By Miks Guia-Padilla*, AntroWatch
One of my favorite places is Mintapod, nestled on the slopes of the Kimangkil Mountain Range, Bukidnon province, Mindanao in southern Philippines. I love it not only for its breathtaking beauty but also because the indigenous peoples living there, the Higaonon, have managed to maintain the Indigenous Knowledge Skills and Practices (IKSPs) that protect its forested mountains. It is only fitting that the Mintapod Declaration was affirmed and signed there.
The Mintapod Declaration is an agreement of five Higaonon ancestral domains, represented by their traditional leaders called datu, to protect the sanctity of the mountains in the range, foremost among them Mount Kimangkil; the other mountains are Balatukan, Kalanawan, Pamalihi and Sumagaya. For the Higaonon, these mountains are where the spirits guarding nature live.
This Declaration was a highlight of the Kimangkil Indigenous Peoples Corridor Conference (KIPFCC) held on 1-3 April 2009 at Cagayan de Oro City, some 200 kilometers north of Mintapod. There were over 80 participants from the Higaonon indigenous communities, and from support groups and government offices.
The Conference is part of the project called “Building Forest Corridors through Sustainable Ancestral Domain Management” supported by the European Commission. This project aims to contribute to forest protection by strengthening IP communities, where much of the remaining forest stands in the Philippines can be found. Such strengthening is accomplished by addressing in an integrated manner community development needs in the areas of tenurial security, livelihood enterprise, capacity building in legal remedies, and of course reforestation and forest management.
Assisting in these needs are four NGOs, each with a specific expertise, working closely together: AnthroWatch, NTFP-EP, Upholding Life and Nature (ULAN), and the Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE). The project’s sites are in geographical areas wherein neighboring ancestral domains form an indigenous peoples corridor. It is hoped that by helping to strengthen highly motivated communities within these corridors, in the near future adjacent ancestral domains will be encouraged to strengthen themselves and therefore also protect their forests. The project is on its third and final year, and conferences like this in the project sites are a way of consolidating and learning from the project’s experiences.
The Mintapod Declaration is an example of community initiative that the project is supporting. Amay Matangkilan Cumatang, leader of the management structure tasked with leading the protection of the sacred mountains, emphasized that recognizing the Higaonon’s right to continue practicing their traditional ways of forest management will help in keeping the over 70% of forest cover intact. And aside from being an integral part of their cultural heritage, the Higaonon are aware that the watersheds of the major rivers of four provinces (Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental, Agusan and Cotabato) are within that area. They explain that by supporting these indigenous peoples’ initiatives, there is support for the broader population as well, today and in the future. The five ancestral domains which have signed on to the Mintapod Declaration, namely: the Agtulawon-Mintapod Higaonon Cumadon, Kalanawan Tribal Council, Minalwang Higaonon Tribal Council, Pamalihi Tribal Council and the Mamacila Apo Ginopaka Tribal Council represent over 5,000 Higaonon families.
There are other highlights which made the KIPFCC special. It was heartening to observe how eager the Higaonon were to get together and discuss common concerns according to their perspectives and in their language. The Higaonon’s ways of holding a gathering were upheld, from the opening ritual to energizers that consisted of spontaneous traditional dancing.
It was equally heartwarming to see the support of organizations, apart from the project partners, in the planning and conduct of the conference, among them Fr. Vincent Cullen Tulugan Learning and Development Center, Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, Samdhana Institute, Balay Mindanao, Green Mindanao, Environmental Science for Social Change and Kahiusahan sa mga Higaonon (KHI – a Higaonon federation).
But the KIPFCC is not like a fairy tale that has a sure happy ending. Three months have passed, and the euphoria generated by the conference has abated. Immediately after the conference and as of this writing, we continue to receive news about the relentless entry of mining and logging projects (that will potentially destroy large tracts of forests in the Kimangkil Range), which have had successes in confusing or dividing community members. In the midst of uncertainty, our hope is that the indigenous peoples and support groups will recall and adhere to the principles and plans affirmed in the KIPFCC.
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* Project Manager, Building Forest Corridors through Ancestral Domain Management (Email: miksgp@anthrowatch.org)
