Our Lumad kababayans need help — and understanding.

Here is a Lumad 2015 Reader, which aims to gather as much relevant and verifiable information on what’s happening in Lumads in Mindanao.

WHAT ARE LUMADS?

Meaning “born of the earth”,  Lumad is the term coined by indigenous peoples and their advocates in the late 1970s, according to the 1993 book “Ethnocide: Is it real?” published by the Media Mindanao News Service. It basically signifies the Lumads as the original inhabitants of Mindanao.

Lumads are said to be composed of 17 entholinguistic groups, all found in southern Philippines.

To quickly digest the basics, watch this video by Kirby Araullo:

HOW MANY LUMADS HAVE BEEN KILLED?

Human rights watchdogs and organizations of indigenous peoples and environmentalists have long raised the alarm over extrajudicial killings of Lumad leaders:

68 indigenous people killed under Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan #StopLumadKillings #NeverForget #EndImpunity #BeInformed pic.twitter.com/yotUpN24Ls

— Pinoy Weekly (@pinoyweekly) September 10, 2015

68 IP victims of extrajudicial killings under Aquino; 53 of them are Lumads. #StopLumadKillings #BeInformed pic.twitter.com/EwDt05JMio

— Pinoy Weekly (@pinoyweekly) September 8, 2015

Here are the latest murders:

• Emerito Samarca, executive director of Lumad school ALCADEV, was found brutally murdered on Sept. 1, in a classroom of the school he managed. His body bore gunshot and stab wounds, hog-tied and with his throat slit from ear to ear.  This happened in Lianga, Surigao del Sur. 
• Dionel Campos and Jovillo Sinzo were shot dead publicly on Sept. 1, 2015 near ALCADEV, Lianga, Surigao del Sur. Campos was the chairman of Lumad community organization Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod (MAPASU, Persevering Struggle for the Next Generation). Sinzo was the tribal leader of Sitio Kiwagan, Barangay San Isidro.  

In fact, 23 Lumad leaders were killed from October 2014  to June 2015 in Northern Mindanao alone, according to the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines. Here are some of them:

• Leoncio Arig shot dead on Oct. 2, 2014 at South Upi, Maguindanao. Arig was a chieftain of the Teduray Lumads and was active in Lumad campaigns for self-determination and for ancestral domain. 
• Fausto Orasan shot dead on Sept. 14, 2014 at Cagayan de Oro City. Known as “Datu Sandigan”, Orasan was a chieftain of the Higaonon Lumads and was a known foe of mining operations in their ancestral domain.

Sheina Campos, daughter of Lumad leader Dionel Campos. She spoke softly and lovingly about her hardworking and compassionate dad. Vigilantes woke up their Lianga, Surigao del Sur neighborhood on Sept. 1 at 4am, and made them witness the shooting of two Lumad leaders. Sheina’s dad was one of those shot to death. #StopLumadKillings

A photo posted by Tonyo Cruz (@tonyocruz) on Sep 8, 2015 at 3:51am PDT

Missionary priest Fausto Tentorio was shot dead on October 17, 2011 as he left his convent in Arakan Valley, North Cotabato. Tentorio first came to the Philippines in 1978 and had been ministering to Lumads for over 30 years.

MASSACRE!

• The Samia family, all Lumad, massacred on August 18 at Pangantucan, Bukidnon. Gunned down were: blind grandfather Herminio (70), brothers Joebert (20) and Emir (19), and relatives Elmer (17) and Norman (13). One family member (15) was able to escape and lived to tell their story. Herminio was the second-highest elder of their tribe.

SAVE LUMAD SCHOOLS!

• Lumad school ALCADEV has halted classes after the Sept. 1 murder of its executive director. ALCADEV has won the DepEd’s National Literacy Award twice. Last year, it was a national finalist for the same award. Benedictine sisters in Mindanao have long known this Lumad school and have inspired their sisters in Manila to make ALCADEV an adopted school of St. Scholastica’s College.
• In Davao del Norte alone, threats to Lumad schools endanger the lives and education of close to 3,000 Lumad schoolchildren.  
• Military and paramilitary groups have either attacked or occupied Lumad schools across Mindanao. To know more about Lumad schools, check out these infographics and visit the website of Save Our Schools Network:
  

  INFOGRAPHIC: What’s happening to Lumad schools in Mindanao (2014) #StopLumadKillings pic.twitter.com/qBAPxvniFq

  — Tonyo Cruz (@tonyocruz) September 8, 2015

  Military attacks on Lumad community schools in Mindanao. Save our schools! #StopLumadKillings pic.twitter.com/o4g9TGFwjE

  — Cleve V. Arguelles (@clevearguelles) September 7, 2015

  ARRESTS AND TRUMPED-UP CASES

  On August 26, 2015, after ransacking 57 homes, the 8th and 23rd IBPA of the Armed Forces of the Philippines illegally…

  Posted by Fausto Tentorio on Saturday, September 12, 2015

  EVACUATION AND DISPLACEMENT
• About 2,700 Lumads are now staying at the Surigao del Sur Provincial Sports Complex in Tandag City.  They fled their homes due to killings and harassment by the military and paramilitary groups in their communities in Lianga and other towns of Surigao del Sur and CARAGA region.
• 700 Lumads are still at the United Church of Christ in the Philippines’ Haran compound in Davao City. These Lumads fled military operations and military takeover of schools in their communities
RESCUE THEN “RAPE”
• Rep. Nancy Catamco personally led a violent but failed attempt to “rescue” the Lumad evacuees at UCCP’s Haran compound last June 23. She claims the Lumads were either being trafficked or illegally detained at the compound. The UCCP church leadership and the National Council of Churches in the Philippines condemned the incident and rejected claims of Catamco.
• The lone woman chieftain of the Manobo Lumads rejected Catamco’s “rescue” attempt.
• Catamco, who describes herself as a “diwata”, now faces serious charges at the City Prosecutors Office in Davao City, and a petition to have her removed as chair of the House committee on indigenous people.
• One of the few Lumads Catamco rescued — a girl (14) — has been found to have been raped while under military custody. The police has asked the Philippine Army to present the three soldiers suspected of raping the Lumad girl.

