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PBCI ATTENDS MINDANAO INTER-TRIBAL CONFERENCE
The
Katawhang Lumad Council of Peoples Representatives of the
Mindanao People’s Peace Movement (MPPM) called for a Mindanao
Inter-Tribal Conference last August 31-Sept. 3, 2007 at
Barangay Sungku, Municipality of Lantapan, Province of Bukidnon—the
Ancestral Land of the Talaandigs.
The
general objective of the consultation was to intensify the struggle for the realization of Right to Self
Determination through the restoration of the concrete
infrastructure for territorial governance of Indigenous Peoples
in Mindanao.
 Specifically, the consultation sought to achieve the following
objectives:
:: Give orientation on basic
rights
of Indigenous Peoples;
:: Updates on
current initiatives
of organizations advancing the
rights of the Indigenous Peoples;
:: Create the
Katawhang Lumad
Secretariat of the Mindanao
Peoples’ Peace Movement that
will coordinate the people’s
initiatives;
:: Come up with a
comprehensive
Katawhang Lumad Agenda;
The gathering was mainly
discussion-sharings among and between the participants foremost
of which were focused on the issues and concerns confronting the
Indigenous Peoples in their respective communities.
As a tri-people community of peacebuilding volunteers,
Peacebuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) was invited to join our
Katawhang Lumad brothers and sisters in this significant
gathering. It was a
very good avenue for some of us, the non-Katawhang Lumad, to
interact and learn from the discussion-sharings during the
conference.
After a week, PBCI hosted the first strategic meeting of the
newly-elected Katawhang Lumad Secretariat of the Mindanao
Peoples’ Peace Movement at the Peacebuilders Community
Center in Davao City.
It was our privilege and honor to serve these women and men who
have been entrusted with sacred responsibility of leading the
Indigenous Peoples of Mindanao. This was also a way of
showing solidarity to the Katawhang Lumad in their struggle for
the advancement of their Right to Self-Determination as a
people.
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