"We viewed it necessary to review the obligation of the government to the indigenous people and to assess what was accorded them; evaluate if the tribes have achieved enough for them and their children’s' future," said Carl Rebuta, team leader of LRC-Kasama sa Kalikasan (KsK) based in Cagayan de Oro city.

"Since the enactment of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA), only 31 CADTs have been issued by this government, 11 of which are in Mindanao, covering almost one million hectares or only one percent of the entire ancestral territory of the indigenous peoples of the Philippines. We sadly note that the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) aggressively issued to exploit 542,353,000 hectares for mining," said Judy Pasimio, executive director of Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC).

Pasimio expressed that what isn't mentioned in today’s SONA  is that the "top seven poorest provinces of the Philippines are in Mindanao, 2 of which are in the Caraga region-- the mining capital of the Philippines and the Asia Mining capital, and of Zamboanga peninsula known to be the second producer of minerals in the Philippines. Both regions have a total of 2.3 million indigenous peoples."

Pasimio bared that "240 mining tenements have already been issued in Mindanao since December 2008 and around 1,000 pending applications for exploration and operations. With this state, more than 60% of the total land area of Mindanao is already covered with mining permits and majority is within the ancestral domain of the tribes."

"Mindanao indigenous peoples also continue to witness the massive conversion of the ancestral domains into banana, pineapple plantations, influx of jatropha, sugarcane, and oil palm plantations which are primarily meant to meet the demands of developed countries like Japan, South Korea, United States and United Kingdom and not of Mindanao-- a food basket of the Philippines but now a basket of empty promises, hopes and ruin dreams of the marginalized sectors," she further said.

"The next trend of war in Mindanao is the land security, food sovereignty, and water. These are not an isolated case but common stories shared by communities from Tubay, Agusan Norte; Cantilan, Surigao del Sur, Anislagan, Placer, Surigao del Norte; Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, Macambol, Davao Oriental, and Brgy. Ned, Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, " Pasimio said.

"We also note that with continuing opposition of communities to so-called “development projects,” leaders  have been harassed, threatened, their houses demolished or burned down, hunted like animals labeled as rebels and terrorist and worst of all, getting killed," she said.

Rebuta explained that while Arroyo delivers her SONA, the Lumads will also deliver their SIPA (State of the Indigenous Peoples Address).

"While the president will again present her government’s extractive, corporate-led, import-dependent and export-oriented development agenda, the indigenous peoples in Mindanao will also lay down the agenda of their historical struggle for the right to self-determination and genuine political recognition,” he said.

Rebuta said that this conference of lumad leaders in Mindanao will result to the review of lumads' demands to the government and to come up with collective recommendation, resolution, and make a call to action.

The lumads will also march and deliver the SIPA before government officials, civil society and to religious leaders.

In a workshop this afternoon where they were divided into five groups, participants’ common observation is that the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) has not effectively performed its mandate “because our free and prior informed consent is severely violated.”

Patricia Bulay of the Subanon Getaw Tasan from Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur reckoned that in 2001 SONA, president Arroyo promised to distribute 100 Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) but 8 years have passed and we only got 31 CADT issued.

“All of us feel so vulnerable without land security. What future can we offer our children?” she asked.

Nilda Saliling, a tribal leader in Bukidnon and a member of Natabuk organization, asked, “how can we become backbone of our agriculture when our ancestral domain is threatened of water inundation if Pulangi V dam is put up  in our ancestral domain? If we are indeed rich, why is this government go to foreign countries to seek for possible loans?”

Dulping Ogan, secretary general of Kalumaran Inc., said “our experiences with our ancestral lands become the root of our division, dislocation and our death because we have serious policy confusion with the legislation of mining, logging and large scale plantations that further marginalized the lumads in Mindanao.”

Ogan said “there are three causes of problems. These are interest of local and foreign investments; negligence of government on the plight of lumads and disrespect to individual and collective rights of the indigenous people in their respective territory.”

“They even have a governing precept that our ancestral domain is a source of super profit that's why it is evident that our mineral are extracted in an open pit operation, our trees are logged,” he said.

Romel DeVera, campaigns paralegal of LRC-KsK-Cagayan said another SIPA is also being simultaneously conducted in University of Philippines today with indigenous peoples of Luzon. (Violeta M. Gloria/MindaNews)

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