‘Lumad’ defying Erap’s deadline

‘LUMAD’ PROTEST STILL AFLAME Instead of dispersing, “lumad” activists and their supporters from militant groups defy the deadline imposed by City Hall and continue their protest actions in Manila by holding a bonfire Thursday night on the Philippine Normal University campus. RICHARD A. REYES

Liwasang Bonifacio is not part of their ancestral land, but the “lumad” groups who have been in the capital since last month to air their grievances are fighting for the right to stay there.

Protesters representing indigenous peoples (IPs) from Mindanao vowed to defy the deadline imposed by the Manila city government. Mayor Joseph Estrada gave them until Thursday to leave the park and warned them not to abuse the permit they earlier got from City Hall.

“We want to test if there’s a movement to have the lumad dispersed. Besides, our appeal for them not to evict the lumad is still pending. We’ll see if the leaders and policemen will disperse them,” said an organizer of Manilakbayan 2015, the movement that brought the IP groups to Metro Manila.

Instead of ending the caravan, the lumad and their supporters from militant groups are expected to take their protest to Mendiola, near Malacañang Friday morning.

The IP groups would eventually leave the park but they want to make a “political statement” that no one could push them around anymore, the organizer said. “There’s a running joke here that Liwasang Bonifacio is not part of the ancestral domain so none of the lumad are willing to die for it. It’s not their land after all. But they want to show everyone that they would not leave just because someone ordered them around.”

The march to Malacañang would serve as the culmination of the lumad’s “protesta-serye,” a series of protest actions calling for an end to the “militarization,” large-scale mining and plantation developments on their ancestral lands in the South.

The protesters earlier held rallies at the Department of Justice, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Mining and Geosciences Bureau, the general headquarters of Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Commission on Human Rights.

After Malacañang, they will turn Liwasang Bonifacio into an “Anti-Apec camp” or protest venue against the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, which the country is hosting next week.

The lumad groups started their camp-out at the park in front of the Post Office building on Nov. 2 after a weeklong stay on the  University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City.