Ramon Moambing, Executive Director of the Lumad Development Center (LDC), is an indigenous Teduray. LDC is a non-governmental organisation based in Cotabato City which carries out social development work in Lumad communities giving technical and advocacy support to Lumad people’s organisations.

‘There is a peace agreement with the MNLF and a ceasefire agreement with the MILF, but indigenous peoples are being exploited and disempowered just the same. They are still marginalised. There have been no changes, whatever the agreements with the Moro groups. The process the government is undertaking is not addressing the issue, which is the right to self-determination. It’s just political accommodation, not solving the problems.

‘They have a document. But the people at the grassroots are hungry. Their stomachs have no peace. Their communities are being harassed and displaced, they are frightened. Their minds are not at peace.

‘The Lumads were left out of the peace agreement. They had no representative at the talks. The negotiation was just at the top between the government and the MNLF. The grassroots were left out. We tried to consult them. We asked the MNLF what would happen to indigenous peoples. Our proposal was to include our agenda in the peace talks. They said, ‘The MNLF cannot bring or support any agenda of the indigenous peoples. It is the indigenous peoples themselves who will defend their rights.’

‘Now, the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD) has established a common ground between the MNLF and the government. The intention is for the SPCPD to pave the way for expanding the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). There is a Vice Chair of SPCPD for Lumads. But the Lumad peoples were not the ones recommending Mai Tuan to be our representative. He was handpicked by Misuari [MNLF Chairman]. In the SPCPD Consultative Assembly, there is one Lumad member. But we did not recommend him either. It is the political relations of whoever runs SPCPD, the ARMM and the national government that determine who sits in the Consultative Assembly. There is still misrepresentation.

‘The indigenous peoples in the Zone of Peace and Development do not have a clear view of what SPCPD is, or of what the ARMM is. The Organic Act that created the ARMM in 1989 mentions that indigenous peoples shall have privileges and rights, for example, tribal courts, but there is no representation of indigenous peoples in the Regional Legislative Assembly. No indigenous people are employed in it.

‘Can we have the Moros formulating policies for the Lumads? That is inconsistent. The Lumads should formulate and articulate things for themselves. The same is true for SPCPD, or if the ARMM is to be expanded.

‘Lumads suffer harassment from the government forces, the MNLF and the MILF. They just keep displacing the indigenous peoples. On 7 October 1998 the 38th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army attacked Lumads in Barangay Bantek, while on combat patrol. They killed one person and wounded another. The Lumads have asked the Commission on Human Rights and the Office of Southern Cultural Communities to investigate.

‘Some of the MNLF are still collecting revolutionary taxes. The MILF are also collecting revolutionary taxes. The MILF leaders say this should not be going on, but the indigenous people are afraid to refuse, because the collectors are armed. People are afraid to complain. The MILF are also exploiting us. The indigenous people have no arms; they are not learned, so the MILF can force them away. For example, the Pajardo coconut plantation in Barangay Kinimi was supposed to be distributed to indigenous people under the agrarian reform programme. But the MILF forces have occupied it since 1997.

‘The MILF and the government are talking about peace, but the fighting is still going on. We do not know who started the fighting. We just know about the evacuation of innocent civilians, who are being displaced because of the skirmishes, while negotiations go on.

‘We have to organise the people, so that they assert their rights, educate them to be aware of the rights of others — Moros and Christian settlers. We have to unify the people.’