Lumads meet in Kitanglad for 4th State of the Indigenous Peoples’ Address (SIPA)

DAVAO CITY  (MindaNews/24 July) – An estimated 100 Lumads (indigenous peoples) from various parts of the country will gather at the foot for Mt. Kitanglad in Bukidnon for the fourth State of the Indigenous Peoples’ Address (SIPA)  in time for President Benigno Aquino’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 26.

The SIPA will begin at 1 p.m. on Monday and will end on the 29th of July.

Erwin Quinones, campaigns paralegal of Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan (LRC-KsK), told MindaNews that the IP representatives will be coming “from  areas affected by development aggression.”

He said this includes encroachment of mining, plantations and hydro-power plants into the ancestral domains of the indigenous peoples. [read more]