Igorots: Still fighting for their homeland

BAGUIO CITY — The throat of a ceremonial black pig was slit amid a stream of chants against their aggressors. Gongs were beaten while Igorot women danced with flailing arms.

They are the people tourists like to take pictures with in parks here. Yet last Thursday’s ritual at the Igorot Garden in this city were not for tourist consumption. They are for the "development initiatives" of the government and the private sector that continue to alienate Igorots from their land, the militant Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) said.

Wyndle Bolinget, CPA secretary general, said not all kinds of development is apt for cultural minorities like the Igorots.

In fact, 1.5 million Igorots are suffering from "inappropriate development," he claimed.

"Our ancestral lands are threatened by so-called development aggression that we consider as inappropriate for our growth as national minorities," Bolinget said.

"Igorots will not tire from making endless beating of their gongs until President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo heeds our demands for the protection of our ancestral lands and rights as indigenous peoples," he added.

Bolinget claimed that at least 433,377.3816 hectares are being eyed by multi-national firms for large scale mining operations in the Cordillera.

This, he said, is apart from the 13,000 hectares that were already approved for mining.

The reckless wholesale of ancestral lands in Cordillera robs its indigenous people of their heritage, Bolinget added.

Bolinget cited the study made by United Nations Special Rapporteur Rodolfo Staavenhagen which concluded that large scale development projects led to the loss of indigenous territories and land, forced evictions, large-scale migration and resettlement.

Staavenhagen, who focused on the Cordillera region for his study, also found out that indigenous peoples in the area suffer from the impact of the depletion of natural resources, environmental degradation and harassment and violence from the proponents of such projects.

Bolinget said Staavenhagen pointed out in his report that lack of consultation with the affected indigenous communities often breed conflicts.

"The government’s prevailing deceptive laws and policies on land and resources under the context of the colonial Regalian Doctrine treat indigenous peoples as ‘squatters’ in their own land," Bolinget said.

The worsening conditions of indigenous peoples, Bolinget said, engenders more of them to rise up in numbers and continue to fight the projects that trample on their interests as national minorities.

"We shall define our own path to development and ensure our control of our resources as well as enhance our collective development in accordance with our own culture, interest and welfare," Bolinget added.