Like father, like son: Bongbong’s “discriminatory and anti-environment” remark on tribe, wild boars slammed

Quezon City (March 10, 2010) -- The son of the late dictator President Ferdinand Marcos drew flak from a sectoral party of indigenous peoples for saying that the return of Tagbanuas to the Calauit Island will be disastrous to wildlife.

 “As indigenous peoples, we are aghast at Bongbong’s suggestion that the Tagbanua tribe is not capable of protecting their ancestral land and the environment. It is an insult to the Tagbanuas who have fought for their ancestral land after it was taken away from them 30 years ago,” said Nelson Mallari, Secretary General of KATRIBU Partylist.

The Tagbanuas recently reclaimed their ancestral domain that covers the whole island and 50,000 hectares of ancestral waters around it.

“Bongbong’s remarks practically undermined our capacity as indigenous peoples to sustainably use and manage our land and natural resources. Let it be known to him that indigenous peoples are at the forefront of environmental protection.  Land is our life. Protection and conservation of our ancestral lands are paramount to our culture and way of living,” he stressed.

According to Mallari, the mindset of Bongbong Marcos is adversarial to indigenous peoples’ rights, adding that the younger Marcos is very much the same as his father when it comes to understanding the plight of indigenous peoples.

“He sounds just like the dictator, very condescending and discriminating to tribes,” he said.

Under his dictatorship, the late strongman created the Presidential Assistance on National Minorities (PANAMIN) notorious for forcibly displacing thousands of indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands to pave the way for tourism and extractives projects.

Hunting ground

The Aeta leader reminded the young Marcos that when his father turned the ancestral land into an African safari and hunting ground almost 30 years ago, hundreds of Tagbanuas were evicted at gunpoint and driven away to some non-arable land.

“My kinky hair stretched in disgust when Bongbong recalled with amazement, sounding Imeldific, how ‘beautiful’ the safari was with an exported giraffe wandering in the wild once inhabited by Tagbanuas,” the Aeta leader said.

“How could Bongbong recall that horrible ordeal of the Tagbanuas with fondness and without an iota of remorse? His happy life as a child was a nightmare for indigenous peoples,” Mallari lamented.

He also lambasted the young Marcos for calling wild boars pests and justifying his wildlife hunting sprees.

“It was the late dictator who endangered wildlife and biodiversity!” Mallari exclaimed.

No vote for dictator’s son

“We call upon our fellow indigenous peoples and environmental advocates not to vote for Bongbong. He does not deserve a place in the Magic 12,” Mallari said, referring to the recent Social Weather Stations survey in which Marcos, Jr. placed 9th.

“If he can make such discriminatory and anti-environment remarks during the campaign, he will have the audacity to realize them through laws when he is Senator,” he added.

“We fear that Bongbong harbored the same dangerous and distorted sense of environment conservation and perception about indigenous peoples. The son of the dictator is an imminent threat to the environment and to indigenous peoples,” he said.

Bongbong, a representative of Ilocos Norte’s second district, is running for Senator. # www.katribu.org

Reference:

Nelson Mallari
Secretary General
KATRIBU Partylist