By Mabel Carumba
and Judy a. Pasimio
MANILA (May 21, 2018) – “To include non-Moro indigenous peoples
rights in the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) means inclusive peace, and a
more lasting one,” says Titay Bleyen Santos Unsad, a Teduray leader from Upi,
Maguindanao.
“Peace in Mindanao is a common aspiration of the
Moro people and the non-Moro IPs. We have supported the struggle of our Muslim
brothers and sisters for peace and development within our region. Their peace,
is our peace. And that is why the BBL, to be truly a peace instrument, should
also recognize the rights of the Teduray, Lambangian and other non-Moro
indigenous peoples in Maguindanao,” adds Titay Bleyen Santos.
Titay Bleyen Santos Unsad is one of the 350 IP
leaders who have been part of the Mindanao IP Legislative Assembly or MIPLA,
which was convened by the Office of the Presidential Adviser to the Peace
Process (OPAPP) last year. The MIPLA was mandated to draft specific proposed
revisions to the BBL which would contain the IP agenda. The Assembly worked for
3 months, and came up with proposed revisions.
“We drafted proposed revisions to enhance the
BBL, recognizing our rights to our ancestral domains, and our distinct identity
as non-Moro IP rights. These were presented to the Congress,” according to
Titay Bleyen Santos. “But now, all of these seem to be set aside in favor of
the version from the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), which prescribes
that all peoples within the proposed Bangsamoro territory are all Bangsamoro.
But we are not. We are Teduray, with our own ancestral domain, justice system,
and governance. We are non-Moro indigenous peoples.”
The Congress plans to pass the proposed BBL
before it adjourns on June 1, upon the urging of President Rodrigo Duterte. At
the House of Representatives, the House Committees on Local Government, Muslim
Affairs, and Peace, Reconciliation, and Unity approved House Bill No. 6475 or
the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) without amendments last week. This did not sit
well among some members of the House, who said that all the consultations and
public hearings were rendered useless, as no revisions were entertained. The HB
6475 is the version submitted by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission
(BTC). The same can be said with the
Senate, when Senator Miguel Zubiri decided to author instead the BTC version.
The interpellation of SB 1717, or the proposed BBL, is ongoing at the Senate.
“It’s true, that the BBL is long overdue. We
have been part of the struggle, too. We have been attending congressional
hearings, dialogues, public forums, to express our support to BBL, but also to
say that an inclusive BBL is the only way to go to have an inclusive peace,”
says Fintailan Leonora Mokudef. Fintailan is a title for a Teduray woman
leader. “Indigenous Peoples in ARMM did
not enjoy the rights provided by the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA).
Recognition of our rights is also long overdue.”
The government of Autonomous Region of Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM) did not recognize IPRA, a national law, as applicable within
its territory. Its applicability over the Bangsamoro Territory is one of the
critical revisions that the IP leaders are pushing for. The IP leaders went to
the Senate today to have dialogues with the Senators and to observe the plenary
discussions of SB 1717, or the Senate version of the proposed BBL.
“The halls of the Senate are familiar now to us.
We have been here before, during the Aquino administration lobbying for the
inclusion of IP agenda in the BBL. We have allies then who seem to have changed
their position,” observes Titay Bleyen Leticio Datuwata, a Lambangian leader,
from South Upi, Maguindanao. “We just hope that there will still be a number of
members of the Senate who believes in the pursuit of peace, and that peace
should be for everyone – even us, non-Moro Indigenous Peoples in Mindanao.”
Titay Bleyen Santos, Fintailan Leonora and Titay
Bleyen Leticio are all part of LOYUKAN, a common term among Central Mindanao
Lumad to mean comrades. It is a coalition of IP leaders, Indigenous Political
Structures, IP rights advocates, human rights organizations, and other members
of the social movement who are all pushing for the full inclusion of the IP
rights within the BBL.
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