The Root of Conflict
The root of conflict in the Philippines is injustice. Injustice brought about by the inability of the governmet to fulfill the needs of the people and the lack of recognition of rights especially of the ethnic minorities of the country.
In a study conducted by the United Nations, the poverty line in the Philippines is defined by an income of a meager 21 php per day for a Filipino family. Sadly, the government has not done anything to allevate the condition of its people.
The Philippines is truly rich in natural resources. But the land, which is the main source of all the people's needs, is in danger due to the implementation of the Philippine Mining Act of 1997 allowing foreign ownership and control of mining companies. And although claims of responsible mining have been made, there can never truly be a rehabilitation of the environment once the damage has been inflicted.
Due to the lack of access to our own natural resources, struggles for reclaim to such access have endangered human security. Many have opted to take arms and take back the land that is theirs.
In Mindanao, 65 percent of the settlers are Christian. The ancestral domains of the Muslims based on their sultanates and the lumad communities were not recognized by the government, resulting to the displacement of these minorities. This conflict in land dates back to the American colonization when titles of land became the basis of ownership. Since Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines have not accepted the technicality of land registration, no such titles were presented.
In a study conducted by the United Nations, the poverty line in the Philippines is defined by an income of a meager 21 php per day for a Filipino family. Sadly, the government has not done anything to allevate the condition of its people.
The Philippines is truly rich in natural resources. But the land, which is the main source of all the people's needs, is in danger due to the implementation of the Philippine Mining Act of 1997 allowing foreign ownership and control of mining companies. And although claims of responsible mining have been made, there can never truly be a rehabilitation of the environment once the damage has been inflicted.
Due to the lack of access to our own natural resources, struggles for reclaim to such access have endangered human security. Many have opted to take arms and take back the land that is theirs.
In Mindanao, 65 percent of the settlers are Christian. The ancestral domains of the Muslims based on their sultanates and the lumad communities were not recognized by the government, resulting to the displacement of these minorities. This conflict in land dates back to the American colonization when titles of land became the basis of ownership. Since Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines have not accepted the technicality of land registration, no such titles were presented.
Same is true with the case of the Cordilleras. They too have protested against the exploitation of their natural resources. One of the most famous of these protests was the struggle of the Kalinga against the building of the Chico Dam. In the 70's and 80's, the Chico dam was constructed to become the largest dam in Asia under the Infrastructure development plan of President Marcos. A community in the region led by Ama Macliing Dulag began a protest against its construction. An ideal of land as life was portrayed by this protest as Dulag himself gave up his in the midst of struggle.
On April 24, 1980, two houses in Bugnay, Tinglayan, Kalinga were rained upon with bullets. These houses belonged to Dulag and another local leader, Pedro Dungoc. The gunmen were identified as members of the Philippine military. The assasination gave life to an even bigger movement for the reclaiming of land. The people of Kalinga were awakened by the death of Dulag to stand for the taking back of the land and life that they rightfully owned. Up to now, the Igorots continue to fight for their land as they live by Dulag's words:
[T]o claim a place is the birthright of every man. The lowly
animals claim their place, how much more man. Man is born
to live. Apu Kabunian, lord of us all, gave us life and placed
us in this world to live human lives. And where shall we
obtain life? From the land. To work the land is an obligation,
not merely a right. In tilling the land you possess it. And so
land is a grace that must be nurtured. Land is sacred. Land is
beloved. From its womb springs our Kalinga life.
The resloution to these continuous and complex injustices in the name of land is to have a true kind of land reform. A reform that will really be implemented. To achieve this, we will need political will and communal efforts.
posted by marianne | 6:14 AM
1 Comments:
hi there. nice blog you've got here. ay wada ka isna manila?
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