Lumad Leaders Demand Accountability for GMA’s Crimes Against Indigenous Peoples

In her 2001 SONA speech, GMA said that 100 Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) will be distributed every year, but after eight years all she said was “Sa pagpapamahagi ng milyun-milyong ektaryang lupa, 700,000 na katutubo at mahigit isang milyong benepisyaryo ng CARP ay taas-noong may-ari na ng sariling lupa.”

First, she can’t say this smiling and “taas noo” if this is measured against the possible number of indigenous peoples that could have been covered by the implementation of the original target of 100 CADTs per year. There are only 107 approved CADTs as of May 31, 2008.

Secondly, the 700,000 beneficiaries is such an incredulously low output for eight years work when weighed against the 11-13 million indigenous peoples population in the Philippines.

Third, indigenous peoples own their lands and these were never, and have never been, for the government to give away.

During the three day State of Indigenous Peoples Address (SIPA2009), the lumad leaders were passionate in their consensus that this should be GMAs last SONA. These are men and women who had lived in fear, anxiety and insecurity for the future of their people and territories during the past eight years of the Arroyo presidency. These are individuals who had seen the discrimination against their family members, the displacement of their communities, the destruction of the environment, and the death of their fellow resisters and defenders.

The SONA told of a government that is not of the lumad, told by a president that is not of the lumad.

What they know of the Arroyo government is the neglect in the delivery of basic social services, the deceit and force used against them to open up their lands for corporation exploitation; the loss of livelihood and deprivation of economic opportunities, the physical and economic dislocation of their communities, repression and violence against their struggle and resistance, and the corruption and the lies of the president.

We all might still have to endure another year of GMA as president, but we will stand with the indigenous peoples in making sure that she leaves next year, that there won’t be any charter change or martial law, and that GMA finally be held accountable for her crimes against the people.

Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center