1. Who are the so-called Lumads of Mindanao?

The Indigenous People or IP are called Lumads in our present time which means “Native
of the Land”. In the Southern Philippines, there are tribal groups concentrated on Mindanao and
Western Visayas. The united Lumad people of Mindanao are still seeking to achieve self-
determination for their communities through the defense of their ancestral land. The Lumads of
Mindanao or the ethnographic groups includes the Manobo (Ata-Manobo, Matigsalug, Langilan-
Manobo, Agusan Manobo, Pulanguiyon-Manobo, Ubo-Manobo, Arumanen-Manobo, Dulangan-
Manobo) Talaandig, Higaonon, Bukidnon, Bagobo, Mandaya, Tagakaulo, Kalagan, Subanon,
Mamanua, B’laan, Teduray, T’boli, Yakan, SamaBanguingui, Luwa’an, Sinama, and Jama
Mapun.

2. In a separate sheet of paper reflect in the current situation of Indigenous People in the
Philippines and suggestions on how we can further improve the well-being of said people.
In our province, Nueva Ecija, we can find different ethnographic groups or Indigenous
People, who are living in the remote areas where the education are just the basics, the standard of
living is much lower than we have in urban and rural areas, the health of the children and other
IP are at risk, the alarming increase of teenage pregnancy, the number of unemployed people,
and the crowded place and environment which is not safe. Personally speaking, I have met IPs as
we conduct different gift giving, tulong bata, and other outreach programs. I can clearly see the
excitement they have, the smile and happiness on their face, and as we leave, we can see their
face full of hope that we conduct another outreach program for them, it means that they are
hungry and lack in needs for their everyday survival. As we get to interview the leader of the
group, he shared the situation they have as an IP: most of the parents are unemployed as it is hard
for them to find a job, the children are malnourished as they cannot have a healthy meal and only
eat twice or even once in a day, they only have one teacher in their school that teaches everybody
on how to read and write, and how they cannot afford to have a new pair of clothes because they
rather spend the money for their food. As I was saying, it is the province of Nueva Ecija alone,
where there are 29, 976 individuals or 6, 338 families, but imagine the situations of other
Indigenous People with the number of 14 to 17 million. The struggles I have said are just the
things we can see, but the discrimination they get as an IP and a Filipino is something that we
cannot understand as we do not get discriminated for what we are. They are human, too, and us,
being human and a Filipino, we can help to improve the well-being of the IPs if first we
understand their situation, if we are open-minded, and are willing to help, for everybody to have
the equality that everyone’s fighting for. To further improve the well-being of the said people,
we can start by taking action to share to others what are the needs of IPs and for them to be fully
aware who are the IPs. After taking this step, we can now move from small group who are
helping the IPs by conducting outreach programs, and as the days will pass, we will have a larger
group who are able to help in doing those kind of programs for the bigger community of IPs. In
doing this kind of activities, we can be the voice of every Indigenous People, and we can now
move as one, for them to be able to speak up for their rights and for the things they are fighting
for.