On July 28, 2024, I graduated with a Master of Arts in Philippine Studies with a specialization in Socio-Cultural Studies at the Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman.
I was honored to represent the graduates of MA Philippine Studies with a speech.
11 years ago, I roamed the halls of the Asian Center. Wide-eyed, optimistic, naive, yet, genuine. Yes, believe me, it took me 11 years to finish my degree. I decided to take Philippine Studies as my master’s education because I was interested in and wanted to specialize in indigenous culture.
My curiosity about indigenous peoples started from my undergraduate documentary thesis at the UP Film Institute. I filmed an Iraya Mangyan song and documented how the community’s way of life was acculturated by the lowlanders. There I was, standing in the middle of a dumpsite in Mindoro holding up a camera and filming the Iraya Mangyan kids. It must be the irony of witnessing the rich culture of the Mangyan people and the poverty that they experience that made me pause and ponder. Is this what development looks like? What does development look like for Filipinos? That question haunted me.
I tried to learn as much about the Filipino people beyond the rooms of the Asian Center, transcending the four corners of the classroom, the reading lists, the elaborate lectures of the professors, and short conversations with my classmates.
My curiosity led me to the mountains of the Teduray and Lambangian indigenous communities in South Upi in Maguindanao, through the thick foliage and greenery covering the Sierra Madre of the Dumagat- Remontados, through the benevolent and sometimes roaring waters of the Sulu Sea plied by the Sama Bajau people. I saw military tanks posed to attack rebels at a moment’s notice on a road from Midsayap to Cotabato City. I went to see the ravaged houses of the internally displaced Maranao people at the ground zero in Marawi City. I visited a marine protected area in Eastern Samar that was established to rehabilitate the corals after Typhoon Haiyan. I joined the women gleaning for shells on the shore of Masinloc, Zambales as they shared their worries about the Chinese vessels encroaching the West Philippine Sea. There in the middle of the forests, rivers, sea and shores, l came face to face with knowledge. Knowledge that I learned from my conversations with people. I believe that is what education is. Confront the unknown. Learn what you don’t know.
What I learned from my education inside and outside of the Asian Center is this: indigenous peoples hold a key role in the protection of our environment and in keeping the biodiversity of our seas, rivers, forests, and mountains. Their relationship with the environment is the antithesis to the anthropocene, the climate crisis and environmental degradation that we are experiencing on this Earth. Yet, mining, extractive industries, oil and gas explorations, massive plantations and mega infrastructure projects encroach on ancestral domains that cause damage to biodiversity areas. Projects like the New Centennial Water Source- Kaliwa Dam Project that will inundate hectares of ancestral lands of the Dumagat-Remontados, the New Clark City that displaced the Aeta folks, the coffee plantation trespassing the lands of the T’boli Manobos in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato . The list goes on and on for projects that directly violate the rights of indigenous peoples.
Additionally, the majority of the conflict areas in this country are in ancestral lands. From Lanao to Mindoro to Zamboanga. Militarization in ancestral domains has undermined the mobility and freedom of indigenous peoples.
Despite the struggles of the indigenous peoples, they remain selfless in sharing their resources. They are our farmers, our fisherfolks. They are the guardians of forests and rivers. The keeper of life. They do not remain victims of the historical injustices and colonization, but they proactively assert their rights for self-determination and remain steadfast on their fight for their land and waters after decades of CADT application.
The realities of poverty, red-tagging, displacement, and impacts of extreme weather events are what we need to remember when we talk about development. There are underlying social limitations and hindrances that keep indigenous people from achieving the people and justice centered development . These are the realities that we need to learn beyond the class syllabus. I’m glad my education in the Asian Center pushed me to ask more questions.
Amidst the climate crisis, the geopolitics of the West Philippine Sea, the soaring foreign loans of the country, the precarious economy, we still witness the resiliency and the tenacity of the Filipino people.
This Master of Arts in Philippine Studies that I am receiving today is dedicated to all indigenous peoples in the Philippines, past, present, and emerging.
Once again, I dare ask, who is development for? What does development look like for Filipinos? May we never cease to ask these questions. Mabuhay ang mga katutubong Pilipino! To all my fellow graduates: congratulations to all of us!
KATHLEEN LEI LIMAYO 