October 21, 2016

Mabtad1 Tako Para Iti Bukod a Panangeddeng ken Nainkalintegan nga Kappia!
Unite for Self-Determination and Just Peace!
We, Igorots of the Cordillera, who marched with our fellow national minorities in this
Lakbayan ng mga Pambansang Minorya para sa Sariling Pagpapasya at Makatarungang
Kapayapaan2, reiterate our condemnation against the violent dispersals in front of the
Department of National Defense and in front of US Embassy. We call for the perpetrators,
especially PO3 Franklin Kho and Superior Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo Jr., to be held
accountable for their violations beyond suspension from their posts. They must be held
criminally liable for their actions.
We continue to protest against our marginalization and discrimination as peoples.
National oppression continues as depicted by the violent response of State security forces
against our peaceful demonstration.
The violent dispersals and the ongoing debate on the justness of our protest reflect how we
are continuously discriminated against in the society.
We are national minorities from different parts of the country who have been asserting for
the rectification of historical and institutional injustices committed against us.
We have long been subjected to discrimination, government neglect, militarization and
human rights violations. Resources within our ancestral domain are being plundered. Our
right to self-determination has been violated with impositions from the State since the time
of Spanish colonization.
We are peoples who have resisted foreign domination and class domination throughout
history.
Fernando Mangili and Piya Malayao, among the more than 50 people who were hurt in the
violent dispersal at the US Embassy last October 19, are Igorots from the Cordillera.
Fernando Mangili, who was assaulted by members of the Philippine National Police and
who was almost illegally arrested, is an Ibaloi. He is the current spokesperson of Amianan
1
2

Mabtad - a call for unity and action

Caravan of the National Minorities for Self Determination and Just Peace

Salakniban, an alliance in Northern Luzon which is at the forefront of the struggle for
environmental protection and human rights. He hails from Benguet, that has been
plundered by large mining corporations for centuries. As a true son of the Cordilleras, he
became an activist and joined in the peoples struggle in the defense for land, lives and
resources.
Piya Macliing Malayao, hails from the Bontok and Kalinga tribes of the Cordillera. Though
raised in Quezon City, she has kept her identity as a daughter of the Cordillera intact and
wears this identity in ways that would make her ancestors proud. She is the granddaughter
of Ina Petra Macliing, a pioneer of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, who led the people
against militarization and development aggression in the region from the 1970s.
The others, who were hurt and arrested, are also leaders and members of different
organizations of indigenous and Moro peoples who have their own stories of resistance and
have just reasons to protest against national oppression.
With the Lakbayan ng mga Pambansang Minorya Para sa Sariling Pagpapasya, we, who
have been discriminated and oppressed for so long, strengthened our unity to fight against
common problems that besiege us US Imperialism, Bureaucrat Capitalism, Feudalism and
National Oppression.
We urge the people to listen, learn and be educated by our struggle that defends our land,
lives and resources. Our struggle is also bound to your lives, and future.
This is the time where our self-determination as a Filipino people is also being further
defined. We are at a point when an independent foreign policy is our shield and spear
against neoliberal policies that have sold our nations resources and dignity. The only way
for us to be able to weather the storm of injustice in our society is through linking our arms
in struggle. This is the essence of Sandugo. Mabtad!
For reference:
Windel Bolinget
Cordillera Peoples Alliance
Imelda Tabiando
Cordillera Human Rights Alliance