AFP breeds the likes of Ondo Perez
The hostage taking in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur involving armed Manobos may have ended without casualties among the Dep Ed officials, students and teachers they held for six days, but the question remains as to why such armed groups exist in the hinterlands and why the Armed Forces have failed to rein them in.
CPA & KATRIBU organize Joint Peace Consultation in Cordillera Day 2011 with GRP and NDFP
The Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) and KATRIBU have organized a joint peace consultation with representatives of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) on April 27, 2011, on the occasion of Cordillera Day 2011 in Lacub, Abra. The peace consultation is in light of the ongoing discussions on the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reform (CASER), where the rights and aspirations of indigenous peoples must be seriously considered and respected. Church leaders will preside and facilitate the joint consultation. The CASER is the second substantive agenda of the peace negotiations, the first being the respect of human rights and international humanitarian law; the third on constitutional and political reform; the fourth and last on the cessation of hostilities.
110 Families Flee as 23rd, 29th IB Combat Operations Intensify
April 2, 2011, Brgy. San Isidro, Marihatag, Surigao del Sur --- 110 families with about 600 men, women and children from hinterland communities fled their homes to safety in Brgy. San Isidro since March 31, 2011 when elements of the 29th IBPA intensified their combat operations against the New People's Army in the forest areas around their homes.
Indigenous peoples, farmers oppose Balog-balog dam in Tarlac
The groups Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL, Peasant Alliance in Central Luzon), AMGL – Tarlac and Central Luzon Aeta Association (CLAA) opposed the planned construction of the P18.5-billion Balog-balog Multi-Purpose Dam in San Jose town, province of Tarlac. The groups said that the project would wipe-out indigenous peoples’ communities, particularly the Aberlin and Umay subgroups of the Aeta minority, and threaten many barangays and even the town proper of San Jose.
Help our Children, Save our School (Tnabeng e Dad Nga Mi, Tnamang e Skul Mi)
On March 15, Jimboy Saya, aged 10, our Blaan student in the remote village of Dlumay, was forced by soldiers of the 73rd IB to be photographed donned with a chain of sub-machine gun bullets carrying an M-16 rifle -- “NPA child warrior going to school in Dlumay.”
Continuing mining exploration in Bakun exposes ‘moratorium’ deceit
Indigenous peoples alliance, Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP) expresses alarm over Royalco Mining Company’s mining exploration in ancestral lands in Bakun, Benguet. “It portrays how mining TNCs, conspiring with government agencies, violate indigenous people’s rights to self-determination,” KAMP spokesperson, Piya Macliing Malayao said.
Mining Act’s 16th anniversary barraged by protest
Manila – Several environment activists and indigenous peoples protested at Chino Roces Avenue (formerly Mendiola) in protest of the continued implementation of the Mining Act of 1995. Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP), Katribu Partylist and Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment called for the scrapping of the Mining Act and the immediate passing of the People’s Mining Bill.
Indigenous peoples support ‘People’s Mining Bill’
Quezon City—A day before the 16th anniversary of the Mining Act of 1995, progressive party list Bayan Muna filed for a new mining law, dubbed the ‘People’s Mining Bill.’ Indigenous peoples from Katribu Partylist and Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP) and green group Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment showed their support to the People’s Mining Bill as the partylist lawmakers filed the bill in Congress today.
