“Spirituality of Solidarity” is ISA’s Public Lecture for October, declared by Presidential Decree 1906 which is marked as National Indigenous Peoples Month, based on the mandate of the 1987 Constitution to recognize and protect the rights of cultural communities and referring to the signing on October 29, 1995 of the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA).

ISA organized the event together with the following nongovernment organizations:  Advance the Rights of Indigenous People for Self-Determination and Empowerment (ARISE), Protect Sierra Madre (PSM) and Tahanang Pag-ASA.

ISA works closely with these groups to support  the Dumagats in the mountains of Rizal, Aurora and Quezon. The last two provinces will host the  Pacific Coastal City in the eastern seaboard  of the Philippines.

ARISE, Protect Sierra Madre (mountain chain in Luzon) and the nuns and lay workers in schools, cooperatives  and people’s health programs have been stressing that the ambitious project  could  wipe out the ancestral lands, culture and lives of indigenous peoples living in the 80,000 hectares earmarked  for an agro-industrial city, a “Pentaport” (port for airplanes, ships, communication facilities, business and ecotourism) plus  workers’ housing, universities, sports centers, cultural centers and resorts.

At the Titus Brandsma Center in New Manila, Quezon City, ISA Executive Director Fr. Rico Ponce, O.Carm, Ph.D. welcomed the representatives of these NGOs which support cultural communities; members of the Dumagats, Aetas, Manobo and Cordillera tribes themselves; and activists-musicians and painters.

Fr. Ponce spoke about Blessed Titus, a Dutch Carmelite,  who stood up to the Nazis who invaded his country and who believed that the Aryans were superior to all other races. 

Fr. Ponce recalled, “As director of the Carmelite schools, Blessed Titus opposed the goal of Nazism to extinguish what it saw as the lower races. He  believed that this was an ungodly philosophy because we are all equal in the eyes of God. This we have reflected in our introductory song on how indigenous peoples should not be despised.”

In his invitation to the public forum of ISA, Fr. Ponce had noted, “Indigenous Peoples form an integral part of the country’s heritage, history and development but they are often neglected and marginalized.”

This thought was amplified in the overview given by Pya Macliing Malayad, secretary general of the Katipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KATRIBU),  on the struggle against development aggression and disregard for ancestral land rights  by the government agencies working with multinationals and Filipino landlords, business tycoons and politicians.

The next speaker discussed the threats posed to the indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) of her fellow Cordillerans but did not want to identify herself.

“Just call me Yellow,” she said at the outset.

She shared data and insights about her people in Northern Philippines –  the Igorots-  and how they have faced  mega-dams, eco-zones, military reservations, commercial farms growing button mushroom and other greens favored abroad, and scaled-up experiments on genetically-modified  organisms draining the soil of water and nutrients.

Like “Yellow”, the representative of the tribes in Central Luzon (Aetas, among others) went just by the nickname of “Brother Edwin”.

He said, “Like fish snatched from water, our lives have no value and our ancestral lands in Tarlac  will be submerged under the Laiban Dam and the Dalupang Dam Phase I for the water system of the 36 hectares  of the New Green City business center which is said to decongest traffic here in Metro Manila. But what about us?”

Indigenous peoples in the Philippines include the Lumads of Mindanao, who are now being bombed on orders by President Rodrigo Duterte  for allegedly sharing their schools with terrorists.

“All we want is the chance to go to school and not be like our parents who could not read that they had sold their lands to outsiders, sometimes for just a can of sardines,” said the  spokesperson for the Manobos in Northern Davao, an eight-grader. 

Helped by the NGO Save our Schools, he and other secondary school students took an airplane for the first time in their lives to explain their wish to continue the academic year to government officials and fellow Filipinos in Manila.

They have been housed at the University of the Philippines-Diliman campus in Quezon City where they blend regular schooling under the teacher who flew in with them with presenting  patriotic songs and dances in parishes and other venues.  

After the sharing and the agape lunch came a briefing on how the sponsoring organizations of the public lecture of ISA formed the network Sandiwa (One Mind) in September to respond to issues facing the cultural communities in Luzon and the Lumads in  Mindanao under  the Duterte administration.  

Mr. Noy Josue Loyola, a member of the Redemptorist Lay Mission,  synthesized the morning talks and the challenge they pose.

“Because I am a Redemptorist, I will speak of redemption. The idea of redemption comes from justice , sharing, life and love. It is an idea you cannot kill. And so, are we ready to join the Lumads, who say their land comes from their ancestors but who now need redemption? The Dumagats who call land their life? The Igorots who say they will never exchange their land for any development? There is deception in the development of resources for foreigners but on our part we have redemption, justice, poetry and our love for creation and the environment.”

The public lecture ended with cultural presentations, which had begun in the morning itself when six Redemptorist priests popularly known as REDS performed before rushing to their  mission barangays in Quezon Province for a solidarity meeting with Arise Sierra Madre.

Afternoon artists included guitarist Danny Fabella, a trio playing native musical instruments, and Redemptorist Fr. Teodoro Holgado who composed a song based on the talks and the discussions.

He taught the audience the song and had everyone dancing around the Open Space  of the Titus Brandsma Center and its newly-installed paintings of the tribes of Northern  and Southern Philippines.

Playing his ukelele and blowing on his winds-based instrument, Fr. Holgado led the singing of “Isang Dugo, Isang Diwa” (One Blood, One Thought) which ends with the line  “In our unity and struggle lies our oneness:

               Ang lupa ay mahalaga/Katulad ng buhay

            At sa daing ng kahirapan/Ay may awaiting iaalay

            Sa ating pagkakaisa, sa ating pakikibaka

            Nandoon ang sandugo…”  

Pinky Choudhury

“Spirituality of Solidarity” is ISA’s Public Lecture for October, declared by Presidential Decree 1906 which is marked as National Indigenous Peoples Month, based on the mandate of the 1987 Constitution to recognize and protect the rights of cultural communities and referring to the signing on October 29, 1995 of the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA).

