Lumad

Ethnic group
group=Lumad


poptime=Unknown
popplace=flagicon|PhilippinesPhilippines:
Caraga, Davao, Northern Mindanao, SOCCSKSARGEN, Zamboanga Peninsula
langs=Several indigenous languages of Mindanao, Chabacano (in Zamboanga Region), Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Filipino language, English
rels=Protestant and Animist
related=Bajau, Moro, Visayan, other Filipino peoples, other Austronesian peoples

The Lumad is a term being used to denote a group of indigenous peoples of the southern Philippines. It is a Cebuano term meaning "native" or "indigenous". The term is short for katawhang lumad (literally "indigenous peoples"), the autonym officially adopted by the delegates of the Lumad Mindanaw Peoples Federation (LMPF) founding assembly in June 26, 1986 at the Guadalupe Formation Center, Balindog, Kidapawan, Cotabato, Philippines. It is the self-ascription and collective identity of the non-Islamized indigenous peoples of Mindanao.

History

The name "Lumad" grew out of the political awakening among various tribes during the martial law regime of President Ferdinand Marcos. It was advocated and propagated by the members and affiliates of Lumad-Mindanao, a coalition of all-Lumad local and regional organizations which formalized themselves as such in June 1986 but started in 1983 as a multi-sectoral organization. Lumad-Mindanao’s main objective was to achieve self-determination for their member-tribes, or, put more concretely, self-governance within their ancestral domain in accordance with their culture and customary laws. No other Lumad organization had had the express goal in the past.

Representative from fifteen tribes agreed in June 1986 to adopt the name; there were no delegates from the Three major groups of the T'boli, the Teduray and the Subanen. The choice of a Cebuano word was a bit ironic but they deemed it to be most appropriate considering that the various Lumad tribes do not have any other common language except Cebuano. This is the first time that these tribes have agreed to a common name for themselves, distinct from that of the Moros and different from the migrant majority and their descendants.

People

There are 18 Lumad ethnolinguistic groups namely, Ata, Bagobo, Banwaon, B’laan, Bukidnon, Dibabawon, Higaonon, Mamanwa, Mandaya, Manguwangan, Manobo, Mansaka, Subanon, Tagakaolo, Tasaday, Tboli, Teduray, and Ubo.

According to the Lumad Development Center Inc., there are about eighteen Lumad groups in 19 provinces across the country. They comprise 12 to 13 million or 18% of the Philippine population and can be divided into 110 ethno-linguistic groups. Considered as "vulnerable groups", they live in hinterlands, forests, lowlands and coastal areas. [Date: 31 October 2006, Kidapawan City, Philippines. Contributed by: Pependayan, LMPF Secretary General from 1988-1999]

Katawhan Lumad

"Katawhan Lumad" are the un-Islamized indigenous peoples of Mindanao, namely Erumanen ne Menuvu`, Matidsalug Manobo, Agusanon Manobo, Dulangan Manobo, Dabaw Manobo,Ata Manobo, B'laan, Kaulo, Banwaon, Teduray, Lambangian, Subanen, Higaunon, Dibabawon, Mangguwangan, Mansaka, Mandaya, K'lagan, T'boli, Mamanuwa, Talaandig, Tagabawa, and Ubu`, Tinenanen, Kuwemanen, K'lata and Diyangan.

There are about twenty general hilltribes of Mindanao, all of which are of Austronesian descent.

The term Lumad excludes the Butuanons and Surigaonons, even the said 2 ethnic groups are native to Mindanao and the word tells it so because those two are Visayans and Lumad are not ethnically related to them.

Bilaan

The Bilaan or B'laan is an indigenous group that is concentrated in Davao del Sur and South Cotabato. They still practice indigenous rituals despite adaptation to the way of life of modern Filipinos. [ [http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=93337 B’laan women record dreams in woven mats - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos ] ]

Manobo

Cotabato Manobo is a language spoken by the Manobo people of Mindanao in the Philippines.

ubanen

The Subanuns are the first settlers of the Zamboanga peninsula. Because they live near the river ("suba"), they are called river dwellers or Suba-nuns. The family is patriarchal while the village is led by a chief called Timuay. He acts as the village judge and is concerned with all communal matters.

