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Some 3k indigenous people gather at UP Diliman to call for protection of rights


Around 3,000 members of minority groups trooped to University of the Philippines Diliman in Quezon City on Friday to call for the protection of rights of indigenous people.

The event, called "Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya," is the first of its kind to gather all minority groups in the country to collectively protest against the increased militarization and plunder of ancestral lands. 

Present at the protest caravan held during National Indigenous Peoples Month were more than 150 indigenous communities, including the Moro, Dumagat, Lumad, Ifugao, Kalinga, Kakana-ey, and those from Apayao province, Cagayan Valley, Southern Tagalog, Caraga region, among others.

"This is a historic event for all of us, to see all marginalized and minoritized tribes to gather in Manila," Kerlan Fanagel, spokesperson of Kalumaran and Southern Mindanao Lumad group PASAKA, said in a statement.

 

Members of various tribes from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao raise their clenched fists in front of the Oblation at the University of the Philippines Diliman on Friday, October 14, 2016, to participate in the Lakbayani, a solidarity gathering of IPs. The group's first ever Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya is a protest caravan of marginalized and minoritized sectors in the country. GMA News

 

Around 2,000 of them marched around the UP Academic Oval on Friday morning to formally start the event.

 

 

UP Diliman University Student Councilor Ben Te said they are still waiting for the next 1,000 to arrive.

"National Minorities suffer the burden of pre-industrial and backward agrarian economy. Adding to this burden is the oppression brought by government policies that seek to plunder resources within their ancestral domain and violate their right to self-determination," Roberta Ryan of Anakbayan-USA said in a statement on Friday.

Last year, around 700 Lumad people went to UP Diliman for a weeklong "Kampuhan sa Diliman" to lobby against the unjust killings of their fellowmen.

UP professor and head secretariat of Save Our Schools Network Sarah Raymundo said Friday they want the government to be more open about their calls.

"Sa panahon ni Aquino, walang nakuhang response. Nagpatuloy ang Lumad killings, nagpatuloy ang imperialist plunder, nagpatuloy ang pag-agaw ng lupa, at patuloy ang counter-insurgency," Raymundo told GMA News Online.

"Gusto natin na mas maging bukas ang gobyerno doon sa pagdinig doon sa mga karapatan na ipinaglalaban ng mga pambansang minorya," she added.

Members of the national minority group will stay at the UP Diliman campus from Oct. 12 to 28.

During this period, they will also visit various government agencies, such as the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Department of Justice, Department of Environment and National Resources, and the Department of Agrarian Reform to further bring to national attention their plight.

Several cultural presentations and educational discussions have also been lined up for the said event. —KG, GMA News

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