<div class="image-550">
<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-9/mindanao-lumads-sm.webp" alt="Lumads of Mindanao" />
<div>
(Lumads of Mindanao)
</div>
</div>
<p>
The more recent more superior Malays, who were later converted to Islam, drove them out of the lush fertile plains. The Lumads sought sanctuary in the mountains, where they still are today in various states of disarray. They remained pure and untouched in their heritage for centuries until the lowlanders arrived, triggering rapid assimilation into Christian culture.
<p>
In 1986, hemmed in from all sides, they were formally unified under the Lumad Mindanao Peoples Federation, whose goals were essentially self-determination, preservation of heritage, and the most important, preservation of ancestral lands.
</p>
<p>
The Lumads are in deep crisis today. They are hemmed in from all sides by superior forces, Muslims, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), New People's Army (NPA) and local and foreign agro-industrial plantations that covet their rich ancestral lands. An Australian agri-businesses posing as supportive of NGO promised them bounty and wealth as <i>"partners"</i>, but gave them the crumbs of minimum wage farm laborers, not equity or profit sharing.
</p>


<p>
Their crisis is not just living space, but also identity, as they undergo rapid assimilation, losing their heritage and ethno-culture. The Catholic Church tries to educate them, but it is not easy.
</p>
<p>
In the past, President Duterte warned the Lumads not to join the NPA. He should also warn them not to join the AFP. 
</p>
<p>
The key to the survival of the Lumads is Neutrality. In the last two decades, the Lumads are being massacred into extinction. The AFP and their Baganis (Lumad CAFGU) kill Lumads who side with the NPA on mere suspicion. The NPA kill Lumads who are informers for the AFP, also on mere suspicion. In the end, Lumads for AFP and Lumads for NPA kill each other, while the AFP and the NPA drink beer in their camps.
</p>
<p>
They are pawns of either side in a never-ending counter-insurgency war. It has evolved into a <i>"slow genocide,"</i> picking up momentum lately. The massacre of Lumads has quadrupled in the last decade. The only way out is to stay neutral, an almost impossible prospect. They are forced to take one side or the other. Duterte promised the Lumads livelihood. But they argue that that is not the solution. The Lumads turn to the NPA not because they are hungry, but because they fear being killed by the AFP as NPA supporters. There are no trials or investigations. The same with the NPA who kill Lumad AFP informants. Intel can be real or hearsay.
</p>
<p>
There is, however, hope for neutrality, the silver lining. There have been short-lived but successful civilian-led Peace Zones in Lumad territories during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, as in the Arakan Valley and Cotabato. It was also instituted in the north, in Sagada, Mountain Province. Armed AFP and NPA were not allowed in these zones. But it was undermined by suspicions of violations from both sides. The Peace Zone concept can be revived, but there must be sincerity on both the AFP and NPA sides, and strict monitoring by the Lumads with the help of the Church and NGO. This is the only hope for the Lumads in crisis, before they are a victim of gradual ethnocide.
</p>
<p>
Quotes from an old letter to President Arroyo articulates the sentiments of Lumads today: 
</p>
<div class="article-comment">
<p>
"Your Excellency, you felt horror and rage on the assassination of your father, Ninoy. I am sure you can empathize with a 15-year-old Manobo boy from Sitio Mando, Pangantucan, Bukidnon. He begged soldiers to spare the lives of his father, brothers and cousins and be jailed, if indeed they had done anything wrong. His father was 70 and blind; his brothers 20 and 19 years old, his cousins 13 and 17 years old. He begged the soldiers, Mr. President. And they shot all of them."
</p>
</div>


Lumads for AFP and Lumads for NPA kill each other resulting in their "slow genocide"