DAVAO CITY—Some 140 leaders of indigenous communities in Mindanao have urged the government to exclude their ancestral lands in an expanded Bangsamoro territory.

During a three-day conference here that closed on Friday, the leaders said that they were never consulted in the negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on the constitution of the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE).
A resounding “Yes!” echoed when the question was asked during the discussions: “Do we all agree here not to include our remaining ancestral territories in the Bangsamoro homeland?”

Timuay Fernando Mudai, a Subanen leader in the Zamboanga Peninsula, said the lumad, or indigenous peoples, deeply respected the Moros’ “rightful claim to ancestral domain” but stressed that “they should also respect ours.”

He said that based on Subanen oral tradition, parts of the Zamboanga Peninsula, which covers Zamboanga City and the provinces of Misamis Occidental, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay, never belonged to either the Sulu or the Maguindanao sultanate but to the Subanen.

Distinct culture

Clashes erupted when the Maguindanao sultanate attempted to conquer Subanen regions, Mudai said.

Mudai explained that the thriving Moro communities in Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay provinces were a result of trade and migration “and not because they are the original settlers in these areas.”

The lumad leaders expressed concern that if their communities were made part of the Bangsamoro homeland, they would not be able to achieve political, cultural and socioeconomic independence.

“Our Moro brothers must understand that we have a culture distinct from the Bangsamoro identity,” said Apu Marcial Daul, an Arumanun-Manobo leader.

Even Muslim Higaonons that inhabit the mountains along the border of Iligan City, Lanao del Sur and Bukidnon, and the Muslim Subanens in Zamboanga del Norte—both of which are called Kolibugan—identify themselves with their tribal origins.

Oppose encroachments

The lumad leaders demanded that their ancestral domains be delineated and titled based on existing laws so that these would not fall within the proposed BJE.

Daul warned the indigenous leaders “not to see the MILF as enemy.”

“Let us not distance ourselves from them, rather engage them in discussion. But let us oppose greater encroachments in our ancestral domain,” Daul said.

The lumad leaders spelled out their position on the BJE for the first time in July 2006 during the First Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Summit held in Lantapan, Bukidnon.