Ancestral Domain Peace-Fact Finding Mission
24-27 February 2011
I. Background:
The Erumanen ne Menuvù (Menuvú, for brevity) has eleven (11) territorial groupings called vansa[1]. These eleven (11) vansa are: Iliyanen, Kirinteken, Lehitanen, Simuniyen, Livunganen, Mulitaan, Divevaan/Derupuwanen, Sinimburanen, Dungguanen, Isuruken and Ilentungen. Every vansa has their respective mibpehingeran[2] or ancestral home territory stretches from Malupali River in Valencia City, Bukidnon in the North to Pikit, Cotabato in the South and from Matalam, Cotabato in the East to Buledung (part of Buldon), Maguindanao in the West.
According to the Menuvú talasila or oral accounts, Maguindanawon (or Mehindanew in the Menuvú vernaculars) and the Menuvú are descendants of Apú Tebunawey and Apú Memelú and their sisters. In the beginning they were all Menuvú meaning ‘human being’ occupying/controlling the lands including areas at the mouth of the Pulangi River (Rio Grande de Mindanao) in Banobo and Katuli, now part of Cotabato City. Tebunawey is the eldest of the siblings while Memelú is the youngest and between them are several sisters who married Muslim and eventually converted themselves into Islam. The elder brother Tebunawey assigns Memelú to remain in Banobo as guardian of their sisters while he moves to a new settlement upriver. Un-Islamized cannot stay long with the Islamized because of several prohibitions and restrictions. At the end, they agreed that they and their children are going to exist in separate ways but remain as brothers and sisters forever. Furthermore, they agreed to delineate their territory according to their belief, lifeways worldviews, etc. Apú Memelú and their sisters occupied the wide plains, lakes, marshland and the coastal areas. It was here that Menuvú refer the Memelú descendants as Mehindanew, short for ‘maginged sa danaw’ or “people of the lake”. Apart from this identity, the Menuvú also distinctively recognize each of the Mehindanew subgroups: Metevengenen, Meturuganen, Metenggewanen, Iberungen and the like. The descendants of Tebunawey went upstream of Pulangi River to the forested plains, rivers, creeks, streams and highlands of Central Mindanao. The first boundary of the two peoples was the Kakar of Timuey Maradidinda[3], now known as peyidu pulangi (or little pulangi) in Pikit. It is a passage connecting Pulangi to Ligawasan Marsh.
This is how the two peoples mutually coexist and evolved as expounded in the talasila on Apú Memelú and Apú Tebunawey. That while they came across with contradictions and disagreements, they uphold as different two peoples coexisting and respecting as equal and as brothers and sisters. But life in time and space is full of dynamics and unexpected turn of events. The Mehindanew downriver were exposed to the practices and lifeways from outside of Mindanao. Consequently, the social relationship was drastically affected and continually changing. In most cases the new forms and nature of contradictions ripen up into conflicts.
II. The Endurance of Mutual Respect and Coexistence
To cite some historical highlights that adversely affected the Menuvú-Mehindanew relationship:
1. Gebpa or Kidnapping/Slave Trading[4]. Long before the coming of the Spaniards, Menuvú villages experienced gebpa or kidnapping activities of the Mehindanew. From time to time the Mehindanew armed groups (“Metevengenen” or the cruel Mehindanew) raided Menuvú villages, burned houses, killed the old folks and capture the able-bodied men, women, children and sold them into as slavery. Result to this conflict was the Menuvú-Mehindanew boundary at Pedtad, Kabacan (located in the lower portion of Pulangi-Mulita confluence). The second and new boundary at Pedtad was mutually agreed between the Menuvú leader, “Apú Maradidinda” of Matawir[5] and the Mehindanew “Datu te’d Sepakan”.
2. The War on Trade Monopoly. The conflict on control of trade route in Asia brought the Muslims and Spaniards into war. The war implication to the Menuvú was, indeed, complicated. First, the Menuvú has no idea what was going on outside of their territory. They have no idea that trade and war is twinned-enterprise. In the barter trade which they are familiar of, war is a very remote consequence. The Menuvú cannot understand why their brother Mehindanew were imposing on them to produce “taru” or bee wax (bee wax was a primary materiel in manufacturing gun powder, molding brass e.g. jewelries, gongs, cannons, etc.) even when honey gathering is out of season. Moreover, the forced taxation “pengengken te kinagkag wey ibpeutuk” or “collecting rice and required the owner to deliver the heavy cargo” to the house of Muslim datu. Apart from these, the Mehindanew demanded to expand its territory upstream of Pulangi, Maridagao and Mulita Rivers. The resolution to this conflict was another agreement allowing Mehindanew families to settle inside the Menuvú territory. From Kakar ni Maradidinda or Peyidu Pulangi in Pikit to Pedtad in Kabacan and now to Pegeletan-- the third and present boundary. It is about ±20 km. upstream of Pulangi River. To seal the agreement, a Mehindanew warrior named Madiyangkit was arranged to marry an Ilianen Menuvú maiden named Sawugkey. The couple was given the title Inalang meaning “to gate guard” which eventually becomes the family name of the couple. The task of the Inalang is to live in the pegeletan or boundary ensuring that the agreement is reverently observe and that no cruel Metevengenen enters into the Menuvú territory.
