Since 2009, militarization has caused the closure of schools and disruption of classes in the rural areas of Mindanao.
By
INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com
The Rural Missionaries of the Philippines-Northern Mindanao
Sub-Region (RMP-NMR) recently released a paper premised on the impact of
military operations on campaigns for the education of indigenous
peoples in the country. It said that in the last decade, the national
government has done very little to improve the welfare of indigenous
peoples particularly in Mindanao. In the meantime, military operations
have also served to undermine the efforts of indigenous communities and
people’s organizations to develop their own systems for improvement.
According to the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), there
are between 14 million to 17 million Filipinos spread across 110
ethno-linguistic groups. Most of these ethnic groups are concentrated in
Mindanao with 61 percent. Luzon has 33 percent of these indigenous
people while the rest are in Visayas.
In a paper titled, “Education and Militarization of Indigenous
Communities: Our Experience as Rural Missionaries in Mindanao”, RMP-NM’s
subregional coordinator Sr. Ma. Famita Somogod dissected how the
national government’s declarations to help indigenous peoples have not
resulted in any concrete gains for the the latter.
The paper was presented to the “Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights and
Advocacy” Training Program for the Indigenous Advocates in Asia-Pacific
in Sabah, Malaysia held from April 23 to May 2 by Diplomacy Training
Program (DTP), Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), Jaringan Orang Asal
SeMalaysia (JOAS), and the Center for Malaysian Indigenous
Studies-University of Malaya (CMIS).
Somogod said that even as the government has identified education as
its priority service, the indigenous peoples of Mindanao view it as a
“vague illusion.” She said accredited schools supposedly established
for indigenous peoples were built or established in areas far from the
communities. Many residents are also unable to pay even the smallest
fees, and some of the Lumad children spend their formative years in
community alternative learning schools usually established with the aid
of non-government organizations.
Rural
Missionaries of the Philippines Northern Mindanao Sub-Region’s
Minduyog Community Learning Center in Sitio Minduyog, Brgy. Lydia, Lapaz
Agusan del Sur.(Contributed photo / bulatlat.com)
“Even in the rare situations where communities are benefited by a
literacy and numeracy school, these are not sustained because of
counter-insurgency operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP). Instead of protecting the communities from rebel groups, the
communities have become the targets of the operations. Militarization
and war have resulted to human rights violations, exacerbating the
living conditions of the already impoverished indigenous communities,
with indigenous children becoming most vulnerable,” she said.....
MORE
Source: Bulatlat.com
URL:
http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/05/01/advocacy-group-for-indigenous-peoples-pushes-agenda-for-education/