Indigenous people seek Pope Francis’ help in defending ancestral lands
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Using their traditional chant or lyric poem called uranda, indigenous peoples belonging to the group Kalumaran in Mindanao are sending their appeal to Pope Francis to help them protect their ancestral lands from foreign capitalists.
In the uranda, the Mindanao lumad tell of how they are being driven away from their ancestral lands by the entry of foreign mining and logging corporations. They are asking the Pontiff to tell President Aquino — in their behalf — that he should stop sending the Army to their ancestral land and to drive the “foreign capitalists” out of the country.
According to Dulphing Ogan, secretary general of Kalumaran, the uranda is the lumad’s way of re-telling history and conveying their aspirations as indigenous peoples of Mindanao. He said that through the uranda, they would like Pope Francis and the whole world to know the suffering of the indigenous people under the government’s drive to attract foreign mining corporations in the country.
“We have become victims of wanton plunder of our ancestral lands by big foreign business projects such as large-scale mining and plantations,” Ogan said. “This has caused widespread land-grabbing of ancestral domains.”
He said that 60 percent of the country’s armed forces have been deployed in Mindanao, in mostly lumad communities, resulting in the displacement of people and wholesale violation of their human rights.
“Our beloved Holy Father Pope Francis… We have come to you in this frightening period of our lives and existence as Indigenous Peoples… We entreat you and beg your loving heart! That you may advise President Noynoy Aquino to stop his senseless abuse of us and of Mother Nature! That he sends away the foreign capitalists who have devastated the environment and our tribal world. That he commands his soldiers to return to their barracks and order them never to come back to our place. That he prohibits the exploitation of our ancestral domains by outsiders,” part of the uranda, translated in English by poet Don Pagusara, said.
Article continues after this advertisementOgan said the Mindanao lumad had voiced out these concerns in the 14-day Manilakbayan, when they traveled all the way from Mindanao to Malacañang in early December 2014, culminating with the International Human Rights Day in Manila.
Article continues after this advertisement“Now, we are appealing to the Pope to help us reverse our plight, Ogan said.
“We know that we, Lumad, differ in our religious belief from that of the Pope, but as our uranda says, we hope that the Pope may become the channel of our prayer to Magbabaya, Supreme Deity of all deities,” Ogan said.
“The Pope’s message of defense of God’s creation resonates with the belief of our ancestors,” said Ogan, who called Pope Francis as truly a People’s Pope.
“We welcome him into our hearts and in our collective embrace as lumad,” he said. “We may not be able to see him personally but our uranda is enough for us to connect to Pope Francis, who is truly the People’s Pope.”
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