Amid Kadayawan feast, ‘lumad’ hope for peace

If tribal people are invited to this year’s Kadayawan festivities, Kaylo Buntolan, one of the “lumad” (indigenous) evacuees staying at the United Church of Christ in the Philippines’ (UCCP) Haran Center in Davao City, says he will come bearing placards calling for the pullout of the military from their communities in Davao del Norte province.

Buntolan, who is from Talaingod, Davao del Norte, says it does not sound right for people who have fled their homes to enjoy themselves in the celebration of Davao City’s top tourist attraction, while most people in their communities are facing harassment and intimidation.

“We came here for another reason,” says Benito Bay-aw, a member of the indigenous group Pasaka, who accompanied Buntolan. “We came here to seek refuge from the harassment we endured from soldiers stationed in our communities.”

As far back as 1994, when its members sustained attacks from a logging and mining concessionaire that they believed had encroached on their ancestral land, the Talaingod have considered Davao City a sanctuary in times of trouble. Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who recognized the lumad as the first inhabitants in Mindanao, has always welcomed them in the city.

The people have sought refuge at the UCCP Haran, staying there for months. There, they planted mango trees that are still standing today. The conflict with the concessionaire eventually died down, but relentless counterinsurgency operations, which intensified in lumad areas in 2014, have again put their lives in danger.

For over 23 years since they put up Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon Learning Center, they have constantly been accused by soldiers of being members of the communist New People’s Army.

In October last year, the lumad again fled their communities due to heavy aerial bombardment.

According to Buntolan, officials in their towns of Talaingod and Kapalong, both in Davao del Norte, “will only urge us to return to the communities where we have fled, without clearing the area of soldiers.”

When this year’s 30th Kadayawan activities are held from Aug. 17 to 23, the lumad from Davao del Norte and Bukidnon province will still be at UCCP Haran. The festivities celebrate not only nature’s bounties but also the cultures and traditions of indigenous peoples. Games once played by indigenous peoples in Mindanao are to be featured in “lumadnong dula.”

Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte says the lumad are welcome to stay to witness the events, including a trade fair and a bazaar, street parties, concerts and street dancing, and a river festival.

“We don’t have anything to do with the Kadayawan,” says Matigsalog Bai Bibyaon Ligkayan Bigkay, the only woman tribal chieftain in Mindanao. She left her home in Bukidnon due to heavy military presence.

“Right now, we are not prepared to enjoy ourselves,” Bay-aw says.

“We are in Davao to take refuge” he says. “We are asking the nongovernment organizations that are helping us to tell the whole country that we want to go back to our communities, but we can go back only if the soldiers are no longer there to sow fear in our hearts.”