IN LINE with the ongoing Lumad attacks in Mindanao, Atenista Para Sa Mga Lumad held an open forum on November 12 in the PLDT Convergent Technologies Center Room 406.
The Atenista Para Sa Mga Lumad is a student group dedicated to mobilizing the university to address the issue of the Lumad killings in Mindanao, and is headed by applied physics with computer systems senior Dane Ancheta and Christian Union for Socialist and Democratic Advancement Premier Mark Legaspi.
According to Ancheta, the members were composed of students who regularly attended meetings about the Lumad issue. Eventually, they decided to congregate to concretize their ideas of dealing with the matter.
“We were inspired to do something about it, so we created a task force,” Ancheta said.
Fr. Alberto Alejo, SJ opened the forum with a background on the Lumad people.
According to Alejo, the Lumads were people residing in Mindanao who were not converted to Islam.
During former President Ferdinand Marcos’ regime, the Lumads were constantly victimized by Marcos’s recruitment plans in an attempt to take over certain areas in Mindanao. Moreover, the Lumads were not represented in any formal discussions in the government.
The Lumad attacks in Mindanao started earlier this May, when Lumads were displaced after government forces occupied Talaingod, and when schools were closed and teachers were threatened to be killed.
Since then, thousands of Lumads have fled and sought shelter in Tandag City, and different Lumad leaders have been murdered.
“Maraming Lumad ang napapatay ng military dahil napunta na sila sa New People’s Army. Marami ring Lumad na napapatay ng NPA (Many Lumads have been killed by the military because they joined the New People’s Army. Many Lumads have also been killed by the NPA),” Alejo said.
Furthermore, he delineated the role of the students amidst the discussions of the Lumad killings.
“Some of you are looking for ways to help. The best way is to be an intelligent participant. You Ateneans are really in a position to help,” Alejo stated.
Engaging the community
According to Ancheta, they are currently focusing on research and looking for data from different articles and reports.
Atenista Para Sa Mga Lumad will be divided into three committees, namely, research, communication, and internals.
The communication committee is divided into the externals department and documentation and publication, while the internals committee is divided into the secretariat and the logistics and finance department.
Sign-ups for the different committees will be held from November 15 to 21.
Atenista Para Sa Mga Lumad Communications head Lyka Aguilar raised in the forum that the task force needs to be legitimized by the Sanggunian in order to fulfill their tasks.
As of now, there are no final plans on their actual mobilization. Aguilar said Ateneo Para Sa Mga Lumad is open to the students’ help.
She added that although they are “not as powerful as a group as Manilakbayan [ng Mindanao],” the efforts of the group will be enough to make an impact.
According to the official Facebook page, Manilakbayan is a mobilization for the “the Defense of Land, the Environment, and Human Rights” for the people of Mindanao.
“We’re all just students, but with well-researched arguments, it’s enough for us to make a stand,” Aguilar said.
Updated: November 11, 2015 at 10:01 PM
