After two weeks in Metro Manila, Sandugo, a newly-formed nationwide alliance of national minorities, caps their Lakbayan (caravan) with a march to the United States Embassy to assert their right to self-determination by demonstrating their support to President Rodrigo Duterte’s continuing pronouncements against US domination and for an independent foreign policy.
However, after the violent dispersal during a rally at the US Embassy on October 19, the police deployed hundreds of police in full battle gear to prevent the demonstrators from once again reaching the gate of the embassy. But after negotiations, the demonstrators were able to peacefully hold their program along Roxas Boulevard near the embassy.
“Duterte’s historic break from US economic and military interests is the impetus for national minorities and in fact the entire nation to assert our right to determine our economic, social and cultural development pathway,” said Piya Macliing Malayao, a Bontoc-Igorot leader and lead convener of Sandugo, in a statement.
During Duterte’s pre-departure press conference for his state visit to Japan on October 25, the President once again releases his tirade against foreign troops in the country.
“I really hate it, I don’t want it, we don’t need it,” said Duterte.
The President also hinted against the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
“You have the EDCA, well, forget it. If I stay here long enough, one day that EDCA will…if it’s an executive agreement then I will just…I do not want to see any military man of any other nation except for Philippine soldiers,” added the President.
Sandugo welcomed Duterte’s pronouncements of revoking EDCA as steps towards ensuring genuine peace based on social justice.
“We national minorities will not allow the submission of the Philippines to any other foreign power. We should lay down the foundations of an independent foreign policy with a pro-people economic policy of land reform and national industrialization at its core,” said Malayao.
However, Sandugo said that the Duterte administration’s promise of an independent foreign policy must ensure that this will not be a mere change from one plunderer to another.
Lakbayan a success
According to Aba, the Lakbayan itself is an assertion of the national minorities’ right to self-determination.
“The forming of an alliance from different Moro and indigenous people’s tribes all over the country is historic and unprecedented,” said Aba.
Aba added that despite the different beliefs of different tribes, the national minorities were able to unite with one vision for self-determination.
According to Aba, through the unity of the national minorities, they successfully demonstrated to the public the national oppression that national minorities experience in the guise of plunder of the country’s resources, especially their ancestral lands, by foreign corporations. He added that national minorities experience repression through the government’s anti-insurgency campaign Oplan Bayanihan which allegedly targets civilians instead of its armed enemies.
“The national minorities’ struggle for self-determination and against foreign domination is also the Filipino people’s struggle,” reiterated Aba.
The alliance thanked everyone who supported and became part of their struggle.
Aba concluded that they will take home many lessons and vowed to continue their struggle for self-determination and genuine freedom.
Featured image from Kilab Multimedia