ISA organized the event together with the following nongovernment organizations:  Advance the Rights of Indigenous People for Self-Determination and Empowerment (ARISE), Protect Sierra Madre (PSM) and Tahanang Pag-ASA.

ISA works closely with these groups to support  the Dumagats in the mountains of Rizal, Aurora and Quezon. The last two provinces will host the  Pacific Coastal City in the eastern seaboard  of the Philippines.

ARISE, Protect Sierra Madre (mountain chain in Luzon) and the nuns and lay workers in schools, cooperatives  and people’s health programs have been stressing that the ambitious project  could  wipe out the ancestral lands, culture and lives of indigenous peoples living in the 80,000 hectares earmarked  for an agro-industrial city, a “Pentaport” (port for airplanes, ships, communication facilities, business and ecotourism) plus  workers’ housing, universities, sports centers, cultural centers and resorts.

At the Titus Brandsma Center in New Manila, Quezon City, ISA Executive Director Fr. Rico Ponce, O.Carm, Ph.D. welcomed the representatives of these NGOs which support cultural communities; members of the Dumagats, Aetas, Manobo and Cordillera tribes themselves; and activists-musicians and painters.

Fr. Ponce spoke about Blessed Titus, a Dutch Carmelite,  who stood up to the Nazis who invaded his country and who believed that the Aryans were superior to all other races. 

Fr. Ponce recalled, “As director of the Carmelite schools, Blessed Titus opposed the goal of Nazism to extinguish what it saw as the lower races. He  believed that this was an ungodly philosophy because we are all equal in the eyes of God. This we have reflected in our introductory song on how indigenous peoples should not be despised.”

In his invitation to the public forum of ISA, Fr. Ponce had noted, “Indigenous Peoples form an integral part of the country’s heritage, history and development but they are often neglected and marginalized.”

This thought was amplified in the overview given by Pya Macliing Malayad, secretary general of the Katipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KATRIBU),  on the struggle against development aggression and disregard for ancestral land rights  by the government agencies working with multinationals and Filipino landlords, business tycoons and politicians.

The next speaker discussed the threats posed to the indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) of her fellow Cordillerans but did not want to identify herself.

“Just call me Yellow,” she said at the outset.

She shared data and insights about her people in Northern Philippines –  the Igorots-  and how they have faced  mega-dams, eco-zones, military reservations, commercial farms growing button mushroom and other greens favored abroad, and scaled-up experiments on genetically-modified  organisms draining the soil of water and nutrients.

Like “Yellow”, the representative of the tribes in Central Luzon (Aetas, among others) went just by the nickname of “Brother Edwin”.

He said, “Like fish snatched from water, our lives have no value and our ancestral lands in Tarlac  will be submerged under the Laiban Dam and the Dalupang Dam Phase I for the water system of the 36 hectares  of the New Green City business center which is said to decongest traffic here in Metro Manila. But what about us?”

Indigenous peoples in the Philippines include the Lumads of Mindanao, who are now being bombed on orders by President Rodrigo Duterte  for allegedly sharing their schools with terrorists.

“All we want is the chance to go to school and not be like our parents who could not read that they had sold their lands to outsiders, sometimes for just a can of sardines,” said the  spokesperson for the Manobos in Northern Davao, an eight-grader. 

Helped by the NGO Save our Schools, he and other secondary school students took an airplane for the first time in their lives to explain their wish to continue the academic year to government officials and fellow Filipinos in Manila.

They have been housed at the University of the Philippines-Diliman campus in Quezon City where they blend regular schooling under the teacher who flew in with them with presenting  patriotic songs and dances in parishes and other venues.  

After the sharing and the agape lunch came a briefing on how the sponsoring organizations of the public lecture of ISA formed the network Sandiwa (One Mind) in September to respond to issues facing the cultural communities in Luzon and the Lumads in  Mindanao under  the Duterte administration.  

Mr. Noy Josue Loyola, a member of the Redemptorist Lay Mission,  synthesized the morning talks and the challenge they pose.

“Because I am a Redemptorist, I will speak of redemption. The idea of redemption comes from justice , sharing, life and love. It is an idea you cannot kill. And so, are we ready to join the Lumads, who say their land comes from their ancestors but who now need redemption? The Dumagats who call land their life? The Igorots who say they will never exchange their land for any development? There is deception in the development of resources for foreigners but on our part we have redemption, justice, poetry and our love for creation and the environment.”

The public lecture ended with cultural presentations, which had begun in the morning itself when six Redemptorist priests popularly known as REDS performed before rushing to their  mission barangays in Quezon Province for a solidarity meeting with Arise Sierra Madre.

Afternoon artists included guitarist Danny Fabella, a trio playing native musical instruments, and Redemptorist Fr. Teodoro Holgado who composed a song based on the talks and the discussions.

He taught the audience the song and had everyone dancing around the Open Space  of the Titus Brandsma Center and its newly-installed paintings of the tribes of Northern  and Southern Philippines.

Playing his ukelele and blowing on his winds-based instrument, Fr. Holgado led the singing of “Isang Dugo, Isang Diwa” (One Blood, One Thought) which ends with the line  “In our unity and struggle lies our oneness:

               Ang lupa ay mahalaga/Katulad ng buhay

            At sa daing ng kahirapan/Ay may awaiting iaalay

            Sa ating pagkakaisa, sa ating pakikibaka

            Nandoon ang sandugo…”  

Pinky Choudhury