Defend the land of the Indigenous People! Defend their life!

This is the enduring cries of the Lumad who suffer from the anti-poor policies of the Arroyo Administration. During the celebration of the Indigenous People week held at Baclaran Church last October 13-14,2007, Bro Gilbert Billena and Joey Linag participated in a forum and joined the call to respect and defend the ancestral domain of Indigenous People.

In a joint statement, the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan sa Pilipinas ( KAMP) and the Inter-Faith, Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Network( IFJPIC) declared that the national economic policy of GMA on super regions is a comprehensive program aimed at destroying the IP communities, the environment and the remaining natural resources of the country. To ensure the implementation of these projects, the Arroyo regime is using state terrorism fortified by Human Security Act and militarization in the countryside in order to force the entry of foreign corporations and infrastructure within the ancestral domain of the Indigenous people.

Thus, the military strategy dubbed Oplan Bantay Laya of this regime has led to extra-judicial killings of indigenous people who strongly resist mining operations in their areas. Embracing the plight of the poor and the marginalized, the church cry out with them: Resist the plunder of our natural resources by foreign corporations! Junk the Philippine Mining Act of 1995! Stop Militarization and Implement Genuine Agrarian Reform!