Long before the signing of the peace framework between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front there were already voices and actions asserting the right to participate in the discourse and to be considered in the peace process by the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) or the Lumads (a people also advancing their right to self-determination over their ancestral domain) inside the core area of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (2008) and now the New Autonomous Political Entity called Bangsamoro.

After the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and Moro National Liberation Front, territories of the Lumad had been included and encroached by the Integrated Forest Management Agreement (IFMA) which benefited logging concessions and damaged Lumad vast forested areas part of the Ancestral Domain and territories. The ancestral lands of the Lumads were unilaterally claimed and included by the MNLF in the said 1996 agreement. MNLF and some of the leadership and personalities were behind the IFMA.

Another silent mechanism for the Rights of the Lumad is the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao which does not recognize the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) a national law for the IPs but it was not recognized and implemented in the region. Lumads within the ARMM have struggled since time immemorial for the RSD thru Ancestral Domain Claims and practice of its distinct political and justice system. These efforts have reached the revolutionary fronts, civil society organizations and government institutions but it seems that their voices had been received by blank walls.

 Tracing Objective History

Tracing objective history should not start at the time when one was converted to Islam but should even be before the Sultanates and the religious conversions. It is politically incorrect to claim Lumads as part of the Bangsamoro entity but at the same time they were never been included in discussing and arriving at decisive point of the negotiations and only a passive party of the struggle of the MRF who claims to be legitimate representative of the whole Moro and Lumad peoples. Islam has been the link of the Moro Struggle to their political territory, it is therefore correct that the Lumads in their numbers has not been part of Islam and should not be claimed to be part of the Bangsamoro. Before the coming of Arab preachers and traders bringing with them Islam there were already territorial set-ups and systems governing those who were living in the islands, the same situation prior to the arrival of Spanish colonizers bringing Roman Catholicism there were systems of governance and social system functioning already in place but were forcibly subjugated together with their territories and their cultural life.

 What went through?

During Peace Negotiation of different Moro factions, the IPs made countless efforts and delegations to Moro Revolutionary Fronts, but the IPs were told to bring their issues to the government’s table since MRFs were negotiating for the Moro RSD while on the other hand the latter is claiming Lumads are part of the Bangsamoro entity without prior and free consent. MRFs and organizations’ basis to this one sided claim was the mythological link between Mamalu and Tabunaway believed to be brothers and were the roots where the Moro and Lumads came from.

The Philippine government has established mechanisms and instruments to cater to the Lumad concerns specifically (maybe) the National Commission for the Indigenous People (NCIP) principally in-charge of implementing of IPRA. But in the case of the ARMM created by another law, there is definite conflict with two national laws. Nothing has been done to resolve the conflict and therefore IPRA and the NCIP cannot be implemented in the ARMM. So persistent question has been voiced out like where else can the Lumads within ARMM seek help when the government itself refused to resolve the conflict and in effect deny the Lumad from their rights and therefore their lives too?

 A Hope

It was only at the later part of October 2012 also the 15^th year of IPRA that the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Muslim Mindanao Act 242 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act in ARMM was signed which the said MMA 241 was passed by the Regional Legislative Assembly of the region in the year 2008. Yes, it might be a sign also of development and progress in favor of the Lumads in the region. But what will happen to the said newly signed IRR in relation to the institution of the Bangsamoro? Or are those enactments and plicies adopted and passed especially this MMA 241 by the ARMM will also cease together with the region’s existence?

Interesting Development and the Buts

With the current development of the peace negotiations between the Philippine Government and the Moro Isalmic Liberation Front signing the Peace Framework which has expected to be the foundation of the new autonomous political entity Bangsamoro is quiet interesting and an achievement for the Bangsamoro and all peace activists. There are provisions in the framework that mentioned the rights of the Lumad but none on the political and territorial rights and the non-Moro people which details need to be discussed thoroughly to avoid negative reactions. However, the Transition Commission as mentioned to be chosen by the GPH and MILF will be coming from the Bangsamoro/Moro people. These are the sources of worries now, of how can the non-Moro participate in the discourse particularly the Lumads. Both parties should be careful in accommodating particularly with the traditional elites and politicians. The process is suggested to be more participatory than before and avoid assumptions. We have to learn from the experiences in and outside Mindanao in the processes undertaken which in a process deprived and denied the main actors – the marginalized and minority peoples and sectors.

 CSO’s role and position, for whom?

Civil Society Organizations must also be informed that unconsciously maybe, so much romanticism to the RSD Struggle of the Bangsamoro somehow set the Lumad (another minority nationality) in the corner and even over-shadowed the Moro groups in their assertions. Somehow, insensitivity to the struggles and the voices and cries of the most minoritized nationality in Mindanao and the Philippines. This is not to question support and solidarity of these movements to the Moro question but everyone should always bear in mind that we caused more and more marginalization to the Lumad struggle without knowing (perhaps). CSOs should and must stand with the concerns and welfare of the marginalized - the IPs, but the CSO’s existence in Mindanao context has been tainted with self interests when the CSOs do not play the role of protecting the interest of the most marginalized and the oppressed section of our population.

 Democratizing RSD Struggle: A Framework

The Framework signed might lead to the realization of the Bangsamoro people (after the long work of instituting) RSD, but it should also be a victory of the majority masses of the Bangsamoro people. Can it also be a victory of the non-Moro masses who also suffered the same insecuirities during years of armed confrontations?

Why Not?

How about an Autonomous territory for the Lumad inside the Autonomous Region of the Moro in a Philippine State?

Carlo Martin Lazaro, October 2012