LUMAD SUMMARY

Lakbayan 2016 was a historic event, wherein 3,000+ members of national minority groups
gathered and trooped to UP Diliman to call for the protection for the rights of indigenous people
and protest against the continued militarization, land grabbing of ancestral lands, and human rights
abuses. These Lakbayan delegates come from Lumad, Moro, Igorot, Aeta, Mangyan and Agta
groups. They have journeyed all the way here to inform the public regarding their plight, and to
seek the Duterte administrations support for their struggle to recover their ancestral lands, which
have been taken over by mining operations of foreign and local companies, and also to resist the
destructive effects of militarization in the countryside and the irresponsible operations of mining
companies within their territory.

The immersion was an eye-opening experience for me, as I did not know so much about
the issues that our national minorities suffer today. After going to one of the camp sites, I was able
to see our fellow indigenous brothers and sisters face-to-face. Though we were not actually able to
talk to them, we were able to see how they lived their life - very simple but yet it was a continuous
struggle for them to live the lives that they do now. The camp areas were very cramped, as there
was no privacy at all, and all their clothes and things were scattered all around. Though I
remember being told that, even though they were all put in one area and were all cramped
together, they actually felt safer. Having being told this really hit me, because it really made me
realise how much uncertainty lies in their life whenever they are in their actual homes.

We were also told by our immersion group leader that their lands are suddenly taken away,
without their permission, so they would be left completely homeless and have no where to go.
They also are constantly vulnerable to harassments, arrests, and extra judicial killings for no
reasons whatsoever. Additionally, we were told that their human rights are still continually abused,
as peace is ever hardly felt within their communities, especially with the ongoing ceasefire from
Dutertes administration. Thing is, national minorities are economically, politically, and socially
marginalised in Philippine society, and thus they suffer from living in a pre-industrial and an
economy that relies primarily on agricultural lands and agricultural industry.

Also, our group was told that the Lumads want their children to receive some kind of formal
education apart from the traditional education they receive in their own communities, which is why,
there are actually classrooms being constructed now in barangays within highland communities.
They get no help whatsoever from the government to protect their rights, which is why they are
hopeful that change will come their way under Dutertes administration - this change, if ever, should
reflect full recognition of their human rights and their rights to ancestral lands.

continue and intensify attacks on the lives and rights has brought Moro and indigenous peoples to
unite and spark a movement to defend their land, right to self-determination, and pursue national
liberation with the rest of the Filipino people

"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,

imperialist intrusion in their land, in particular the deployment of US military troops all over the
country.