Reso condemning killings of Teduray tribe leaders and members filed in Senate

A Senate resolution condemning the spate of killings of Teduray tribe leaders and members in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) has been filed in the upper chamber.

In filing Senate Resolution 1203, following the recent ambush of chieftain Elvin Moires, Senator Robinhood Padilla lamented the “alarming” number of killed Teduray leaders and members.

“The rising number of killings within the Teduray tribe is alarming, with the latest count of defenseless individuals killed reaching 75, it must be emphasized that injustice and violence do not have a place in any civilized society and no just cause justifies brutalities against the lives of all persons,” Padilla, who chairs the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities and Muslim Affairs, wrote in his resolution.

Moires, who was shot dead by unidentified men while on his way home from a tribal wedding ceremony, has earned a reputation as a vocal leader of the Lumads in South Upi.

He had actively asserted the rights of indigenous people.

Padilla also lamented that Teduray and Teduray-Lambingan leaders have become victims of threats and intimidation—“and worse, killings—for strongly advocating against land encroachment, and displacement or dispossession of their ancestral lands” since 2018.

On 20 December 2022, Jocelyn Palao, a progressive head of the ancestral domain division of the BARMM-Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs, was killed by gunmen after leaving her office in Cotabato City.

In April this year, village councilman Juanito Promboy from Barangay Tuayan was ambushed by motorcycle-riding attackers while on his way to Barangay Limpongo.

Teduray tribe is one of many recognized Indigenous cultural communities in Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Sultan Kudarat, and the Bangsamoro region.

Padilla stressed that the killings of IP leaders and members occurred amid the Constitution's provision that the State “recognizes and promotes the rights of indigenous cultural communities within the framework of national unity and development.”