Southern Tagalog’s national minorities
(NMs) to unite with Bangsamoro, other NMs for just peace, self-determination
NATIONAL minority groups and people’s
organizations from the Southern Tagalog region will once again unite with
various regions for the Lakbayan ng Bangsamoro at iba pang Pambansang Minorya
para sa Sariling Pagpapasya at Makatarungang Kapayapaan.
Arriving in the
Camarines Norte-Quezon border by August 28, the delegations from Mindoro,
Rizal, and Palawan will be welcomed by the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB) community. There, they shall enjoin with the Bangsamoro, Lumad,
and other national minorities from Visayas and Mindanao in a series of
discussions, cultural exchanges, and solidarity programs.
This year’s Lakbayan,
while remaining firm on its call for the national minorities’ right to
self-determination and defense of their ancestral lands, now put special focus
on recent fascist policies of the US-Duterte regime, including the Martial Law
in Mindanao that they say has “dragged thousands of lives in peril”.
In the Southern Tagalog
region, the groups of Mangyan, Dumagat, Remontado and Palawan hilltribes, among
others, are hounded by intense militarization of their communities wrought by
the regime’s all-out war policy against the New People’s Army the prior
implementation of the new Development Suppport and Security Plan (DSSP)
“Kapayapaan”.
Military forces
numbering at 29 batallions are now at the region, racking up human rights
violations. Cases of camping in educational institutions, barangay halls, and
civilian houses; and also civilian casualties from aerial bombings have also
been recorded.
The end of encroachment
of large-scale mining projects and other “development” projects are also part
of the reasons why the groups unite in the region for the coming days. In the
region, national minority groups have defended their land and livelihoods from
the Laiban Dam project in the Rizal-Quezon provinces; Pacific Coast City in
Quezon-Aurora; Sierra Madre Dam; and Violago HydroPower.
Meanwhile, the
hilltribes of Palawan have been hit by expanding plantations of coffee, cacao,
banana, pineapple, and palm oil, among others. Nickel mining projects,
meanwhile, threaten thousands of Mangyans in Mindoro island.
They bring their calls
to Manila, as they converge with other national minorities from North and
Central Luzon.
By August 29,
continuous solidarity programs and cultural exchanges will be held at the
UPLB, coalescing into a Grand Regional
Salubong (Welcome) by various regional mass organizations before they push to
the national capital.
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