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This is the message delivered by Dr. Constancio "Chandu" Claver at the Cordillera Day celebration held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on April 24, 2010.
Dr. Constancio Chandu Claver, a native of Bontoc, Mountain Province, is currently the Chairperson of the National Organizing Committee of BAYAN Canada. A surgeon by training and a physician by practice, Dr. Claver has been a doctor of the masses for decades, being the Executive Director of the former Community Health and Education Concerns for Kalinga-Apayao. Formerly the Vice-Chair of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, and chairperson of Bayan Muna in Kalinga, Dr. Claver is known as a staunch advocate of human rights, peace and justice. In July 2006, Dr. Claver, his wife Alyce, and their daughter were targets of a political assassination attempt, which his wife did not survive.
FULL TEXT OF DR. CLAVER'S MESSAGE
CORDILLERA DAY ADDRESS
April 24, 2010
Toronto
Naimbag nga aldaw tayo amin. Good day.
Let me introduce myself. I am Chandu Claver, a member of the Bontoc tribe, born and raised in the Lepanto Mines in Benguet, and worked as a physician-surgeon for 22 years in the province of Kalinga. I am now here in Canada with my three children, as a political refugee. Presently, I am a member of the International Commission of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance as well as the Chairperson of the National Organizing Committee of BAYAN – Canada.
We are gathered today to celebrate Cordillera Day. Between April 17 and April 24, Cordillera Day activities will be going on in all 5 provinces and the one city that make up the Cordillera Region. Here in Vancouver, the Cordillera Day celebration was held on April 17. The Vancouver event was attended by the local Cordillera organizations, as well as a number of supporting organizations. The Cordillera Day event is a uniting activity – anywhere that it is held – in the home country or here overseas. And in these yearly events, it would serve us well to look back in time – back to where we came from, the thorny paths that we had to go through – in order to be able to arrive where we are today. This is why during Cordillera Days there is a lot of remembering.
We remember that the processes started in the decade of the ‘70s. A dictator, with the help of colluding international funding agencies, tried to put up four dams in the Chico River – the water lifeline for most of the Cordilleras. The Chico Dam would have buried many villages in Kalinga and Mt. Province.
We also remember the same regime establishing the Cellophil Resources Corporation, a paper and pulp processing plant that would have ravaged vast portions of the Tinggian’s ancestral land in Abra and contiguous areas of Mt. Province and Kalinga.
We remember that because of these two projects, our people rose up in protest. At first, it was sporadic then it became a deluge. The dictator reacted angrily. But amid the state repression and outright military brutality, leaders and warriors from these affected provinces came forward to register their communities’ desire to be left alone to chart their own course of development and defend their ancestral heritage.
We remember that it was the community meetings and bodong or peace pact gatherings that galvanized the people’s solidarity and resolve to fight as one. And we remember that we were not alone in this fight. In fact, our protest and defiance gained support and admiration from communities and countries in different parts of the world.
We remember that it was this united resistance of communities, together with the support of Philippine and international groups, that caused the Chico Dam project to be shelved.
The Chico and Cellophil struggles were a great learning experience into the reality of indigenous peoples’ rights. These struggles also ignited what many have called, a dormant Igorot nationalism This increased introspection and self awareness among the indigenous peoples of the Cordillera paved the way towards a pan-Cordillera mass movement, as it marked the shift from spontaneous reaction to conscious and concerted unified action.
After the Chico and Cellophil struggles, came other struggles. We remember the struggle against the pollution of Batong Buhay Gold Mines that affected the provinces of Kalinga, Cagayan and Isabela. We remember the Baguio struggle against the commercialization of our culture by the Grand Caňao sponsored by the then, Ministry of Tourism. We remember our protracted lobby to incorporate into the 1987 Philippine Constitution our right to our ancestral land, as well as our right to self-determination. We remember our struggle against the devastations brought about by the Open Pit Mining of Benguet Corporation in Itogon, Benguet. We remember our struggle against the implementation of the San Roque Dam – the dam that contributed so much to the recent deadly floods in Pangasinan. And we remember our struggles with the workers of Lepanto Mines as well as our campaign to save the Abra River from the pollution of Lepanto – a mine financially supported by a Canadian mining company.
We have won many of these battles, though we have lost a few. But those victories we owe to the growing resolve, cohesion and strength of the Cordillera mass movement.
But the road has been hard, and in many instance, bloody. We remember that the Philippine State coddled the remnants of the Cordillera Peoples’ Liberation Army and turned a blind eye when unarmed leaders like Ama Daniel Ngayaan of Kalinga and Romy Gardo of Abra, as well as other members of the mass movement were killed. And more recently, we remember that the Philippine State unleashed its killer teams under Operation Plan Bantay Laya that has resulted in the death, as well as disappearance of unarmed Cordillera mass leaders and activists, such as Markus Bangit, Romy Sanchez, Albert Teredaňo, Alice Claver, James Balao, Pepe Manegdeg, Jose Doton, and many more.
But despite all these, we have been able to travel far down the road. We have slowly but surely pushed back the barriers that prevent us from uniting as a people. Many of those barriers still exist, but their effective influence continues to wane and fade away with each passing year, with each passing Cordillera Day. Moreover, the Cordillera youth of today have become the mouthpiece for Cordillera unity and action – a level of conscientization that would serve them well when they grow up to be leaders.
This brings us to the other aspect of Cordillera Day. Aside from remembering and drawing lessons, Cordillera Day is also about looking forward into the future. We realize that though we have come a long way, we are not yet where we want to be. There is more to accomplish.
We have hopes that our right as a people to our land, and our resources would be truly respected. We have a vision of a better Cordillera and a better Philippines. In fact, our experience in the struggle shows that the way to a better Cordillera is through working for a better Philippines. This is why in the last few decades, the movement for change in the Cordillera has become more and more linked with the wider movement for social change in the Philippines.
And this presents us, Cordillerans, with a bigger challenge – the challenge to be able to forge active ties with the broad Filipino masses with a common direction towards substantive change in the existing Philippine system. A relevant example is the present national effort to push for KATRIBU, the party list representing the various indigenous peoples in the Philippines, which of course, includes the people of the Cordillera. In fact the Cordillera mass movement has been a leading element in the formation of this nation-wide party.
During the Chico Dam and CRC debacles, the separate tribes had interacted and have learned to unite on common objectives. At this present time, Cordillera groups, whether in the Philippines or overseas, should interact with other Philippine groups and similarly learn to unite on common objectives.
A valuable lesson from our past struggle – and one we should not forget to apply today.
Salamat unay iti inkay panagdengngeg.
Matago tako lusan!
