Urges President Duterte, Zubiris to Enforce IP Rights in Ancestral Lands

(April 20, 2022)

          The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) condemned the assault on presidential candidate Leody de Guzman and unarmed lumads (indigenous peoples)  – including women and children – in barangay San Jose, Quezon, Bukidnon last April 19 by security guards of an agribusiness corporation allegedly owned and controlled by Mayor Pablo Lorenzo III of Quezon municipality.        

          At the same time, FFF Board Chairman and former Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Q. Montemayor urged President Duterte, Bukidnon Governor Jose Zubiri, Jr. and his son – incumbent Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri – to act decisively to prevent further violence and to enforce the ancestral land rights of lumads.

          Five (5) persons were reportedly wounded by the security personnel of the Kiantig Development Corporation (KDC), using shotguns, M16 and M14 high powered weapons.  De Guzman was unhurt in the incident.  Police and military personnel, who were in the vicinity during the shootings, reportedly did not intervene.

         Earlier on April 18, Supreme Datu Rolando Anglao of the Manobo-Pulangiyon tribe met with Mayor Lorenzo, Chairman Allen Capuyan of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and other government representatives.  He informed them that the lumads  would be reclaiming the 1,111-hectare area in barangays Butong and San Jose that was officially recognized last October 6, 2021 by the NCIP as the ancestral domain of the tribe – being the “rightful owner and possessor” thereof.

         Since 2017, about a thousand lumad families have encamped in tents and makeshift shelters along the national highway in Quezon just outside their ancestral land, which have been fenced off by the KDC and planted to pineapple previously for Del Monte Philippines and lately to Lapanday Corporation.

          According to FFF Board Chairman Leonardo Q. Montemayor, the disputed area in sitio Kiantig had been originally leased to the Montalvan Ranch in the 1960s.  Somehow, the KDC under Lorenzo managed to secure leasehold rights over the property.   In 2018, the 25-year lease period ended, and the area was reclassified as forest land under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.  During the Ramos presidency, top DENR officials declared that the area was part of the ancestral domain of the Manobo-Pulangiyon, pursuant to the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 (Republic Act No. 8371).

          Montemayor called on Governor Zubiri to live up to his title, “Datu Intunda” (Chief Guardian Angel), which was conferred on him by the Seven Tribes of Bukidnon in the 1970s.

The recent statement by presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. vowing to prioritize the protection of the environment [1] and recognizing Nature’s Rights saying “it has its own rights and should be allowed to flourish, reproduce and attain its abundance side by side with human civilization in perfect balance and harmony with our growing communities” seems to be a positive statement for us,  Rights of Nature [2] advocates in the country.

We were surprised and cannot help but be very worried though by this statement from Mr. Marcos Jr. because our assessment of his stance on environmental protection and mining garnered him a low rating in our profiling research called the Power of Purple 2022 [3]. Of the seven (7) presidential candidates, he got an ambivalent rating for his position on environmental protection as we could only find general statements admonishing environmental protection without details of why’s and the how’s of such position. Although he got positive points for pushing for bills on green building and PAG-ASA modernization, he got a negative rating on mining because he supports it and believes that it is a key source of revenue and employment to prop up our economy. On a similar note, he is likewise supportive of the operation of the Bataan nuclear power plant which might have a devastating impact on the people and the environment.

An extractive-oriented economy is an anti-thesis of the rights of nature perspective. Massive extraction or large-scale mining carries an ideology that sees nature as objects that is infinite and are there to be used, processed, and sold for the sake of profit and human development. Mr. Marcos needs to realize that taking on the rights of nature paradigm demands a whole paradigm shift in the way economics, legal and socio-political systems should function in relation to the environment.

Currently, Rights of Nature bills have been filed in Congress by Senator Risa Hontiveros and Cong. Kit Belmonte with six (6) other co-authors. They were referred to several committees and only the bill in the lower house had been on the agenda of one committee, and only once, we reckon, owing to the lack of understanding of the urgency to protect the environment and address the current climate crisis and emergency.

We lament the low level of attention given by many of the 2022 election candidates on the importance of addressing environmental issues in their platforms and discourses. The intersectional relationship of the environment with all other issues have not been recognized and highlighted — its connection to strong typhoons, disasters, the sorry state of agriculture and fisheries, our health, and even the armed conflicts whose roots are driven by lack of access to resources. To add, despite the warning of our climate scientists in their UN report [4] that humanity only has three more years to curb greenhouse gas emissions to avoid more severe climate disasters, or face irreversible and fatal consequences, many still regard climate emergency issues as just among the many other problems

Continue reading