Unity Statement of Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao (KALUMUARAN) on the MOA-AD and Peace in Mindanao

We, the Council members of Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao (Kalumaran), an alliance of fifty-six Lumad organizations from the regions of Mindanao, unite on the following:

We Lumads firmly support the Bangsamoro people's struggle for ancestral domain and the Right to Self-Determination.

History shows that even with the distinct identity of the Lumad and Bangsamoro, both have fought together against colonialism and national oppression. Longstanding peace pacts between Moro and Lumad tribes, such as the dyandi, tampuda, sandugo, sapa, sinumlite, and others, further formalized this relationship.

Presently, the majority poor of the Lumad, Moro and settlers in Mindanao suffer from a common problem of landlessness. We suffer from the plunder of our lands by multinational corporations engaged in logging, mining, and agribusiness enterprises. We likewise suffer militarization in our communities like in Caraga, Davao Provinces, Socsksargen, Zamboanga, Bukidnon and other areas that result in massive evacuation and dislocation of communities.
The Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) is an expression of the Bangsamoro's Right to Self-Determination by defining the foundation, concept and principles that recognize the ancestral domain of the Bangsamoro. It also affirms and acknowledges the Lumad's Right to Self-Determination by recognizing Lumad territories under the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE).

However, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the big landlords, big businesses and imperialist powers have used the MOA-AD to further their interests.

Arroyo and the big landlords have exploited the issues surrounding the MOA-AD to mislead and divide the Filipino people. They have done so by calling on civilians to take up arms against the Moro people as a means of protecting their own vast tracks of land and businesses. Warlords such as Manny Piol of North Cotabato, who plays a big role in defending the multinational corporations in his province, have further incited violence and disunity. However, the marginalized Filipino people, especially the Lumads, are not swayed by this manipulation because it is clear whose interests such calls serve.

Kalumaran denounces the Arroyo government's abandonment of peace negotiations between the GRP-MILF and the GRP-NDF and its policy of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) which will only wreak more havoc on our communities already bearing the burden of Arroyo's militarist policies.

Arroyo took advantage of the confusion on the MOA-AD to launch “all-out war” against the Bangsamoro and Lumad communities. After abandoning peace negotiations, Arroyo stressed the call for surrender - even ffake surrender of civilians- and the provision of firearms to civilians and vigilante groups like the Ilaga. Her government has also provoked division and conflict among the Lumads by using fake tribal leaders like Joel Unad, Ruben Labawan, Ramon Bayaan, Luis Lambac, Deo Mampatilan, Lito Gawilan and their organizations such as the Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Conference for Peace and Development (MIPCPD) which are supported by the military.

By Arroyo's design, the MOA-AD becomes a justification to push for Charter Change, thereby extending her term.

Imperialist countries also intend to exploit the MOA-AD to hasten the plunder of the ancestral land of the Lumad and Bangsamoro. The United States has been intervening in the events in Mindanao in various forms. The United States Institute for Peace (USIP) has been intervening in the peace process and pushing its design that serves US policy interests. Furthermore, the presence of US armed forces in Mindanao through the Balikatan Exercises and other activities is now permanent. Other imperialist countries like Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Union have been giving aid to Bangsamoro areas; but this comes with strings attached as it is meant to pave the way for their business interests such as mining.

Our experience under the Indigenous People's Rights Act (IPRA) over the past ten years has shown that the law and the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) are used as instruments to facilitate the entrance and plunder of multinational corporations in our territories. The issuance of ancestral domain titles under the IPRA does not aid in the defense of the ancestral domain, but rather works in favor of big business interests.
Under such conditions, the way to assert the Right to Self-Determination and to defend ancestral domain is not simply defining territories, but rather actively defending the land from plunder and promoting the collective rights of the indigenous peoples and Bangsamoro.
Genuine autonomy cannot be achieved as long as the elite, the big landlords, big businesspeople and their foreign capitalist cohorts remain in power. They will always use any and every means to defend and promote their economic interests.

All Filipino people who are exploited and oppressed should unite to defend the ancestral domain towards genuine national liberation of the entire Filipino people. This is the only way to assure the genuine establishment of the Right to Self-Determination of the Bangsamoro and Lumad peoples, and to resolve our common problems such as landlessness, militarization, and plunder of our natural resources.

Our calls:
Assert the Right to Self-Determination and ancestral domain of the Moro and Lumad by stopping development aggression in our territories!
Stop the Disarmament, Demobilization, and Re-integration (DDR) policy and resume the peace talks between the GRP-MILF and GRP-NDF!
Stop militarization, all-out war and fake surrendering of the Moro, Lumad, and settlers!
Lumad, Moro and Settlers unite! Defend land and life in Mindanao!

Approved during the Council Meeting of Kalumaran in Cagayan de Oro City on September 7, 2008.