THE INDIGENOUS

CULTURAL
COMMUNITIES’
SITUATION IN
MINDANAO
(LUMAD)
TRADITIONAL INDIGENOUS TERRITORY
Mindanao and Sulu – real owners of the greater part of the region.

1972 – MNLF launched its revolutionary war of

independence for the Bangsa Moro.
Abul Khayr Alonto and Jallaludin Santos – conceptualized and organized
the MNLF.

June 1986 – established Lumad Mindanaw.

Lumad – Cebuano Bisayan for “native” or “indigenous”

Abul Khayr Alonto
Moro – refers to the 13 Islamized ethnolinguistic groups.

Manobo language – parent language.

 Kalibugan of Titay, Zamboanga del Sur
1. Dumalandan – converted to Islam.
2.Gumabon- gabon – not converted to Islam

Subanon of Lapuyan and Zamboanga del Sur

1. Tabunaway – Maguindanao
2. Dumalandan – Maranao
Ancestors: 3. Mili- rilid - Tiruray
4. Gumabon- gabon – Subanon

Tabunaway and Mamalu - Manobo of Cotabato

and the Maguindanao.
 
BASIS OF INDIGENOUS CLAIM TO TERRITORY
1596-1898 - IPs has been living continuously without
interruptions.
Characteristics and categories in their
occupancy:
1. First to arrive.
2. The clan had a tradition of communal
ownership and control over their land.
3. Their occupancy was continuous and without
interruption at least until 1898.
FOREIGN INTRUSION: THE
SPANISH AND AMERICAN
CHALLENGE
17th century - succeeded in establishing footholds
in eastern, northern and western parts of
Mindanao.

1892 - a total number of 191, 493 Christians

converted from indigenous people.
 
The resettlement
programs of the
government:
1906 – Battles of Bud Dajo
1912 – Battles of Bud Bagsak
1903 and 1935 – 15,000 to 20,000 Moros died.

1911 to 1912 – Drought in Sulu and Zamboanga +

Grasshopper infestation in Davao.
(General Pershing – importation for homesteaders
from the overpopulated Philippine areas)
 Parade of a 13 feet cornstalk to convince the people to
relocate.
 Cotabato Valley – the first agricultural colony.
 Act No. 2254 (1913) – additional agricultural colonies.
 Selected
cites: Pikit, Silik, Ginatilan, Peidu Pulangi and
Pagalungan
 Act No. 2280 – an Act for American soldiers married to
FilipInas. (Momungan Agricultural Colony / Balo-i, Lanao
del Norte)
 1927 – failure of the Act No. 2280
 Act
No. 2206 (1919) – allowing the Provincial boards to
manage colonies at their own expenses.
 Coloniesopened: The province of Zamboanga opened the
Lamitan colony in Basilan, Sulu opened the Tawi-tawi colony,
the Marilog by Bukidnon and Salunayan and Maganoy by
Cotabato between 1919 and 1926.
 1935 – organization of significant government resettlement.
 Quirino-Recto Colonization Act or the Act No. 4197
(February 12, 1935) – sending of settlers in different areas of
the country with special reference to Mindanao. But even
before its implementation, the commonwealth government
came and chose to focus on building inter-provincial roads
and abolished the Quirino-Recto Colonization act.

 NationalLand Settlement Administration (NLSA) by the Act

no. 441 (1939) – introduction to new dimensions of
resettlement.
3 major resettlement areas opened by the nlsa: Mallig Plains
in Isabela, and two in Cotabato, namey, Koronadal Valley
made up of Lagao, tupi, Marbel and Polombok and the Ala
(now spelled as Allah) Valley consisting of Banga, Norallah
and Surallah.

 1950 – abolishment of the nlsa (8,300 families were already

resettled)
 The rice and corn Production Administration (RCPA) of 1949
- responsible for opening Buluan in Cotabato and Maramag
and Wao at the Bukidnon-Lanao boarder.
 1945 – The Land Settlement Development Administration
(LASADECO) took over from NLSA and RCPA and was
able to open Tacurog, Isulan, Bagumbayan, part of Buluan,
Sultan and Barongis and Ampatuan, all in Cotabato.

