Lumad close to the President reacts to the word ‘hamlet’

DAVAO CITY — Even the lumad close to President Duterte reacted when he said on Tuesday that he would “hamlet” the indigenous people to protect them against the communist New People’s Army.

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Datu Joel A. Unad, the chair of the Mindanao IPs Conference for Peace and Development (MIPCPD), said the word “hamlet” was a “difficult” word, but that’s not what the President meant.

“That’s only the word he used but he only meant to allot a space in a village where the entire tribe can protect themselves,” Unad told the Inquirer. “It would not be far from their ancestral land.”

He explained that “hamlet” means total relocation of the tribe away from their ancestral land.

President Duterte on Tuesday night revealed plans for a nationwide “hamletting” of the lumad, not only to protect the indigenous peoples against attacks from the communist New People’s Army (NPA) but also to identify those who are outside the hamlets as “enemies.”

“After hamletting all throughout the Philippines, makita gani sa gawas, kontra ka, (once we can see that you are outside, you are an enemy),” Duterte told the Barangay Good Governance Summit here Tuesday night, where lumad leaders were also gathered.

“I will hamlet them because if they’re scattered, they’re endangered and I cannot get their loyalty when they are scared,” Duterte added.

Then, addressing the lumad, he said, “It doesn’t mean I will not imprison you, that (hamletting) is for your protection.”

“No one could enter your land, not even other tribes, you will secure and guard it, and the police would be stationed nearby to protect you,” he added.

Unad said among the probable “hamlets” in Southern Mindanao include the Ata Manobo village in Talaingod, a portion near the boundary with Kapalong, an area in Compostela Valley, Marilog, and Davao City; and a part of Surigao del Sur.  /ee