THE environmental group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) on Monday warned that the undocumented biodiversity in Pantaron Range might be lost because of the militarization in Davao and Cotabato provinces.
Kalikasan PNE National Coordinator Celemente Bautista said military activities in Pantaron Range are driving away the Talaingod Manobos, one of several groups that have protected the mountain range and its forests from destructive human activities for decades.
Bautista took part in the National Solidarity Mission organized by national and local people’s organizations, peace advocates and human-rights groups across various indigenous communities in the provinces of Davao and Cotabato.
In particular, he was part of the team that assessed the area of Talaingod municipality in Davao del Norte, which is within the Pantaron Range.
“The Talaingod Manobos in Pantaron Range continue their decades-long active defense of their ancestral lands from military-backed development aggression, conserving their environment and knowledge of the land in the process. The intensified militarization by the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] have caused massive displacement and rights abuses, which threaten the Manobo’s way of life and the land they have fought so hard to preserve,” Bautista said.
The 12,600-square-kilometer Pantaron Mountain Range, or Pantadon Biogeographic Subregion, cuts across the provinces of Bukidnon, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Misamis Oriental, Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur, covering 12.4 percent of Mindanao.
One of the largest remaining old-growth forests in the Philippines is in the Pantaron Mountain Range. It covers 1.8 million hectares and supplies the water of major rivers in Mindanao mainly the Mindanao River, Pulangi River, Davao River, Tagoloan River and major tributaries of Agusan River.
The Kalikasan PNE said the natural forests of the region support immense biodiversity and links important breeding sites of the Philippine eagle at Mount Kitanglad and Mount Apo.
Bautista said during interviews that the Talaingod Manobos speak of a variety of birds including three kinds of hornbills; and lizards and amphibians such as forest frogs and monitor lizards that form part of the biological diversity in the range.
“They also shared that there are wild pigs including dwarf ones, civets and monkeys including tarsiers,” he said.
During the mission, the delegates confirmed the alleged human-rights abuses committed against the Manobos that began on March 3 this year as part of the Oplan Bayanihan counter-insurgency operation of the AFP.
Because of the human-rights abuses, which include looting, torture, sexual harassment, intimidation, destruction of farms and the desecration of the Manobos’ abodes, Talaingod Manobos decided to evacuate their communities to avoid more human-rights abuses by the military, Bautista said.
The Talaingod Manobos reportedly sought refuge in Davao City where various organizations and individuals, including Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, supported their cause, Bautista said.
Bautista recalled that in the 1990s, the Talaingod Manobos experienced displacement due to militarization from the security forces and military backing of the logging firm Alcantara and Sons (Alsons).
Today, Bautista said they are threatened by the encroaching of Alsons through their Integrated Forest Management Agreement, or IFMA, that covers the entire 45,000 hectares of Talaingod.
He said a host of large-scale mining corporations also have approved applications that may lead to massive biodiversity loss in Pantaron Range.
“The Talaingod Manobos under their organization Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon believe that it is these economic interests that are the real motive in the systemic displacement of their communities,” Bautista said.
This is just another example of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) front groups manufacturing a rationale for why the Philippine military should be denied access to Talaingod municipality in Davao del Norte, a known stronghold of the insurgent New People's Army, the military wing of the CPP.
ReplyDeleteKALIKASAN is a CPP cause-oriented front organization focused on environmental issues.