Leaders from various indigenous peoples (IPs) groups in Mindanao, in Quezon City for a two-day lobby mission, said on Friday that only a political settlement geared toward genuine institutional and systematic reforms can provide meaningful steps for addressing the roots of armed conflict in the region.
LUMAD HUSAY MINDANAW / FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN
This was in light of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Orders (EO) 70 and 79 on the localized peace process and the implementation of the Bangsamoro Normalization, respectively.
“We may have grown tired of war, but not in the assertion of our rights. We will continue to do so especially in the light of the government’s creation of national inter-agency task forces to implement the E.O. 70 and E.O. 79,” Lumad Husay Mindanao (LHM) said in a statement.
LHM is a convergence platform engaging various people involved in the negotiating panels of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), and is composed primarily of IPs pushing for an independent participation of grassroots in the peace process.
E.O 70 aims to institutionalize a “whole -of- nation” approach in attaining inclusive and sustainable peace, creating a National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and directing the adoption of a national peace framework.
The group explained that the proposed directive in E.O 70 “cannot substitute a peace process even with a promise of localization and inclusion if, in the proposed structure and process, the civilians (especially those who are vulnerable and directly affected) are not meaningfully included nor substantively represented.”
IP leaders under LHM also issued an appeal to the President and various government agencies implementing E.O 70 to dialogue with them and other victims and survivors of armed conflict. They made the same plea to the NDFP.
“Only a just political settlement designed towards genuine institutional and systemic reforms can provide the fundamental steps in addressing the roots of the armed conflict. EO 70 is not a political solution to the armed conflict,” it added.
The group added, “We are the greater bulk of the indigenous peoples who are caught in the crossfire, harassed, intimidated, tortured and killed due to this protracted conflict.
“We appeal to the President to hear us out in a formal dialogue. We want to articulate our concerns and present specific recommendations on how the Lumad can meaningfully participate in the national peace process and how this will be responsive and beneficial to the needs of our communities directly affected by the conflicts as we are unwillingly hosting this armed conflict in our ancestral domains for the longest time,” the IP group noted.
The group stressed the need for an inclusive peace process that addresses the roots of the armed conflict and allows for meaningful participation of the affected IP populations.
“Indigenous peoples’ communities have had enough being caught in the crossfire in the country’s armed conflicts of the insurgents and state counter-insurgency,’’ LHM said.
‘’This cycle of turning our ancestral domains into battlegrounds for more than 50 years now as state forces clash with armed insurgents must end. Decades of conflict have taken its toll on IP communities, but we remain committed in asserting our inherent, inalienable and collective rights to identity, ancestral domain cum territory and right of self-determination and self-governance,” it added.
With the formal GRP-NDFP peace negotiation still in limbo as a result of the termination of the talks two years ago, the armed conflict is far from over, LHM said,
The gathering in Quezon City on Friday was supported by the Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) and partners from the Ateneo de Davao University, through the Mindanawon Cultural Initiatives, the University Community Engagement and Advocacy Council (UCEAC), and the Ateneo Institute of Anthropology.
Comprising LHM are three IP networks in Mindanao: the Lumad Mindanao Peoples Federation (LMPF), Katawhang Lumad of Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement (KL-MPPM), and the Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Peace Forum (MIPPF).
With its members primarily IPs, LHM offers an indigenous way of engaging the peace process through the promotion of what they call “husay” as a system of conflict settlement.
“We may have grown tired of war, but not in the assertion of our rights. We will continue to do so especially in the light of the government’s creation of national inter-agency task forces to implement the E.O. 70 and E.O. 79,” Lumad Husay Mindanao (LHM) said in a statement.
LHM is a convergence platform engaging various people involved in the negotiating panels of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), and is composed primarily of IPs pushing for an independent participation of grassroots in the peace process.
E.O 70 aims to institutionalize a “whole -of- nation” approach in attaining inclusive and sustainable peace, creating a National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and directing the adoption of a national peace framework.
The group explained that the proposed directive in E.O 70 “cannot substitute a peace process even with a promise of localization and inclusion if, in the proposed structure and process, the civilians (especially those who are vulnerable and directly affected) are not meaningfully included nor substantively represented.”
IP leaders under LHM also issued an appeal to the President and various government agencies implementing E.O 70 to dialogue with them and other victims and survivors of armed conflict. They made the same plea to the NDFP.
“Only a just political settlement designed towards genuine institutional and systemic reforms can provide the fundamental steps in addressing the roots of the armed conflict. EO 70 is not a political solution to the armed conflict,” it added.
The group added, “We are the greater bulk of the indigenous peoples who are caught in the crossfire, harassed, intimidated, tortured and killed due to this protracted conflict.
“We appeal to the President to hear us out in a formal dialogue. We want to articulate our concerns and present specific recommendations on how the Lumad can meaningfully participate in the national peace process and how this will be responsive and beneficial to the needs of our communities directly affected by the conflicts as we are unwillingly hosting this armed conflict in our ancestral domains for the longest time,” the IP group noted.
The group stressed the need for an inclusive peace process that addresses the roots of the armed conflict and allows for meaningful participation of the affected IP populations.
“Indigenous peoples’ communities have had enough being caught in the crossfire in the country’s armed conflicts of the insurgents and state counter-insurgency,’’ LHM said.
‘’This cycle of turning our ancestral domains into battlegrounds for more than 50 years now as state forces clash with armed insurgents must end. Decades of conflict have taken its toll on IP communities, but we remain committed in asserting our inherent, inalienable and collective rights to identity, ancestral domain cum territory and right of self-determination and self-governance,” it added.
With the formal GRP-NDFP peace negotiation still in limbo as a result of the termination of the talks two years ago, the armed conflict is far from over, LHM said,
The gathering in Quezon City on Friday was supported by the Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) and partners from the Ateneo de Davao University, through the Mindanawon Cultural Initiatives, the University Community Engagement and Advocacy Council (UCEAC), and the Ateneo Institute of Anthropology.
Comprising LHM are three IP networks in Mindanao: the Lumad Mindanao Peoples Federation (LMPF), Katawhang Lumad of Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement (KL-MPPM), and the Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Peace Forum (MIPPF).
With its members primarily IPs, LHM offers an indigenous way of engaging the peace process through the promotion of what they call “husay” as a system of conflict settlement.
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