The indigenous peoples within the Bangsamoro

One of the unsettling issues in the Framework Agreement (FA) is the question of the indigenous peoples (IP). While the agreement recognizes the IP as natives or original inhabitants, they want their specific identity, ancestral domain and rights to 'self-determination' recognized and respected within the Bangsamoro.

 

Both the GPH and the MILF have shown not only flexibility but also openness in grappling with the issue of the IP. The government and the MILF not only recognize the legitimacy of their claim but also accept the 'origin narrative' of Tabunaway and Mamalu that defines the relations between the Muslims and the IP—natives or original inhabitants of Mindanao 'at the time of the conquest and colonization.' 

 

The emerging Bangsamoro identity is a young political construct that was coined in the early 70’s by the Moro National Liberation Front. The said identity would go through a process of 'winnowing' and 'integration.' Its acceptability and ownership even among those considered natives would depend on how it navigates the perilous yet earlier boundaries of ethnicity, religion, languages, and kinship.  

 

The IP are recognized as Bangsamoro. They are 'natives or original inhabitants' not only at the time of the conquest but even before the coming of Islam. The process of owning the new emerging identity would depend whether such LARGER identity would be pluralist and inclusive. There is always the danger and the temptation that the new Bangsamoro identity becomes 'monolith' and exclusive. The moment it goes this way, its sustainability in the long term would be jeopardized. 

 

An emerging notion of 'nationhood' or 'bangsa' has to be inclusive of all the 'permanent' inhabitants of its constituent units. It should accept pluralism within the emerging 'bangsa.' But the concept of inclusiveness is the glue that 'sticks' them together. For one, the new identity should NOT make any distinction among the 'constituents' in terms of privileges and entitlements else the seeds of discontent and dissensions are already planted at the beginning. And in time the ugly face of discrimination would surface and would burst forth into a new crisis.

 

No doubt, the ownership of the Bangsamoro identity by the IP is an ongoing process. While they do assert that they have specific identity within the Bangsamoro, they, too, dream of exercising the rights to determine their local affairs within their ancestral domain.  

 

There are several instances in the Framework Agreement that these rights are not only recognized but also respected. To cite a few of them, the FA specifically mentions the following:

 

 

When we speak of IP within the identified Bangsamoro core territory, it refers to the Tedurays who are traditional inhabitants of that vast territory that used to be labeled in earlier maps as the Tiruray Highlands, south of Cotabato City. There are also their blood relatives, the Lambangian and Dulangan Manobo, who live right in the midst of the Maguindanao traditional sultanates.  

 

They Tedurays are the prominent inhabitants of the three towns of Upi (North Upi, South Upi,  and Datu Blah Sinsuat). There are also large Teduray, Lambagian, and Dulangan Manobo communities in the municipalities of Datu Odin Sinsuat (formerly Dinaig), Talayan, Datu Saudi, Datu Unsay, Shariff Aguak, and Ampatuan. 

 

The IP’s major concern is the ancestral domain that has been subjected to many and differing land tenureal system through the years. They believe that under the Indigenous Peoples Act or IPRA, the IP's right to their ancestral domain is a prior system that is both recognized and respected.  

 

However, there is a 'controversial' reading and application of the said law. It holds that IPRA does NOT apply in the ARMM because of the provision in the RA 9054 that the Regional Legislative Assembly has to enact its own IPRA. 

 

Because of this 'erroneous reading,' the IP within the ARMM have been deprived of the right to assert their collective ownership over their ancestral domain. This fact puts the IP within the ARMM into a great disadvantage—very unlike the other IP elsewhere in Mindanao, Visayas, and Luzon that have either filed their claim and/or perfected their 'native titles' over their ancestral domain at the National Commission of the Indigenous Peoples or NCIP.

 

For this reason, the IP would like to participate in the drafting of the Bangsamoro Basic Law that will guarantee their rights and dreams not only of having their 'homeland' recognized and respected but also to enjoy their own 'autonomy' within the new autonomous political entity aka Bangsamoro.