Rome, Italy 01.04.2015
Lumads of Mindanao
LUMAD is a Bisayan term meaning "native" or
"indigenous". It is adopted by a group of 15 from a more than 18
Mindanao ethnic groups in their Cotabato Congress in June 1986 to distinguish
them from the other Mindanaons, Moro or Christian. Its usage was accepted
during the Cory Administration when R.A. 6734, the word Lumad was used in Art.
XIII sec. 8(2) to distinguish these ethnic communities from the Bangsa Moro.
About the 11th century, called the "emergent period" by the
anthropologist, F. Landa Jocano, the dynamic interactions between the
indigenous cultural elements and that of the migrants brought about the
eventual narrowing down into distinct ethnic groups. Pigafetta, Magellan's
chronicler in 1521, mentioned four Mindanao groups as: Caragan, Mandanaos,
Lutaos, Subanus and Dapitans. Apparently, the Caragans were found in the
Misamis Oriental, Agusan, Bukidnon area. The Mandanaos in Central Mindanao;
Lutaos in Zamboanga del Sur and Basilan; Subanus and Dapitans in Zamboanga del
Sur and del Norte; and the Dapitans in Zamboanga del Norte provinces as these
are called today.
Called " infideles" during the Spanish regime, the
subjugation of the Lumads was equally important as that of the Muslims. Thus,
Jesuit missions were established near infieles territories. They were found
among the Tiruray in Cotabato; among the Subanons in Dapitan; among the Manuvus
and Caragans in Misamis and Surigao; and among the Bilaans in Davao.
At
present, Mindanao Lumads account for 2.1 million out of the total 6.5 million
indigenous people nationally. (1993 Census) these fifteen Lumads in the
Cotabato Congress were the following:
Subanen, B'laan, Mandaya, Higaonon, Banwaon, Talaandig, Ubo, Manobo, T'boli, Tiruray, Bagobo,Tagakaolo, Dibabawon, Manguangan,
and Mansaka.
They are
found in the following towns and cities:
Cotabato, Tandag, Dipolog, Kidapawan, Marbel, Tagum, Cagayan
de Oro, Davao, Malaybalay,Pagadian, Butuan, Surigao, Ozamis, Ipil, Digos, Mati and Dipolog.
The
Lumads in Mindanao resisted against American colonization. In 1906, Gov. Bolton
of Davao was murdered by the Bagobos in the area. Between 1906-1908 the Tungud
Movement of the Lumads in Davao spread through Agusan and Bukidnon. A Subanon
uprising against the Americans occurred between 1926-27. The coming of the
Japanese in Davao was resisted by the Bagobos between 1918 to 1935 as the
latter threatened to displace them from their homelands for business purposes.
Recently,
new heroes among the Lumads were put to the fore in commemoration with the
Centennial Celebration of the Philippine Revolution. A Manobo Protestant
pastor, Mars Daul, researched on the history of the Lumad warriors through
interviews with his forebears. These heroes are Datu Balingan, who defended the
Mansaka and Mandaya ethnic groups in Davao Oriental from the hands of the
Spanish official, Capt. Uyanguren; also Datu Bago of the Bagobo ethnic group
fought Uyanguren in Davao City and Putaw Tumanggong, a Manobo chieftain who is
Daul's grandfather. Tumanggong led his men in fighting the Spaniards and the
Americans at the turn of the century. In Sarangani, the group B'laan leader
Sigalu joined forces with Datu Lumanda, who made the Spanish fleet retreat to
its base in Cebu . However, according to Daul, some Lumads refrained from
fighting the Spaniards such as the Tirurays because the Spaniards built them
schools and chapels. The historicity of Mars Daul's research however still has
to be verified.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Lumads
controlled an area which now covers 17 of Mindanao’s 24 provinces, but by the
1980 census, they constituted less than 6% of the population of Mindanao and Sulu. Significant migration to Mindanao
of Visayans, spurred by government-sponsored
resettlement programmes, turned the Lumads into minorities. The Bukidnon
province population grew from 63,470 in 1948 to 194,368 in 1960 and 414,762 in
1970, with the proportion of indigenous Bukidnons falling from 64% to 33% to
14%.
Lumads have a traditional concept of land ownership based
on what their communities consider their ancestral territories. The historian
B. R. Rodil notes that ‘a territory occupied by a community is a communal
private property, and community members have the right of usufruct to any piece
of unoccupied land within the communal territory.’ Ancestral lands include
cultivated land as well as hunting grounds, rivers, forests, uncultivated land
and the mineral resources below the land.