3. The Muslim-Christian Conflict. Another wave of conflict called “Muslim-Christian Wars” was waged in the territory of the Menuvú without their consent. And the Menuvú has no knowledge what the war was all about. Mockingly, the Menuvú were victimized by both camps in their bid for the Menuvú to take sides. The Menuvú suffered more damages and casualties than the warring parties: loss of lives, incalculable damaged of properties, houses were burned, massive displacement, loss of lands and livelihood. No resolution was made for this destruction since the conflict turn out to be a political contest for “statehood”. And the negotiating table between the Bangsamoro and the Philippine Government has no space for the Menuvú. Besides, leaders of the contemporary Mehindanew overlook the tradition of mutual respect and coexistence between them and the Menuvú. They subsumed that Menuvú are only but mere objects and subjects for vassalages, slaves, and properties of the Bangsamoro state. On the other hand, the Philippine Government continues to undermine and ignore the fact that Menuvú and the rest of the Lumad Peoples[6] in Mindanao are major peace stakeholders in their negotiating table even if lumad do not wage war or envisage as revolutionaries.
The above events and experiences have direct bearings to the recent armed conflict. As to whether or not the coexistence can still provide relevant resolution, is: to be found out and vigorously worked out.
III. Overview of History of the Area in Conflict
The area in conflict referred here is the vansa’n Iliyanen[7] Menuvú ancestral home territory approximately 15 km northeast of the municipality of Carmen, Cotabato across the Pulangi River. It is in the northwest across Kabacan River to municipalities of Kabacan and Matalam, Cotabato, with a distance of ±25 km. The specific location of the territorial boundary conflict is in Midahúduan (meaning “a heap of newly harvested rice”) and Marupayag (clear view) for the Mehindanew. The name Marupayag came out when Mehindanew armed men occupied the area during the peak of Muslim-Christian conflict in the late 1970s. Later, Midahúduan got another name---“Snake Fish” dubbed from the transceiver radio call sign of a Mehindanew commander who occupied the hill in the middle of 1980s.
In the early part of 1990s, the Iliyanen finally re-occupied their lands after more than two decades of fighting. The illegal logging activities of the Mehindanew denuded the entire Iliyanen territory including Midahúduan. In addition to the forest denudation, before they left the Iliyanen land, the Mehindanew either sold or mortgaged the lands to different people. This is how individual land claims in the Menuvú territory ends up with complicated land disputes.
IV. Chronology of the Incidents Related to the Armed Conflict in Midahúduan:
1. 05-07 February 2007 –AJMR Banana Plantation persuaded the Menuvú to give up and allow the expansion of banana plantation into their occupied areas. After the Menuvú gave their “NO!” stand to the candid offers of AJMR, ±300 armed Mehindanew attacked the Ubpaan[8] in Dilutan. But the attackers suffered more than 20 casualties. As the attackers withdrew, they promised to come back to revenge the death of their comrades.
2. 16 October 2007 – The area manager of AJMR together with a certain Mehindanew named Kunù from Datu Odin Sinsuat (formerly Dalican), Maguindanao went to Timuey Ongelio Mendadtem (the Timuey or Chairperson of Inged te Iliyanen Governing Council) in Dilutan to ask permission allowing the AJMR to plant banana in a 10-hectare lot own by Marcelino Pontongan. But the said lot was already leased by Kunú to AJMR before asking permission to the timuey.
3. 24 December 2009 – The Derepa te Erumanen ne Menuvú-DEM (the governing body of the Erumanen ne Menuvú) conducted self-delineation survey (as guaranteed by RA 8371) of the Menuvú ancestral domain/territory. Matug Lumambas aka Kumander Cowboy-KC voluntarily signed the Menuvú-Mehindanew boundary agreement.
4. 26 July 2010 – An investor’s agent met the Iliyanen leaders during a consultation in Songco, Lantapan, Bukidnon to discuss the prospect of a 10,000-hectares palm oil plantation in the Iliyanen territory. The agent also informed the Iliyanen leaders that he already visited a Moro community oil palm plantation in Nangaan, a Mehindanew community near Midahúduan Hill. The Iliyanen leader agreed (in principle) to host the said plantation only after terms and conditions are specifically defined to ensure that biodiversity, culture, integrity of belief and tradition of the Iliyanen will not in any way compromise or adversely affected.
