DAVAO CITY –  At least 300 Lambangian and Teduray indigenous peoples and migrant settlers staged a protest in Timanan, South Upi, Maguindanao del Sur on December 7 opposing the proposed declaration of a mineral reservation site within the tribe’s ancestral domain claim.

INDIGENOUS peoples and migrant settlers rally against a proposed mineral reservation site in Timanan, South Upi, Maguindanao del Sur on December 7. (Keith Bacongco) 

Task Force Bantay Kalikasan (TFBK), an-indigenous peoples led-campaign network in the region, held the protest while the Geospatial Environmental Consultancy Services, which is working with the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy-Mines and Geosciences Services (MENRE-MGS), was about conduct a public consultation at the municipal gymnasium.

According to the TFBK, the supposed public hearing turned into an information education and communication (IEC) campaign on the proposed mineral reservation area.

The consultancy agency eventually cancelled the activity as the town’s vice mayor held a closed-door meeting with MENRE and consultants, TFBK said.

“Para sa amin, ang pagbabago ng programa ay isang paraan para lituhin kami. Mahihirapan kami na ipahayag ang pagtutol sa proposal ng mineral reservation sa loob ng aming fusaka inged (lupaing ninuno),” said Mary Joie Meliz, a Teduray woman leader from South Upi.

TFBK chairperson Titay Bleyen Santos Unsad said the activities of the consultancy agency within their ancestral domain claim lack Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) amid reports of reported soil sampling activities since 2022.

Unsad added that the proposed 3,566-hectare mineral reservation area is located within the 309,720-hectare Teduray and Lambangian Ancestral Domain Claim (TLADC) which has been on-process at the NCIP since 2005.

TFBK added that the existence of the pending ancestral domain claim obligates the MENRE-MGS to seek FPIC from affected Lambangian and Teduray indigenous communities on all levels of activities they will conduct within the ancestral territories.

The group cited that the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) also safeguards their right to native title or fusaka inged and “shall not in any manner diminish the rights and benefits of the non-Moro indigenous peoples in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).”

According to reports, there are known deposits of gold, copper, and zinc in the municipalities of Upi and South Upi.

The indigenous peoples are opposing the proposed extraction of these minerals as it will destroy the agriculture and remaining forested area which are the lifeline of the tribes.

“The burial grounds of our ancestors and the remaining forests such as Uga, Fengalungon, and Kinemkem are within the proposed mineral reservation area. What will happen if they eventually mine the area? What will happen to the next generation?” Aman Calantungan, a Lambangian youth leader from South Upi, said.

The proposed mineral reservation area will cover Mounts Kulayan and Dakeluwan, sacred areas of the Lambangian and Teduray indigenous peoples.

Christian migrant settlers are also opposed to the proposed mineral reservation area, saying that South Upi is also a home of  the settlers, said migrant settler Romeo Capilitan.