CAGDIANAO, Claver, Surigao del Norte (MindaNews/11 May) – Mamanwas vowed to continue barricading the mining site of Shen Zhou Mining Group Corporation here until the company shuts down and leaves port. Vilma Coter, a Mamanwa representative told MindaNews on the same day that they won’t budge despite the reported payment of royalty fees on Thursday [...]

BAYOG, Zamboanga del Sur (MindaNews/21 April) –  A support group for indigenous peoples (IPs) is calling for support to “multi-stakeholder action and calls to cease provocations and de-escalate the situation” at the gold-rich Balabag Hill in Barangay Depore, following a spate of incidents that included removal of barricades and firing at truck tires on April [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/23 March)—A brewing rift between the military and a tribal community in the coal-rich town of Lake Sebu, South Cotabato was averted after the parties patched things up in a dialogue here Thursday. Present during the dialogue were representatives of the Commission on Human Rights, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, 27th Infantry Battalion, [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/10 March 2012) — Indigenous People (IP) of the Higaonon tribe from the 13 barangays here and tribal leaders of Bukidnon together with the Manobo tribe from Agusan in Caraga region urged the communities and the local leaders to return to the old ritual practices to ask forgiveness and offerings to [...]

SONGCO, Lantapan, Bukidnon (MindaNews/09 March) – Representatives of eight Moro tribes and most of the Lumad or non-Islamized tribes in Mindanao yesterday signed a five-point kinship covenant in a gathering here filled with festive remembrance of historical relationships and aspirations for peace and unity in the island. Aside from signing the covenant, the participants also [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/14 January) – Members of the Bukidnon-Tagoloan tribe today held a ritual symbolizing their recovery of a spring along the Sawaga River bank, which their ancestors had used as a traditional sacred site, even if a private hog slaughterhouse stands next to it now. Braving the rains that poured the whole day today, [...]

CLAVER, Surigao del Norte (MindaNews/07 December) — Who wouldn’t want to live around rolling hills set against the backdrop of a scenic coastline? Definitely not the Mamanwa tribe residing in Punta Naga Mamanwa Village in this mining town. If given the choice, tribe members said they would rather go back to their nomadic ways, than [...]

SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/27 Nov) – Members of the Mamanwa tribe in Agusan del Norte and some parts of Surigao del Norte  appealed to the city government to implement the law mandating local government units to provide a seat for Lumad representation in local councils. The Mamanwas under the Certificate of Ancestral Domain (CADT) claim of [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/25 September) – Impasugong, Bukidnon’s 134-year old town has been proposed to be declared as the tribal capital of the province. Provincial Board member Nemesio Beltran Jr. said the proposal is now in the hands of four committees of the board. Established in 1877, Impasugong has been able to preserve its cultural heritage [...]

Early in the morning of  Thursday, September 1, residents near the regional office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) along the corner of Tiano and Del Pilar Streets in Cagayan de Oro City were caught by surprise upon seeing a coffin displayed by the side of the road. It wasn’t one of those [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/10 May) – The Lumad communities have express alarm over the consecutive killing of three tribal leaders in Monkayo, Compostela Valley these past few years. The latest killing was of Bae Floreta Caya from the Mandaya tribe last April 27. Caya succeeded Manguangan Datu Carlito Chavez when he was slain last year. Chavez [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/28 Apr) – On the second day of their march for justice and land, at least 300 Bagobo K’lata lumads and farmers from sitio Kahusayan in barangay Guianga will spend the night at the Mintal Gym before they proceed to Davao City tomorrow, Friday, protesting against the encroachment of their ancestral land. The [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/14 Apr) – The location of the early morning “Pamalas” ritual to ward off evil spirits from the “yutang kabilin” was perfect. The even this morning was, after all, the kickoff of the five-day Earth Day activities by a lumad group. Although organizers from the Kalumbay Regional Lumad Organization (Kalumbay) may [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/28 March) – One of the worst fears expressed years back by the local Catholic Church over the massive Tampakan copper-gold project of foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines, Inc – that of tribesmen taking up firearms in protest of the mining operation and its related activities – may have begun to unfold. Fr. Romeo Catedral, [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/23 February) — A tribal chieftain who staunchly supported the Tampakan copper-gold project of foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines, Inc was killed Tuesday night by still unidentified gunmen, prompting the company to temporarily suspend operations in parts of the mines development site due to security concerns. The killing of Tonio Binuhay, tribal chieftain of S’bangken [...]

ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews/11 February) – A group of Subanens in Zamboanga del Norte has expressed opposition to a proposed ordinance filed at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) that would, among others, ban the use of open pit mining method in the province. The proposed ordinance is titled “Protecting and Conserving the Integrity of the Land and [...]