5. 06 October 2010 – KC and his armed men fired at Menuvú farmer named Engkuk while clearing his farms near Midahúduan.
6. 13 October 2010 – Engkuk and his fellow farmers working in their farms were again strafed by KC’s men.
7. O8 November 2010 – A Menuvú woman who was on her way to gather banana for dinner was strafed by KC’s men. Fortunately the woman was not hit and able to run and hid in a safer place.
8. 20 December 2010 – Ronie Binoy, the leader of the Menuvú village in Midahúduan reported and asked the help of Timuey Mendadtem in Dilutan. The whole village of Binoy was abandoned since KC’s and his armed men hold position at the Midahúduan Hill. They can no longer attend to their farms and worst they can no longer pitch drinking water in the spring. Any Menuvú pitching water in the spring will be a target of the Mehindanew.
9. 15 Dec 2010 – Mr. Gil Maganda, staff of Fr. Fred Ipis went to the house of the DEM Governing Council Chairman to discuss Datu Aladin’s proposals for dialogue in Midahúduan.
10. 31 Dec 2010 – A certain Mehindanew woman named Malou met Timuey Elencio Tipunan of Pibunuan, Tamped I, Kabacan telling him (Tipunan) that KC wanted to dialogue with Timuey Mendadtem.
11. 09 January 2011 – Timuey Mendadtem along with behani (Menuvú territorial peace defenders) went to Midahúduan Hill to meet KC to negotiate allowing the Menuvú farmers to work in their farms; access to the source of drinking water and to resolve whatever problems they had through traditional means of resolving conflicts. But Mendadtem and the behani were ambushed upon approaching the hill. Thus, the possibility of a peaceful dialogue flew away with the bursts. Running gun battle immediately ensued. Luckily, Timuey Mendadtem and his companions took refuge at the Midahúduan foot hills. According to the report from a Mehindanew civilian that a son of certain Kumander Demat from Magatus, Kabacan came to reinforce was hit and killed in the gun battle.
12. 17 January 2011 – KC and the forces of Datu Kineg (all Mehindanew armed groups) encountered at Sitio Simone in Tamped I, Kabacan. There were several casualties but were not accounted for.
13. 03 February 2011 – KC and his men attacked Midahúduan. This time Timuey Mendadtem and the behani already left to Dilutan. According to the report: a Menuvú named Felisimo “Max” Ansasaw and Ronie Binoy were killed while Rodil Binoy, younger brother of Ronie was wounded in the attack. The bodies are yet to be recovered.
V. Conflict Damaging Effects
1. Mass Displacements. The DSWD of Cotabato Province has reported 7000 families displaced since the Midahúduan Hill armed conflict erupted in 09 January 2011. Meanwhile Menuvú evacuation centers are in Dilutan, Tamped I in Kabacan, Pibunuan in Taguranao, Barangay Patag, Crossing Pangipasan and Barangay Imelda also in Matalam.
2. Suspension of Classes. The following public elementary and primary schools no longer have classes for almost one month due to the armed conflict in Midahúduan Hill. These public schools are in: Tamped I, Nengaan, Simbuhay, Nevagbag and Simone, all in Kabacan, Cotabato.
3. Worsening Poverty. The months of December up to February is supposed to be planting season of the Menuvú. Worthy to note that most of the Menuvú do not have sufficient farm implements e.g. plow, working animals and do not have money to hire workers. Usually they prepare their farms using their bare hands and bolo only. The immediate impact of the conflict to the Menuvú worsens, the condition were unimaginable survival situation; an everyday realities. In this condition, the Menuvú can be easily enticed to give up their lands in exchange of few thousands of pesos.
4. Deterioration of Health Condition. Stress, trauma and lack of food are compounding effect of the conflict to the civilians especially the children, pregnant mothers and the elderly. Not a single health care service is available in the area. One mother died in the trail believed to be the result of fear, worries, stress and exhaustion in locating her three-year old daughter lost in the middle of gun battle.
VI. The Call
The call is loud and clear, louder than the guns in Midahúduan Hill. “BUILD PEACE IN ANCESTRAL DOMAIN!!!” is the call and LET LIFE OF ABUNDANCE BE SHARED BY EVERYONE!, implying the core values of respect and coexistence. But the question is, how and who will do it? Certainly, the warring parties define peace by the defeat of their opponents. Hence, the need for intervention by the peace builders outside of the conflict is execrably needed to objectify and help the warring parties realizes that peace building is the effective and safest way to resolve conflict. To come to it, the “Ancestral Domain Peace-Fact Finding Mission” is being organized to take the first steps towards the realization of mutual respect, justice, peace and coexistence. In this regard, the Derepa te Erumanen ne Menuvú-DEM and the Indigenous Peoples Research Center-Mindanao, Inc.-IPRC-MI is organizing and inviting interested parties to participate in the fact finding mission scheduled 24-27 February 2011.
