Louriz Maveric S.

Samonte
2-GMT

Reflection
The Lumads are the indigenous people that are living in southern
Philippines. The significance of Lumads in the Philippine culture is
underrated. I believe that there are things that shape the identity of a
country. It involves the culture of the country , the people that live in it, the
amazing sights that can be found in it, the tradition and values that they
continue to pass on to the next generations. The Lumads is one of the few
reminders of what we used to. I view them as something that when I see
them I could picture what could have been our way of living or the way of
dressing. It is amazing that we can still live with them and that they can
share their culture with us. We made laws just to preserve their beliefs and
culture and what we are doing now is destroying the things that we are
trying to protect. Instead of living with them we are pushing them away
deeper into the forest and differences between worldviews between us and
them have paved the way for further misunderstandings. We should consider
taking bolder actions regarding the killings of Lumads if we are to prove that
we have a distinct identity and no one could take that away from us. We
should continue to respect their beliefs and traditions and improve the laws
that protect them. I remember a National Geographic documentary about a
certain tribe of headhunters that has an amazingly-skilled tattoo artist. I felt
sorry when they said that she is the last practitioner of that art. If only we
took part on their culture sooner and tried to study the magnificence of their
culture instead of persecuting them, we may not have come to the point
where we feel sorry for the death of that art. I hope that we will realize how
important the contribution of everything that is around us before it is already
gone.