MALAYBALAY, Bukidnon (MindaNews/8 Feb) – A stakeholders’ forum on the proposed Pulangi 5 hydro electric power project in Kibawe town with about a thousand participants turned into a stage for Manobo Lumad elders to call on those opposed to the project to respect their traditions and processes. Pulangi 5 is a 300-megawatt hydropower project undergoing [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/2 Feb) – The House of Representatives will conduct an inquiry on the alleged irregularities concerning the multimillion-peso royalty payments made by a mining company to the Mamanwa tribe in Claver, Surigao del Norte. The national cultural communities committee of Congress’s lower house has called to task the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples [...]

BAYOG, Zamboanga del Sur (MindaNews/28 January) — Indigenous communities here have asked the local government to reveal the identities of companies that have conflicting mining claims in this town. Timuay Lucenio Manda, barangay chairperson of Conacon, raised the question after municipal officials said that aside from failing to comply with legal requirements, some companies have conflicting mining claims that cover portions of the Lumads’ 30,000-hectare ancestral domain.

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/25 January) — “A landmark victory for indigenous peoples in Mindanao,” Bae Alma Binayao of the Manobo-Talaandig tribe, said of the Court of Appeals Mindanao decision declaring “null and void” three land titles over 3,080 hectares in the name of the Central Mindanao University, in Musuan, Maramag, Bukidnon. The declaration was made in [...]

BUTONG, Quezon, Bukidnon (MindaNews/13 December) — The Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (DARAB) has reversed a decision it made in 1998 that favored a tribe’s claim that the 230-hectare property of the Bukidnon Sugar Milling Company (Busco) was part of their ancestral domain. In a resolution dated November 2, the DARAB now said it [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/07 December) — Tribal leaders have disapproved of what has become the practice of Lumads to come down from the mountains for Christmas and do some caroling in the city, a city official said. Ma. Lourdes Bermudo, chief of the City Social Services and Development Office (CSSDO), said tribal leaders and deputy mayors [...]

The tribe’s art is everywhere in the Talaandig village in Songco. It is in their music, paintings, inside their houses and even on their doors. Children learn to beat the drums as soon as their hands can reach thecowhide canvases and Talaandig grandmothers see to it that this tradition is passed on by teaching the children how to dance to the beat of the drums.

SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/02 October) –  The congressional representatives of  Surigao del Norte are seeking an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the issuance of Certificates of Ancestral Domain (CADT)  to alleged fake recipients in two villages in mineral-rich Claver in Surigao del Norte. The proposed inquiry is contained in House Resolution Number 189 filed by [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/17 September) – Some 300 mostly T’boli households in Lake Sebu town in South Cotabato are seen to benefit from a clean energy source once the construction of a micro-hydroelectric power plant in their area is completed. Municipal officials and representatives of non-government organizations and foreign funding institutions yesterday held a groundbreaking ceremony [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/31 August) – In a ceremony that some leaders of indigenous peoples may frown upon, Cotabato Governor Lala Talinio-Mendoza and the head of a Manila-based non-government organization were conferred the title Bai (Manobo tribal princess). Mendoza, a non-Manobo, was given the title Bai Sandihanan (The Dependable), during the Karuvunan Festival Monday in Antipas [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/19 Aug) – The city government here has filed administrative and criminal charges against top officials of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the Register of Deeds over the issuance of ancestral land title earlier this year to some 87 hectares of land that cover a portion of the city [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/17 August) – Cotabato 2nd District Rep. Nancy Catamco is set to propose the integration in elementary and high school curricula the study of cultures and traditions of the indigenous peoples. Photo courtesy of www.nancycatamco.comCatamco, who belongs to the Manobo tribe in the province, said the indigenous peoples are given “less” recognition in [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/15 August) – Opposition to the privatization of Mindanao’s Agus and Pulangi hydropower complexes as provided for in the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) is gaining ground, Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) chair Sec. Jesus Dureza told MindaNews Saturday. “The Mindanao Development Authority has received a growing number of position papers [...]

DAVAO CITY (STN/08 August) — Insisting on the urgency to mitigate the poor health situation in the indigenous community, the Save Talaingod Network (STN) pushed through with its major medical intervention dubbed as Save Talaingod Medical Mission this August 7-11, 2010 in four strategic communities in the affected areas of Talaingod. In an Inquirer report [...]

SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/03 August) – Taganito Mining Corporation, now under the Nickel Asia Corporation Group of Companies, has paid a total of P72.5 million to the Mamanwa, the indigenous peoples on whose ancestral domain the mining firm operates in Claver, Surigao del Norte. Jane Urbanek, Group Community Relations Manager, told the 1st Caraga Media Conference [...]

SONGCO, Lantapan, Bukidnon (MindaNews/02 August) — Some 90 Lumad leaders from various parts of Mindanao and Luzon capped their gathering here last week with an agreement to form a body that will push for the inclusion of indigenous peoples’ issues in peace talks with rebel groups. They said they will inform President Benigno Aquino III [...]