The fact finding mission will interview those who are directly affected or victims of war, to get their proposal how this particular conflict be resolved.
The fact finding mission will be organized into two (2) teams. One will focus on the Menuvú and the other will be on the Bangsamoro.
The first day, 24 February will be orientation in Kidapawan City. The next day, 25 February will be the traveling time to the area and the conduct of interviews is done through focus group discussions. The team will stay in the area and comes back to Kidapawan on 26 February and will be convened again to compare notes and consolidate the output of the mission.
The final report of the fact finding mission will provide further elaboration of what the people want on the ongoing peace process.
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[1] Vansa – The vansa is a collective identity of “inenakan” or clans derived from the name of river, stream or creek where their ancestors exercised “kamal” or dominion since time immemorial. Vansa is the root-word of “berevansa” implying ‘high pride and integrity’.
[2] Inged or mibpehingeran – The word inged, ubpaan and derepa are interchangeably used in the dialect of the Erumanen ne Menuvù tribe as ancestral home place. For purposes of organizational structure clarification, these three terms with interchangeable meaning were delineated according to kamal or domain. The derepa is referring to the whole ancestral territory of the Erumanen ne Menuvù tribe, inged refers to the whole ancestral territory of the vansa and ubpaan is refered to as the kamal of the inenakan or the ancestral domain of the clan. This was unanimously approved and adopted during the Erumanen ne Menuvù Leaders Summit held last April 2004 at Midsayap, Cotabato.
[3] The Datu of Nuling was one of the spiteful Mehindanew datu responsible in raiding Menuvú villages; kidnapping, killing and slave trading. To free the Menuvú slaves, the Menuvú chief, Timuey Maradidinda of Matawir has to negotiate Datu te’d Sepakan in Dulawan (now Datu Piang, Maguindanao.) In order to reach Dulawan, the Menuvú chief has to dig a kakar or canal for his avang or boats to pass through Ligawasan marsh from Pulangi evading the Datu of Nuling.
[4] Raiding of villages and the like were also experienced by people outside of Mindanao especially in the coastal communities of Visayas and Luzon. At that time in the Menuvú villages there is a word “biseyà” or “bisayà” that connotes “runaway slaves”. Several slaves were able to escape from their masters or captors and live alone in the deep of the forest.
[5] The place is now called Ranso in Carmen, Cotabato. Matawir is one of the pre-Hispanic places of the Menuvú located between Maridagao and Pulangi Rivers.
[6] The Lumad Peoples are: Subanen (with 13 subgroups), Bla-an, Taboli, Kaulo, Erumanen ne Menuvú (11 vansa), Teduray, Dulangan Manobo, Lambangian, Ubù, K’lagan, Mandaya, Dibabawon, Mansaka, Manggurangan, Ata Manobo (Matiglangilan, Matigtalomo, Matigsalug, Talaingod), Talaandig , Higaunon (Walo (8) ha Talugan), Banwaon (Binicalan, Mahagsay, Balit), Mamanuwa, Agusan Manobo (with several subgroups), Bagobo (Ubo-Manobo, Diyangan, K’lata, , Kulamanen, Tinenanen and Tagabawa).
[7] The Ilianen ascription was derived from the word “iliyan” meaning ‘refuge’. According to the guhuran (oral history), the iliyanen are the Menuvù who took refuge, evade or resist the gebpa, the infamous kidnapping for slave trading perpetrated by the “metevengenen” (cruel) Muslim brothers during the 13th and 14th centuries. Accordingly, these Menuvù took refuge in the naturally fortified rocky mountain (the place is now called Iliyan, part of Barangay Tamped, Kabacan) a mountain range overlooking pulangi river. The refugee were able to developed a relatively a well organized defense stronghold in the area which was later known to be the defense perimeter of the north-east part of the Erumanen ne Menuvù territory. From then on, the sanctuary and the adjacent areas are now known as inged te vansa te ilianen or mibpehingeran or ancestral home territory of the Iliyanen.
[8] Ubpaan meaning “home” or “residence” is the traditional political structure of territorial governance headed by a timuey. It is a particular territory wherein a certain inenakan or clan exercises kamal or domain and established several settlements therein. The clan or inenakan routinely transfer from time to time. The transferring of settlement is usually dictated by the availability of food supply which is directly provided for by the immediate physical environment, e.g. forest, likewise health and security problems which are often interpreted through the counsel of the spirits through weliyan or shaman.