Higaonon

The Higaonon is located on the provinces of Bukidnon, Agusan del Sur, Misamis Oriental, Rogongon, Iligan City, and Lanao del Norte. Their name means "people of the wilderness". Most Higaonons still have a rather traditional way of living. Farming is the most important economic activity.

Kalagan

Cultural groupsMajority of the inhabitants of the region are of Visayan lineage. The ethnic residents include the Manobo, the Mamanwa and other tribes.

Kamayo

"Kamayo" literally means "You/it's Yours/Yours " when it use to conversation by the lumad and other kamayo speaking people. But "Kamayo" when refers to as a group of people or as a society in a certain place in mindanao means "A Way of Life" or Pamaaging panginabuhi-an in kamayo term.The kamayo way of life is peacefull, kind and loving people. Most of kamayo are located in the minicipality of ,Bislig, Hinatuan, Tagbina, San Agustin, Lingig and other part of Caraga region, Campostella Valley and Davao provinces.

Mamanwa

The Mamanwa is a Negrito tribe often grouped together with the Lumad. They believe in a collection of spirits, which are governed by the supreme deity "Magbabaya". The tribe produce excellent winnowing baskets, rattan hammocks, and other household containers.If the Manobos are considered as the first Cantilangnons, the Mamanwas could also lay claim to the same title. The big difference, however, between the two cultural minorities is that the Mamanwas are lesser in number and more scattered and nomadic than the Manobos. The Mamanwas are a different breed of people in their looks and physical features compared to the lowlanders and the upland living Manobos. Presently, there are still few Mamanwas who, on fiesta days, roam Cantilan streets and its barangays. In modern Cantilan, they are a vanishing tribe who could be traced only in the deep and distant mountains like the Mandajas who inter-marry with the Manobos.

Unlike the Manobos, the Mamanwas did not adopt the lowlanders’ way of living even if they were already Christianized. They had been rooted for centuries in the indigenous culture which is very difficult to understand. The speak their own dialect which noticeably has some phonetic similarities with that of Cantilan’s lowlanders. Unlike the Manobos and Mandayas, they do not go to schools to learn either Pilipino or English.Some old Mamanwas of today tell of their ancestors’ early habitats along river mouths, seashores, islets and islands. They cannot, however, pinpoint particular areas as their permanent settlements for they did not have any. They transfer from place to place and travel as far as their minds could imagine and their feet could carry them. The transfers usually happen in case of deaths for it was the old customs to pack up and leave the place when death occurs even if their plants are ready for harvest.

Mandaya

"Mandaya" derives from "man" meaning "first," and "daya" meaning "upstream" or "upper portion of a river," and therefore means "the first people upstream". It refers to a number of groups found along the mountain ranges of Davao Oriental, as well as to their customs, language, and beliefs. The Mandaya are also found in Compostela and New Bataan in Compostela Valley Province (formerly a part of Davao del Norte Province).

Mansaka

The term "Mansaka" derives from "man" meaning "men" and "saka" meaning "climb," and means "the first people to ascend the mountains or go upstream." The term most likely describes the origin of these people who are found today in Davao del Norte, specifically in the Batoto River, the Manat Valley, the Marasugan Valley, the Hijo River Valley, and the seacoasts of Kingking, Maco, Kwambog, Hijo, Tagum, Libuganon, Tuganay, Ising, and Panabo (Fuentes and De La Cruz 1980:2).

angil

The Sangir or Sangil is located in the islands of Balut, Sarangani, and the coastal areas of South Cotabato and Davao del Sur. Their name comes from Sangihe, an archipelago located between Sulawesi and Mindanao. This was their original home but they migrated northwards.

ubanon

History has better words to speak for Misamis Occidental. Its principal city was originally populated by the Subanon, a cultural group that once roamed the seas in great number, the province was an easy prey to the marauding sea pirates of Lanao whose habit was to stage lightning forays along the coastal areas in search of slaves. As the Subanon retreated deeper and deeper into the interior, the coastal areas became home to inhabitants from Bukidnon who were steadily followed by settlers from nearby Cebu and Bohol. The name Subanon, "which is derived from the word suba, "river," means a river people.

