ILOILO City – The Panay Indigenous Culture Advocacy Group (PICAG) has called for peace in central Panay following the fatal raids by state forces in Capiz and Iloilo provinces last week.
“We are making an urgent and serious request now to value life, peace, and trust for the indigenous peoples to cultivate and safeguard the cultures and traditions which we have labored so hard to uplift as culturally-concerned and peace-loving individuals. We hope for a New Year free of fear and with a strong desire for a peaceful and better life for our indigenous peoples in Central Panay,” PICAG said in a statement.
PICAG is a group of professionals, academic scholars, researchers, and cultural workers who seek to preserve Panay’s indigenous knowledge and culture.
The group expressed their concern after the residents of their research sites and the communities where they have conducted knowledge-building since the late 1980s became worried about their safety and well-being.
“The loss of a maaram (learned) culture bearer is irreplaceable. Amidst being scared for the loss of more lives, the scholars are disturbed by the trauma that the recent events have brought to the children, women, and respected magurang – the elder members of the community who are the cultural bearers and keepers of indigenous traditions,” PICAG said.
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) Region 6 alleged that those killed were members of the New People’s Army who fought back when operatives served search warrants for illegal possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives.
The group added that the said communities have made Panay a repository of rich traditional culture unequalled in other parts of the world e.g. sugidanon or epics of Panay, binanog dancing and panubok or indigenous embroidery, among others.
They further emphasized that the efforts of the scholars in lifting the Panay Bukidnon culture with the indigenous people, who are now proud to forward the above-stated traditions, have taken almost a lifetime to accomplish for several of them.
PICAG also noted that the dignity generated from the unique culture of these indigenous peoples was fostered because of the initiatives in the publication of the sugidanon of Panay as well as the revival of other significant traditions that were lost because of past issues and unprecedented events that dominated the areas in the 1980s until the 1990s.
“We do not want another setback to this advancement and have these important cultures and practices be buried again repeating the dark era for Panay culture in the ‘80s,” the group lamented.
To recall, following the deadly military raid in Barangay Lahug, Tapaz, Capiz, some 300 individuals fled their homes as they feared for their safety.
They moved to the town’s civic center in Barangay Poblacion./PN
