Talaandigs host 13th IP Moro Settlers Kinship Day

SONGCO, LANTAPAN, Bukidnon - Bukidnon State University participated during the 13th IP Moro Settlers Kinship Day in Songco, Lantapan, Bukidnon on March 8, 2024.

Organizers from the IP and Moro communities have highlighted the historical kinship between the IP and Moro peoples.

Datu Migketay Victorino L. Saway said during the event that mainstreaming this kinship is one lasting solution to the conflicts in Mindanao. He said the settlers, too, who are just victims came to Mindanao not to go to war but to survive. They, too are included in the kinship. He said in his historical background during the program that the root cause of the conflict has been territorial conflicts, especially in the exercise of hunting for a living in the older days. Saway cited the kinship of the Maranao, Maguindanao, Manobo, and Talaandig tribes. He said they ended their conflict with a celebrated traditional peace Tampuda hu Balagen.

Mr. Walter I. Balane, Head of the Kalandang Taw Center for Peace Studies - Bukidnon State University attended the annual commemoration of kinship of the tri-people in Mindanao.
After a motorcade and the first part of the traditional ritual, Datu Migketay Victorino L. Saway led the participants in a program held at the Talaandig Cultural Center in Bulanbulan, Brgy. Songco.

Among personalities present were Jose "Bapa Joe" Akmad of the Mindanao People's Caucus (MPC) and Bantay Ceasefire, Lantapan Mayor Ernie R. Devibar, Menuvu tribal leader Datu Jeodoro Sulda, Pastor Daniel A. Pantoja of the Peacebuilders Community Inc. and representatives from different organizations and communities involved in supporting the annual gathering.

Akmad said kinship should be taught in high school and college and should be integrated in academic curricula to help ensure it will be sustained even beyond the lifespans of its advocates.

At the ritual table, organizers offered prayers for the Indigenous Peoples code in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the Province of Bukidnon.
Bangsamoro lawmakers finally filed last month the Parliament Bill No. 273, or the Bangsamoro Indigenous People Development Act of 2024. The Sangguniang Panlalawigan is also tackling Bukidnon's version of the IP Code to advance the recognition and protection of IP rights in the province, which is pushed by Atty. Arbie S. Llesis, the IP Mandatory Representative to the SP. (Courtesy of Kalandang Taw Center for Peace Studies).