Strengthen & Consolidate Our Ranks,
Celebrate Our Victories & Survival Toward Continuing Resistance Against National Oppression!Struggle for Ancestral Land Rights & Genuine Self-Determination!

 

Historical Brief
The latter part of the 70’s and the early 80’s were historical landmarks in the struggle of the indigenous peoples of the Philippines. It was during these times that large scale agro-forest and infrastructure projects forcibly entered into claimed ancestral territories of the indigenous peoples. On top of these, the blood-hound military troops wreaked havocs in tribal communities and accused legitimate protests as pretexts for insurgency activities. Countless indigenous persons were victims to the worst types of human rights violations. These conditions however challenged the indigenous peoples to muster their collective strength and rise up against the martial law government of Marcos.

When the Philippine military assassinated anti-Chico Dam and Kalinga leader Macliing Dulag in 1980, the indigenous peoples of the Cordillera region were compelled to cast aside their tribal differences and stood up against the apparent threat to their lands, lives and resources. This would eventually lead in 1984 to the formation of a region-wide indigenous peoples’ organization which would be known as the Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA).

A year earlier, in 1983, leaders from different indigenous communities around the Philippines convened in Manila to discuss common problems and define common programs of action and cooperation. In the Consultative Assembly of Minority Peoples of the Philippines (CAMPP), the indigenous leaders called for a more united movement of ethnic groups that was founded on their common stand to defend their ancestral land rights. The expressed needs led to a solemn pact of unity during a weeklong protest and camp-out dubbed as the “Sandugo Solidarity Pact” of 1984.

In 1985, CAMPP was reconvened to consolidate the gains of their united stand. A more strategic framework was laid down to ensure continued collective action at the national level. Indigenous leaders began the tasks of building up a nation-wide formal alliance of indigenous peoples organizations

The national alliance spawned by two CAMPPs of 1983 and 1985 and the Sandugo Solidarity Pact of 1984 gave rise in November 1987 to the 1st Founding Assembly of the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas or KAMP (National Federation of Indigenous Peoples Organizations of the Philippines). More than just a nation-wide organization, KAMP became an expression of solidarity and collective consciousness that transcended beyond the indigenous groups’ traditional tribal loyalty and affiliation. Much more, KAMP embodied the ultimate expression of a united effort in bringing forth to the national attention the struggle of the indigenous peoples for rights to their ancestral land and self-determination.

Ten years after the first Sandugo Solidarity Pact, “Sandugo Ikalawang Yugto” (Sandugo 2nd Chapter) of 1994 was held identifying the vital components necessary to achieve land rights and genuine self-determination. These included those related to the indispensable link of the indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands with all its economic and socio-cultural significance, the right to chart their own type of development, the right to their own resources, the right to their own mode of governance, and the right to their own distinct identity, language and culture; and the right to the holistic development as a people. The corresponding program to achieve these rights was also laid down and agreed upon. This event would have such a political impact when in the same year, the United Nations would also declare 1994-2004 as the Decade for the World’s Indigenous Populations.

In itself, the U.N. Declaration has brought forth to international public attention the plight and aspirations of the indigenous peoples of the world. In the Philippines, it meant the virtual recognition of the validity and righteousness of the long arduous struggle to correct the historical injustice that cost the indigenous peoples their lands, resources, culture and identity. It has put into proper context and perspectives the seemingly complex issues that confront our own indigenous brethren.

To date, 10 years after the United Nations’ Declaration and almost over 20 years since the beginnings of the national movement of the indigenous peoples in the Philippines, it is but an opportune and appropriate time to look in retrospect to the plight of our indigenous brethren. On the same measure it is also necessary to look at the history of the indigenous peoples’ struggle.

Had there been any significant change to the indigenous peoples’ situation? Were the issues of ancestral land rights and self-determination been properly addressed? Does militarization of their communities continue? Were the threats of displacement been averted? Have the issues and problems dwindled or have they persisted in more alarming proportions?

What were the lessons learned for the past 10 to 20 years? Were there any significant victories in any range and form in the struggle for land rights and self-determination? What were the challenges that have been hurdled for the past decades and what are the challenges that need to be hurdled in the near and distant future?

It is in this context that “Sandugo Solidarity Festival 2004: A Celebration of the Struggle for Ancestral Land Rights & Self-Determination” or the 3rd Sandugo Solidarity Pact will be held in August 2004, coinciding with the closing year of the U.N. Declaration of the Decade of the World’s Indigenous Populations and the 20th Anniversary of the First Sandugo Solidarity Pact.