Remember the word, “Salvage”? Lumad ‘goddess’ gives “rescue” a different spin http://t.co/NSUk9AA4yK pic.twitter.com/2FYJetawK3

— inday espina varona (@indayevarona) July 25, 2015

UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ALREADY KNOWS
• Last July, the United Nations special rapporteur on displaced persons Chaloka Beyani visited the Philippines, upon the invitation of the Philippine government. He was able to meet with Catamco, the military, other government officials and the Lumads.
• In his exit statement, Beyani said: 

Chaloka Beyani: “[AFP’s presence] continues to create anxiety amongst the indigenous communities” #StopLumadKillings pic.twitter.com/R4JJZsNxw4

— Pinoy Weekly (@pinoyweekly) September 7, 2015

• In a subsequent statement, Beyani assailed the military for “distorting” and misrepresenting” his exit statements and his remarks during a media briefing.
CONGRESS AND CHR
• Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares and other Makabayan Bloc members have filed a resolution asking asked the House to look into the Lumad killings and plight of Lumads.
• Sen. Grace Poe andSen. Loren Legardahave also filed resolutions in the Senate.
• Commission on Human Rights chair Chito Gascon has assailed the killing of ALCADEV chief Samarca and two Lumad leaders in Surigao del Sur.
GROWING OUTRAGE FROM CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS
• The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has issued a statement condemning the killings. The bishops found it “disturbing” that the government quickly exonerated the suspects.
• The NCCP, the organization of mainline Protestant churches, has called on authorities to give justice to the victims of the Lianga and Pangantucan massacre, and held the 36th Infantry Batallion aand the paramilitary group Magahat Bagani responsible.
• “Abolish the Lumad-killing militias”, thundered the statement from the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines.
• Read the AMRSP’s letter to President Aquino:

#StopLumadKillings
RMP joins AMRSP’s call for Aquino to protect Lumads, disband militias in Mindanao- pic.twitter.com/bbY6EYXDfs

— RMP_National (@rmp_natl) September 10, 2015

GOING INTERNATIONAL
• The International Committee of the Red Cross has extended relief aid to evacuees in Tandag City.
• The New York-based Human Rights Watch has weighed in on the recent spate of killings.
• President Aquino obviously did not heed HRW’s 2012 appeal over Lumad killings.
• The Canada chapter of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines hhas written President Aquino over the Pangantucan massacre. 
MILITARY, PARAMILITARY GROUPS ARE MAIN SUSPECTS
• The military claims its closure of Lumad schools is supported by the DepEdand that soldiers will be the new teachers for Lumads.
• Eyewitness and survivor accounts all point to paramilitary groups and militias as the perpetrators.
• An eyewitness also said that soldiers merely watched and did not intervene as the vigilantes killed two Lumad leaders in Lianga.
• The military also claims that operations are part of operations against New People’s Army. International humanitarian law — the laws governing armed conflicts — prohibit acts against civilians and civilian communities. The military actually has an obligation to protect Lumads.
• Surigao del Sur Governor Johnny Pimentel has blamed the military-created paramilitary ggroups and militias for the killings of Lumads, and has asked that they be disarmed. The Philippine Army is now pressuring him to tone down his statements.
• The military is present in areas where there have been killings of Lumads. The officers and soldiers have to blind, deaf and mute if they claim not to know the situation of Lumads:

Barug Katawhan maps out the spread of military deployment and military abuses in Mindanao #StopLumadKillings pic.twitter.com/CeBZ47cfHr

— Rep. Luz Ilagan (@RepLuzIlagan) September 11, 2015

• The military’s double-speak about Lumads is easy to detect and debunk: General Hernando Iriberri has confirmed military presence in Lumad communities. A pro-military lawmaker has accused Lumads of comprising the majority of NPA fighters in Mindanao.
BIG FOREIGN MINING AS BENEFICIARY
• Lumads’ ancestral domain are said to be eyed by mining companies.
• For example, Lumads have protested against XR Mining in Lebak town, Sultan Kudarat. 
• 80 percent of 131 mining agreements and permits in Mindanao are located in Lumad areas.
• Mining and militarization go hand in hand in Mindanao, as we could see from what happened in Tampakan, South Cotabato:
  

  Worth killing for? Tampakan’s bounty in gold, copper at the expense of B’laan people #LumadAgenda #StopLumadKillings pic.twitter.com/CtTZq03YlM

  — Pinoy Weekly (@pinoyweekly) September 9, 2015

  Why are they killing Lumads? Gold, other riches in ancestral lands. #NeverForget Tampakan massacre #StopLumadKillings pic.twitter.com/05zxSYuYuu

  — Pinoy Weekly (@pinoyweekly) September 11, 2015

• In 2013, the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform, composed of Catholic and Protestant leaders, blamed mining and militarization for the plight of Lumads.
• Check out the Philippine Mining Situation.

Ready to take a stand?

Check out and get free #StopLumadKillings posters here.

Display photo from DavaoToday.com.