yahya, was a pure-blooded Teduray of Upi, Maguindanao.
Iqbal described the task force as concrete demonstration of their “commitment to respect and promote the rights and welfare of all IPs especially those who continue to feel that they are marginalized in the Bangsamoro.”
In appealing to those who believe that the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) answers the long struggle of the IPs to protect their ancestral domain , Iqbal said they hold no rancor in their hearts against them as the MILF acknowledges this as part of IPs right to self-determination. Yet, he likewise appealed to them to “respect the MILF stand clearly contained in all signed documents and proposed BBL that there is only one ancestral domain owned by Moros and IPs.”
In her message of solidarity, OPAPP Sec. Teresita Deles hailed the event as a “showcase of the capacity of the BTC to build consensus and establish mechanisms within itself on how these issues will be addressed to ensure peaceful, dynamic and constructive resolution of the concerns between the descendants of Mamalu and Tabunaway in recognition of their common roots as peoples of the region.”
She said they “will be awaiting the results of this difficult but essential effort in moving forward.”
Cotabato 2nd District Rep. Nancy Catamco, herself a member of Bagobo and Banobo IPs, pledged before the audience that they can “count on (her) fullest support for the passage of BBL once it is deliberated in Congress,; relatively may I count on your equal support to recognize the rights of our IPs as enshrined by law and observed according to the principles of peace, justice, equality and kinship.”
In his videotaped message, Cardinal Orlando Quevedo congratulated the BTC and the Task Force on IP Concerns for having “sufficiently covered and dealt with IP issues and concerns.”
Others who attended the solidarity program were Mayors Ramon Piang and Abdullah Campong (North and South Upi, Maguindanao, respectively), European Union officials, MILF Peace Panel Secretariat, ARMM bureaucrats, IP champions, members of the academe and media.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/995-kinship-renewed-between-moros-and-ips
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