Tribes want voice in Bangsamoro law

From the Manila Standard Today (May 17): Tribes want voice in Bangsamoro law

THE non-Muslim indigenous people in the Bangsamoro will intensify their plea for the recognition of their rights in the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which is now being written and reviewed by the Office of the President, a source said Friday.

Alim M. Bandara, a Teduray leader for Timuay Justice and Governance, said that on May 19 to 21 they will hold talks with various organizations and government institutions in Manila for that purpose.

“We support—as we have from the beginning—the peace process and the agreement reached between the Philippine government and our brothers Moro Islamic Liberation Front. We congratulate them on this historic achievement,” Bandara said in a statement.

Bandara, the Head Claimant of the Ancestral Domain claims of the Teduray, Lambangian and Dulangan Manobo in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, will be leading a six-person Indigenous people lobby delegation which will be also composed of men and women leaders from Erumanen ne Menuvu and Obo Monovu tribes.

The delegation will call on the government “to include in the due diligence and eventual passage a Bangsamoro Basic Law that fully recognizes their distinct identity as non-Moro Indigenous Peoples and their fundamental rights to govern their fusaka inged or ancestral territory.”

“However, as a community with our own customary practices and beliefs, culture, history and identity and territory, my people, the Teduray, are appealing to the Philippine government to take notice and to help us in our struggle to survive and live with dignity,” Bandara said.

Santos Unsad, another timuay from the Teduray community and a former commissioner of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, said:  “Let not our distinct identity as a people be ignored and erased from our history.

“Instead, let us continue to walk this road to justice and peace carrying our rights, our lands, our identities.”

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2014/05/17/tribes-want-voice-in-bangsamoro-law/