Unlike the Moros, the Lumad groups never formed a revolutionary group to
unite them in armed struggle against the Philippine government. When
the migrants came, many Lumad groups retreated into the mountains and forests.
However, the Moro armed groups and the Communist-led New People’s Army (NPA) have recruited Lumads to their
ranks, and the armed forces have also recruited them into paramilitary organisations to fight the Moros or the NPA.
For the Lumad, securing their rights to ancestral domain is
as urgent as the Moros’ quest for self-determination. However, much of their land has already
been registered in the name of multinational corporations, logging companies
and other wealthy Filipinos, many of whom are, relatively speaking, recent
settlers to Mindanao. Mai Tuan, a T'boli leader explains, "Now that there is
a peace agreement for the MNLF,
we are happy because we are given food assistance like rice … we also feel sad
because we no longer have the pots to cook it with. We no longer have control
over our ancestral lands.
The
Lumad terretories by tribe
The Subanen inhabits the Zamboanga Peninsula. And often mix
with Tausugs and Badjaos of the region.
The B'laan is
concentrated in Davao
del Sur and South
Cotabato. They practice indigenous rituals while
adapting to the way of life of modern Filipinos
Mandaya Lumads dwells in Davao Oriental
The Higaonon occupies Bukidnon
The Banwaon
are also known as the Adgawanon, Banuaonon, Banwanon, Higaonon-Banwaon and
Manobo. There are concentrations of Banwaon's found in the province of Agusan
del Sur.
The Talaandigs
are one of the indigenous groups in the province of Bukidnon, The members of
the group are found in barangays and municipalities surrounding the mountain of
Kitanglad, the historic domain of the Talaandig people
The Ubo
peopleis an ethnic sub-tribe of the
Tboli are concentrated inSouth Cotabato province with its i
The Manobo
cluster includes eight groups: the Cotabato Manobo, Agusan
Manobo, Dibabawon
Manobo, Matig Salug Manobo, Sarangani Manobo,
Manobo of Western Bukidnon, Obo
Manobo, and Tagabawa Manobo
The T'boli Tribe that lives in the province of South Cotabato,
around Lake Sebu.
The Tirurau are a traditional hill people of southwestern
Mindanao. They live in the upper portion of a river-drained area in the
northwestern part of South Cotabato, where the mountainous terrain of the
Cotabato Cordillera faces the Celebes Sea. The Tiruray call themselves etew
teduray or Tiruray people, but also classify themselves according to their
geographic location: etew rotor, mountain people; etew dogot, coastal people;
etew teran, Tran people; and etew awang, Awang people, or etew ufi, Upi people
Until sometime in this century, there were
two major groups, which were distinguished from each other by geographic
separation and by several cultural distinctions. The upland Bagobo live in the
very mountainous region between the upper Pulangi and Davao rivers on Mindanao
in the Philippines, whereas the coastal Bagobo once lived in the hills south
and east of Mount Apo. The coastal Bagobo were influenced by Christianity,
plantations, and resettlement among coastal Bisayans; they now reside either
with the upland Bagobo or with the Bisayans and do not exist as a separate
group.
The Tagakaolo inhabit
Mindanao, Sarangani, Davao del Sur, and Mt. Apo. Tagalaya, from the mountains, indicates they came from the
river sources. Presently, they're also found in the coastal towns of
Malita, Lais, and Talaguton Rivers.
The
Dibabawon, one of the Lumad tribes in Mindanao concentrated in Compostela
Valley. While they also have a unique language of the same name, the residents
have learned to speak the Visayan language.
The Manguangan are found in the Cordillera Sugut
mountains in Mindanao, scattering up to the great lakes of Buayan or Maguindanao
and in the territory between what
is occupied by the Manobo and the Mandaya in Davao and South Cotabato.
The Mandaya are found in Davao Oriental and
Davao del Norte, Mindanao. Their name means “the first people upstream,”
derived from man (“first”) and daya (“upstream or upper portion of a river”).
Mandayas are said to be polygynous; divorce is also socially acceptable.
Mansaka is a combination of man (“first”) and saka (“to ascend”), and is almost
identical to the meaning of Mandaya: “the first people to climb the mountains
or go upstream.” Mansaka can be found in Davao Oriental.
