Consuelo Kills the Talaandig!

Consuelo Kills the Talaandig!

The MILALITTRA Struggle for Land Rights

            Consuelo seems to be everyone’s good old friend. 

Who could not befriend Consuelo? Consuelo offers the best Steak A la Mari, a toploin cut steak seared on the grill with garlic and dry mustard.  Consuelo’s Big Boss Burger with thick grilled beef patty topped with double cheese bacon strips and mushrooms is definitely an all-time favorite.  Not to mention the vegetarian choice of Vegetable Stir Fry, a combination of fresh veggies with lemon twists.  Hence, Cagayanons always make it a point to visit Consuelo every Friday nights to have a sip of the famous Bulalo Espesyal, a meaty beef round bone with marrow, smothered with hot mushroom sauce, the house specialty.

Unfortunately, it appears that Cagayanons are blinded by the sumptuous choice that Consuelo could offer.  What they did not know was the secrecy behind Consuelo.  Every time Consuelo speaks, Yolanda suffers.  When Consuelo utters, Primo falls.  Worst, if Consuelo talks, Petoy expires. 

Consuelo kills the Talaandig!

The Talaandig Indigenous Cultural Communities in Miarayon, Talakag, Bukidnon have been living since time immemorial on the land they claimed to have inherited from Magbabaya. 

With the advent of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (RA 8731), MILALITTRA, an association of Talaandig Tribal Communities in Miarayon, Lapok, and Lirongan, Bukidnon, processed their ancestral domain claim in the NCIP.  On 25 July 2003, Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADT) No. R10-TAL-0703-0010 was issued by virtue of NCIP En Banc Resolution No. 08-02003 to the Talaandig cultural communities.  Finally, on 30 October 2003, President Gloria M. Arroyo awarded the said CADT to the Talaandigs.  The Talaandig communities have been living peacefully on the said land as it was before.  Indeed, everything was in order.

 Then came Consuelo.

On 17 January 2004, Aberasturi, a huge landowner in Bukidnon, hastily entered Miarayon without prior notice to the tribal elders and bringing with him a dozen of fully armed workers, a truckload of fencing materials, rolls of barbwire, lumber and other roofing equipment.  Aberasturi ordered the building of farm structures for his ranch and vegetable farm within the ancestral domains of the Talaandigs. 

At early dawn of the next day, gun burst and indiscriminate firing were heard coming from Aberasturi’s camp. Continued firing of gunshots occurred on the following days.  During those days, Aberasturi’s men were seen walking in the streets harassing and pointing guns at women and children.  Not contented with their atrocities, they attacked the elementary school grounds causing alarm and fear among toddlers and school children.  Miarayon became a ghost town for weeks.

            Ironically, the Aberasturis filed a barrage of civil and criminal cases such as attempted murder, frustrated homicide, grave threats and arson against the Talaandigs.  Apparently, Aberasturi’s objective is to remove the Talaandigs from their lands at all cost.  The Aberasturis also employed different tactics for obtaining support from the community by hiring members of the Talaandigs in their farmlands and making them as fronts in their attacks. Consequently, the Talaandigs of MIarayon were fighting against the Talaandigs deceived by the Aberasturis. 

Meanwhile, Consuelo continues to serve delectable cuisines to the privileged Cagayanons while the Talaandigs of Bukidnon struggle to maintain their ancestral lands that feed them.  Consuelo continues to nourish the cattle to ensure that Cagayanons eat only the finest beef steaks while the Talaandigs are being shot indiscriminately to force them out of their lands.  Consuelo continues to serve fresh lettuce and broccolis to the vegetarians of the city while the Talaandigs are being erroneously prosecuted for murder and homicide in trial courts. 

            Concerned with the plight of the Talaandig communities, a number of institutions such as the Church, Cartwheel Foundation and BALAOD Mindanaw, concerted their efforts to strengthen and empower the Talaandig communities through paralegal strategies and capacity building.  Paralegal formations were conducted and regular clinics were carried out among the Talaandig communities including the women.  Direct legal assistance was provided.  More importantly, metalegal tactics and strategies were utilized in order to have a comprehensive approach against the bogus claims of the Aberasturis.

As time progresses, the Talaandigs worked together as one community in defending their cause. MILALITTRA, as represented by their tribal leaders and elders, started processing the registration of its CADT in the Register of Deeds. Some members of the Talaandig communities who were directly threatened by the Aberasturis, namely, Yolanda Anghel, Primo Egihon and Petoy Besto filed separate criminal cases of grave threats against the Aberasturis for the latter’s act of violence.  Further, the Talaandig communities defended their rights and asserted the primary jurisdiction of the NCIP in disputes concerning indigenous peoples in accordance to the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act in the accion reinvindicatoria case filed by the Aberasturis against them.  The said case is now pending in the Court of Appeals. 

It is but unfortunate that the Talaandig communities have to suffer these atrocities in order for Consuelo to satisfy the taste buds of the Aberasturis, Cojuangcos, Guingonas, Pelaezes, Pos, Ukayas, Lugods, and Quisumbings.  Their flavors are too expensive such that cultural communities are being made as sacrificial lambs.  Yet, the Talaandigs are far from giving up.  They are already empowered.  They have gathered their strength.  Indubitably, the Talaandigs will continue to fight for land rights and ancestral domains which rightfully belong to them. 

Indeed, Consuelo still kills, yet, Yolanda fights back!  That makes the difference.

____________________

Jan Perry B. Eugenio is one of the counsels of the Talaandig communities.  He prefers ginataang mongoose, humba and guso at Nang Emma’s Carenderia.