 the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration

(NARRA) - administered a total of 23 resettlement areas: 9
were in Mindanao; 1 in Palawan, 5 in Visayas, 1 in Mindoro
and 7 in mainland Luzon.
 1963– land authority took over narra and resettlement
became part of the land reform program.
 1971 – creation of the department of agrarian reform.
Population shift
resulting from
resettlement:
 1918, 1939 and 1970 census – proves the imbalance the
distribution of political power as well as lands and other
natural and economic resources
• 1, 602, 117 1970
• Total population
• 298, 935 1939
• Inhabitants distributed in 33 towns
• 171, 978 (Cotabato) 1918
• Inhabitants distributed in 36 municipalities
THE CASE OF COTABATO:
1918
1939
Muslims as the
majority in 20 towns, 1970
Muslims as the
Lumad in 5 and the
majority in 20 towns,
migrants in none. Muslims had 10 towns
Lumad in 9 and the
to their name, Lumad
migrants had 3.
had none and the
migrants dominated in
38 towns.
THE ROLE OF BIG
BUSINESS IN THE
DISPLACEMENT
PROCESS:
 Leonard wood, the first governor of the moro province from
1903 to 1906 and john Pershing as well as the first American
military commanders saw that Mindanao is teemed with
natural resources.
 1926– introduction of bill to separate Mindanao and sulu
from the rest of the Philippines
LEONARD WOOD first governor of the JOHN PERSHING
Moro Province American “Datu”
Timber concessions:

 1950’S and early 1960’s – logging became popular in the

region.
 1979 - there were 164 logging concessionaires, mostly
corporate, with a total of 5, 029, 340 hectares as a
concession area, leaving no room for the tribal people in the
forest.
Pasture lands:
 296 leases 1972 – 1973 took a total of 179,011.6 hectares of
their ancestral territory.
 1971 Senate Committee - investigating the
deteriorating peace and order conditions in
Cotabato that the “grant of forest concessions
without previous provisions or measures
undertaken to protect the rights of cultural
minorities and other inhabitants within the forest
concessions areas in one of the principal causes of
dissatisfaction among cultural minorities”. -
Philippine Chief Brigadier General Eduardo Garcia
 Thegovernment failed to “provide
precautionary measures in the grant of
concessions and pasture leases as
contributory to the problem”. – Congressman
Salipada Pendatun (A Maguindanao datu
from Cotabato)

SALIPADA K PENDATUN was a lawyer, military officer, legislator and national

leader of many “ Firsts”... He was the first and only Filipino Muslim who headed a
combined Filipino Muslim-Christian and American guerilla army, the first Filipino
Muslim to be conferred the rank of Brigadier General, the first Filipino Muslim
elected senator, the first to hold three Senate Committee Chairmanship at the same
time, the first Muslim delegate to the United Nations and the first Filipino Muslim to
become Speaker Pro-Tempore of the House Representatives.
Contradiction
between
government
development
projects and
indigenous
interests:
CONTRADICTION: GOVERNMENT PROJECTS AND ip
INTERESTS
 Energydevelopment projects tapping both water and geothermal
resources undertaken by the Marcos and Aquino administrations.
 Famous projects: Chico dam project in cordillera, Agus
hydroelecrics projects along the agus river in Lanao del sur and
Lanao del norte, pulangi river projects and the lake sebu dam
project.
 Mt. apo geothermal project / mt. apo geothermal plant
CONSEQUENCES UPON THE LUMAD
AND THE MORO OF THE STATE SYSTEM
OF LANDOWNERSHIP AND LAND USE
CONSEQUENCES UPON THE
LUMAD
 1. Their communities were mostly clan- size and
they were mostly dependent on swidden farming,
hunting and gathering
 2. There is a high vulnerability of the Lumad
communities to external intrusion. Effect: they
ceased to be masters in their own ancestral lands.
 3. They also had lost their self-determination
PRESENT DAY STATUS AND
GAINS OF THE LUMAD
STRUGGLE
1973 Constitution of the Philippines - single provision, states that: “the state shall consider
the custom, traditions, beliefs and interests of national cultural
communities in the formation and implementation of the state policies.”

Two significant sections as an example of legal provisions:

1. Article XII, Section 5 of the 1987 Constitution states that: “The State, subject to the provisions of
this Constitution and national development policies and programs, shall protect the rights of indigenous
cultural communities to their ancestral lands to ensure their economic, social, and cultural well-being.”

2. Article XIV Education, Science and Technology, Arts, Culture, and Sports, Section 17, as follows:
“The State shall recognize, respect, and protect the rights of indigenous cultural communities to preserve and
develop their cultures, traditions, and institutions. It shall consider these rights in the formulation of national
plans and policies.”
 The name Lumad and Bangsa Moro had been accepted in the legal dictionary of the country.
 There is an exemption from agrarian reform was granted by the CARL to ancestral lands of each
indigenous cultural community.
 Ahod Balawag Ebrahim, better known as Al-
Hajj Murad Ebrahim, is a Moro Filipino politician
and former rebel leader currently serving as the first
and interim Chief Minister of the Bangsamoro
Autonomous Region [BAR] in Muslim Mindanao.
As the current chairman of the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front [MILF],
a Moro regionalist and Islamist armed group in the
southern Philippines, Ebrahim is a key figure in
the Bangsamoro Peace Process in the Philippines