Manobo chief, IPs hesitant on Bangsamoro deal; want control on ancestral lands

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province --  “We want  control over our ancestral  lands and resources,” Datu  RoldanBabelon, an Erumanen nu Menuvu of  Cotabato, Mindanao  said,  referring to the creation of the  Bangsamoro Region  and  the crafting of the Bangsamoro  Basic Law.

Babelon is one of the 68 participants of the Asia regional indigenous peoples workshop on extractive industries, energy and human rights   organized by the Asian Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), Philippine Task Force on Indigenous Peoples (TFIP), and the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) held here in this tourist town  April 20-22.

The proposed BBL once passed by Congress and voted in a plebiscite would eventually govern the Bangsamoro region and replace the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.  

The creation of the Bangsamoro region resulted from a peace deal between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) with the national government.

Together with Datu Eduardo Banda, a Manobo chieftain of Cotabato in an interview, both Babelon and Banda are hesitant on the fate of the indigenous peoples swallowed up in the Bangsamoro region and the laws that will govern it.

“We are not interested in the wealth sharing that the government is offering with the MILF. What we want is control on our ancestral lands and resources and recognition of our rights as indigenous peoples who have long stayed in our territories”, Babelon said.  

The Lumad areas of Mindanao in Cotabato,  Davao,  Surigao and other mineral-rich areas are operated on by foreign mining companies and their local counterparts  among of which include Southern Mining  Corporation, Viclode Mining Corporation, Apex Mining Company, Sagitarrius Mining that manages the $5.9-billion Tampakan Copper-Gold Mining Project among others.

A total of 397 mining contracts and permits have already been issued by the government as of April 2013 of which 123 or 31 percent are situated in Mindanao. 

These include 106 out of 339 mineral production sharing agreements, 16 out of 52 exploration permits, and one out of six financial or technical assistance agreements. SMI is the holder of the Financial and or Technical Assistance Agreement since 1995.   

Of the 38 operating metallic mines of the country as of May 2013, twenty or 53 percent are situated in Mindanao.

Five of the major mining projects in the making are in Mindanao including the Tampakan copper-gold project, the Boyongan-Bayugo copper-gold project of a group led by Philex Mining Corp. in Surigao Del Norte and the Kingking copper-gold project of Nationwide Development Corp. in Compostela Valley.

The Mines Geo Sciences Bureau started accepting mining applications on March 18, 2013, after more than two years of moratorium. Sixteen (16) exploration permit applications or 29 of the 56 accepted EPAs in the country are located in Mindanao.

 There are 17 Lumad ethnolinguistic groups in the  Autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao  composing  the KatawhangLumad, un-Islamized indigenous peoples of Mindanao, namely Erumanen ne Menuvu, Matidsalug Manobo, Agusanon Manobo, Dulangan Manobo, Dabaw Manobo,Ata Manobo, B'laan, Kaulo, Banwaon, Teduray, Lambangian, Higaunon, Dibabawon, Mangguwangan, Mansaka, Mandaya, K'lagan, T'boli, Mamanuwa, Talaandig, Tagabawa, and Ubu`, Tinenanen, Kuwemanen, K'lata and Diyangan spread out in  19 provinces including Cotabato, Saranggani, Davao, and Agusan.

In related news, other Lumad leaders expressed support to the creation of the Bangsamoro region, but are worried on the fate of their ancestral domains in the new entity.

Indigenous peoples have expressed to their representatives in the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) the need for respect on their ancestral domain claims. Some leaders forwarded the need for a CADT (certificate of ancestral domain title) and CADCs (certificate of ancestral domain claims) within a Bangsamoro region.  The Teduray Lambangian and Dulangan Manuvu ancestral domain claim has been pursuing their claim since 2005.

There is no NCIP office in some ARMM areas.