31st Cordillera Day: The Fight Continues for Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous peoples gathered anew to celebrate the 31st Cordillera Day, this time held in barangay Ucab, Itogon, Benguet on April 23-24, 2015. Against the backdrop of depleted natural resources and biologically dead rivers, Ucab, Itogon offers a glimpse into the negative impacts of irresponsible open pit mining, its accompanying human rights abuses and the triumph of collective dissent.
Led by the Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA) and the Itogon Inter-Barangay Alliance (IIBA), hundreds trooped to the venue including Manila based delegates and foreign guests to participate in a series of activities meant to educate on the prevailing issues faced by the indigenous communities.
First conceived as a memorial to the martyrdom of Macliing Dulag, the tribal leader who led the campaign against the construction of the Chico River Dam project and was slain by the military, this year’s theme still reaffirm what he fought and died for: Defend Land, Life and Resources; Oust US-Aquino Regime.
The celebrations started with a tribal ritual on the first day. Dances were also performed using traditional instruments but it was the speeches from community leaders that participants learned the most from.
Large-scale mining caused massive destruction to the environment in Ucab with Benguet Mining Corporation as the main perpetrator. Human rights abuses including extrajudicial killings and harassment of leaders of progressive organizations accompany its operations. That is until 1996 when massive protests and barricades forced its closure. But having secured patented claims to over 600 hectares of ancestral lands, the firm still collects yearly “rent” from small scale miners scattered all over their “property.” Additionally, CPA revealed that 482 mining tenement applications are pending at the Mines and Geosciences Bureau for the Cordillera region alone.
To further discuss key issues affecting the Cordillera indigenous communities, workshops were facilitated by CPA. CPA deputy secretary general Santos Mero assisted the mining workshop for the group composed of representatives from the CCNCI, PNSFP and church people including the La Sallette Sisters. Meanwhile, Kilusang Mayo Uno shared the poor, oppressive conditions of miners employed in various firms in Benguet and elsewhere in the region.
According to the CPA, there is the persistent threat of environmental destruction, depletion resources and accumulation of profits by few mining companies. Compounding these serious issues is the presence of State security forces targeting known dissenters to destructive projects.
Among the resolutions agreed by the group are continued resistance against large scale mining in the Cordillera and other forms of development aggression, support calls for the passage of the People’s Mining Bill and abolish the Mining Act of 1995.
From Itogon, the delegation proceeded to Baguio City to participate in a protest rally. The protest march briefly stopped by the local offices of Mines and Geosciences Bureau and the National Council of Indigenous Peoples. CPA deputy secretary Santos expressed rage over anti-people State policies as copies of resolutions previously discussed by workshop groups on destructive mining practices, unjust policies that disadvantaged small scale miners and on Asean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) were submitted to them. The march then advanced to SM Baguio, where Tracy Ann Dumalo, secretary general of Tongtongan ti Umili spoke about the environmental damage wrought by the unbridled cutting of pine trees to make way for the mall’s parking lot, before ending at the People’s Park.
The CPA in its central statement captured indigenous communities’ aspirations and what it hopes to achieve with the yearly Cordillera Day celebrations. “Macliing Dulag and all our other martyrs did not die in vain,” said the statement. “Cordillera Day and our continuing campaigns and struggles shall be raised to a higher ground until our aspirations become a reality.”, the statement said. Nowehere is this more evident than in the collective unity exhibited by the indigenous peoples in Itogon and Baguio. No matter how tough the struggle can be, they will defend their life and resources like ther forebears did in their time. ###