SONGCO, Lantapan, Bukidnon (MindaNews/27 July) – President Benigno Aquino III must fulfill  his commitment in his first State of the Nation Address to include the lumads in the Mindanao peace process by allowing a third panel representing the lumads, said Datu Migketay Victorino Saway of Panagtagbo Mindanao. Saway welcomed Aquino’s commitment to the peace process [...]

SONGCO, Lantapan, Bukidnon (MindaNews/27 July) – President Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s first State of the Nation Address was silent on his program for the indigenous peoples, Lumad leaders said. “Where is his policy for the assertion of the rights of indigenous peoples? None!” said a number of participants of the State of the Indigenous Peoples [...]

DAVAO CITY  (MindaNews/24 July) – An estimated 100 Lumads (indigenous peoples) from various parts of the country will gather at the foot for Mt. Kitanglad in Bukidnon for the fourth State of the Indigenous Peoples’ Address (SIPA)  in time for President Benigno Aquino’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 26. The [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/19 July) — Cotabato 2nd district Congresswoman Nancy Catamco will file a bill seeking the creation of a tribal municipality in her legislative district once Congress opens on July 26. Catamco, in a consultative dialogue with the indigenous peoples held here today, said that the proposed tribal municipality would be composed of villages [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/19 July) – The influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) recently called on President Benigno Aquino III to review all “anomalous and controversial” mining contracts and make public all existing mining applications and contracts. In a statement signed by CBCP president and Tandag Bishop Nerio Odchimar and sent to MindaNews over [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/17 July) – Manobo tribal leader Datu Ampuan Jeodoro Sulda has a word of advice to the people at the Philippine Eagle Foundation — secure a free and prior informed consent (FPIC) first if they plan to release an eagle, according to a report from the secretariat of the Kitanglad Integrated NGOs (KIN). [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/13 July) – A datu and two women who are among the Lumads from Kibawe town in Bukidnon who have picketed since Monday the regional office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) here had their heads shaved this morning before a crowd of onlookers at a busy downtown street [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/13 July) — A group of lumads from Bukidnon yesterday picketed the regional office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples here to demand the revocation of a Free and Prior Informed Consent granted to a ranch developer. The contested land is a 480-hectare property in Barangays Panalsalan and Dagumbaan , Kibawe town in Bukidnon.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/12 July) – Lumads or indigenous peoples belonging to 12 tribes in Mindanao’s southern provinces have declared their opposition to what they call the deceptive nature of treaty-based schemes to reduce carbon emissions, saying these are being promoted by countries that are being accused as the main culprits of climate change. In a [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/07 July) — Indonesian authorities last night released an official of an indigenous peoples’ rights advocacy group here along with 12 other foreign activists who were arrested Monday in West Java for causing “instability”. Jean Marie Ferraris, Davao team leader of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan regional office here, [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/6 July) — The Davao team leader of an indigenous peoples rights advocacy group, along with other activists of  different nationalities, has been detained by Indonesian police in West Java, Indonesia since Monday after holding a press conference on the impacts of coal-fired power plants on the environment and local communities, the Legal [...]

Inset map courtesy of Wikipedia.SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/2 July) – Surigao del Norte Rep. Guillermo Romarate Jr. (2nd Dist.) has warned mining firms operating on ancestral lands to pay their royalty share to the Mamanwas or their permits will be revoked. The reelected Romarate, said in a press conference that he will open this matter up [...]

MALALAG, Davao del Sur (MindaNews/1 July) — As President Benigno S. Aquino III conveyed his plans and promises to the Filipino people during his inaugural speech at Quirino Grandstand Wednesday, a tribal chieftain here urged the newly installed leader of the country to look into the welfare of the Lumads of Mindanao, especially their youth, [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/29 June) – Bukidnon’s new governor has underscored his support to environmental protection by pledging to increase the allocation for the Mt. Kitanglad and Mt. Kalatungan natural parks from P1 million to P2-3 million each. At the same time, however, he said he favors the construction of the Pulangi V hydropower dam in [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/07June) — The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has complained over the omission in the newspaper publication Sunday of what for them is the most important point in the six-point section of the “Declaration of Continuity for Peace Negotiations” the MILF and Philippine government (GRP) signed on June 3 in Kuala Lumpur. “We [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/26 April) – The National Museum is set to declare a sacred tribal burial site in Bukidnon a national cultural treasure, a Lumad rights advocacy group today said. In a statement, the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LCR) quoted National Museum curator Angel Bautista as having said the centuries-old Apu Mamalu burial [...]

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/22 November)– Traditional Subanen leaders and chieftains of Zamboanga Peninsula gathered November 21-22 in Pagadian City to draft their guidelines for Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC), an inherent right of indigenous peoples to be respected and for prospective corporations to comply with before they could start utilizing the Lumads’ ancestral domains. Ronald [...]