Timuay Boy Anoy - Ongoing Concerns and Request of the Subanon of Mt. Canatuan
Uploader: GlupaPusaka
Original upload date: Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT
Archive date: Wed, 08 Dec 2021 01:25:41 GMT
"I am Timuay Jose "Boy" Anoy, a tribal chieftain in Canatuan, Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte. I filed a case in the United Nations because the Philippine Government did not take notice of our case. They
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refuse to hear us. They don't respect our culture. They have low regard of us Subanon that's why even how hard we try, we complained everywhere about our refusal of our sacred site to be destroyed, the government did not listen and it allowed the destruction to happen. We did many different things. We did pickets. We filed legal cases and even reached the national level. Nobody listened to us. Now our sacred place in Canatuan is destroyed.
Mt. Canatuan is our life. That is where we get our medicine, and that is where we find our means of living because that is where we do our rituals. Since the time of Timuay Manglang, we had already been doing our rituals at Canatuan every year. Every time we arrive, we always go to Canatuan. We do our rituals there for we respect that place because it is where our medicine is.
We believe that it is the company's fault, that is why we had to complain.
The government did not listen because it was their fault. Why? Because they were the ones who gave the paper to the TVI so that they could operate. That is why we filed a case against the Philippines.
We were not listened to because they were the ones who gave the paper to the TVI. The TVI continued with their operation because of the permission they had from the government, giving us no reason to stop them and make them go away. That is why we decided to go to the United Nations so that the government will hear our plea.
Now that we had filed our case, though our sacred place had already been destroyed, all we want is that they respect our culture and our traditional ways as Subanon. Not only us, Subanon, but also the other IPs in the Philippines.
We are going to continue with this case, we will not withdraw it, until they learn to respect our culture, our laws, and our practices in our territory.
We are going to write to the UN, United Nations CERD, that they would be the ones to ask our government to recognize our rights as IP (Indigenous Peoples) here in the Philippines. Especially us the Subanon, and that I personally appeared in the United Nations, even though I am poor and unschooled, all because I wanted to have our rights to be acknowledged by our government.
We will never withdraw the case until the government declares that they acknowledge the cultures of the IPs here in the Philippines. We would really continue with our complain.
I am calling to the United Nations CERD that they decide on this case. That they ask the Philippine Government to acknowledge our culture and to respect our practices as Subanon. Not just of the Subanon people, but also the laws and culture of other IPs in the Philippines in their respective territories."