By Angel Castillo
KATRIBU, an organization devoted to upholding the rights of indigenous people, has condemned the actions of the Philippine National Police and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in pushing for the demolition of the monument of Macli-ing Dulag and other martyrs who fought in the struggle against the Chico Dam.
On October 1st, Cordillera Police Regional Director R’win Pagkalinawan requested the provincial government of Kalinga to enact a resolution to remove said monument.
Following the request, the DPWH Upper Kalinga District Engineering Office served a demolition notice on October 8 to the Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA), giving the CPA seven days to voluntarily take down the monument or otherwise have the DPWH take it down and the cost passed on to the CPA.
Katribu has condemned the move as part of the effort to discredit legitimate resistance against plunder and state-sanctioned terror.
The Katribu statement claimed that the move is an attempt to revise history by pushing the Butbut tribe in Kalinga to adopt a resolution belittling indigenous leaders Macli-ing Dulag, Pedro Dungoc, Lumbaya Gayudan, and other martyrs in the struggle against the Chico Dam during the time of the Marcos dictatorship.
The monument is situated in the Butbut tribe’s ancestral lands.
“We also strongly remind them not to forget the three leaders’ irrefutable contribution to the Cordillera and the Filipino people’s continuing struggle for freedom from exploitation and oppression. We remind them that the martyrdom of Macli-ing, Dungoc and Lumbaya are already part of the history of the Indigenous Peoples’ struggle for ancestral lands and self – determination in the country and the world,” the statement reads.