Tagabawa

Tasaday

The Tasadays were purportedly a group of about two dozen people living within the deep and mountainous rainforests of Mindanao.

T'boli

The Tbolis are one of the indigenous peoples of South Mindanao. From the body of ethnographic and linguistic literature on Mindanao they are variously known as Toboli, T'boli, Tböli, Tiboli, Tibole, Tagabili, Tagabeli, and Tagabulu. They term themselves Tboli or T'boli. Their whereabouts and identity is to some extend confused in the literature; some publications present the Toboli and the Tagabili as distinct peoples; some locate the Tbolis to the vicinity of the Buluan Lake in the Cotabato Basin or in Agusan del Norte. The Tbolis, then, reside on the mountain slopes on either side of the upper Alah Valley and the coastal area of Maitum, Maasim and Kiamba. In former times, the Tbolis also inhabited the upper Alah Valley floor.

Musical Heritage

Most of the Mindanao Lumad groups have a musical heritage consisting of various types of Agung ensembles - ensembles composed of large hanging, suspended or held, bossed/knobbed gongs which act as drone without any accompanying melodic instrument. cite web
last = Mercurio
first = Philip Dominguez
authorlink =
coauthors =
year = 2006
url = http://www.pnoyandthecity.blogspot.com
title = Traditional Music of the Southern Philippines
format = html
work = PnoyAndTheCity: A center for Kulintang - A home for Pasikings
publisher =
accessdate = February 25
accessyear = 2006]

ocial Issues

At the beginning of the 20^th century, the Lumads controlled an area which now covers 17 of Mindanao’s 24 provinces, but by the 1980 census they constituted less than 6% of the population of Mindanao and Sulu. Heavy migration to Mindanao of Visayans, spurred by government-sponsored resettlement programmes, turned the Lumads into minorities. The Bukidnon province population grew from 63,470 in 1948 to 194,368 in 1960 and 414,762 in 1970, with the proportion of indigenous Bukidnons falling from 64% to 33% to 14%.

Lumads have a traditional concept of land ownership based on what their communities consider their ancestral territories. The historian B. R. Rodil notes that ‘a territory occupied by a community is a communal private property, and community members have the right of usufruct to any piece of unoccupied land within the communal territory.’ Ancestral lands include cultivated land as well as hunting grounds, rivers, forests, uncultivated land and the mineral resources below the land.

Unlike the Moros, the Lumad groups never formed a revolutionary group to unite them in armed struggle against the Philippine government. When the migrants came, many Lumad groups retreated into the mountains and forests. However, the Moro armed groups and the Communist-led New People’s Army (NPA) have recruited Lumads to their ranks, and the armed forces have also recruited them into paramilitary organisations to fight the Moros or the NPA.

For the Lumad, securing their rights to ancestral domain is as urgent as the Moros’ quest for self-determination. However, much of their land has already been registered in the name of multinational corporations, logging companies and wealthy Filipinos, many of whom are settlers to Mindanao. Mai Tuan, a T'boli leader explains, “Now that there is a peace agreement for the MNLF, we are happy because we are given food assistance like rice … we also feel sad because we no longer have the pots to cook it with. We no longer have control over our ancestral lands.”

References

External links

* [http://aedv.cs.tu-berlin.de/~brandeis/lumad.html Portraits of Lumad People]
* [http://www.devcomm.com/tboli_culture.htm Preserving Culture: the Tboli of Mindanao]
* [http://www.philippines.hvu.nl/mindanao2.htm The indigenous people of Mindanao]