The War Against Indigenous Schools in the Philippines – Public Meetings – Wellington March 27 – Auckland March 28th – W

Lumad Educators speaking tour of NZ 2018

In March Auckland Philippines Solidarity (APS), will be hosting a speaking tour of two Lumad (Indigenous peoples) educators from Mindanao, Southern Philippines.

In June last year, immediately following his State of the Nation Address and when confronted by thousands of indigenous activists, Philippine President Duterte threatened to have the military bomb the independent indigenous schools that had been established in the ancestral domains of the Lumad tribes. https://www.theguardia n.com/world/2017/jul/26/ philippines-duterte-threatens- to-bomb-indigenous-schools

His threats are not hollow; Mindanao is currently under ‘martial law’ and under the guise of “counterinsurgency” and in the interests of big mining corporations, hundreds of military and para-military attacks against the schools have occurred. The attacks include military encampments within the schools, indiscriminate firing against schools, threats, harassment and intimidation of students and teachers, the destruction and divestment of school property, imprisonment of school leaders and even the killing of students and teachers. Thousands of students have been affected and several schools have been forced to close.

In response, the Lumad communities launched the Save Our Schools (SOS) campaign and gained national recognition after a notorious para-military group publicly executed a Lumad school director Emerito Samarca and two Lumad in September 2015.

In support of the SOS campaign we are touring two educators from Mindanao:

Fritzi Junance Magbunua is a Moro (Indigenous Muslim tribes) and Teduray (Lumad) educator. She coordinates the programmes and training of staff and faculty for 32 schools in Moro and Lumad communities for the Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation Inc (MISFI) (https://misfi-phil.org/). She previously served as a volunteer teacher for several years in Salupongan Ta Tanu Igkanugon Community (in Defense of Ancestral Land) Centers in the Taliangod Manobo Ancestral Domain.

Anthony “Pele” Navarro is the Executive Director of Salupongan International (http://salupongan.org/) an organisation dedicated to the empowerment of rural Lumad and Moro Communities in Southern Philippines. He is the international representative of the SOS campaign and a part-time teacher at the Community Technical College of Southern Mindanao.

Come learn first hand the plight of the Lumad in Mindanao and what we can do to support their struggle for human rights and self-determination.