BARMM leaders vow to protect non-Moro groups in region

COTABATO CITY—Regional and local leaders in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have agreed on a set of measures to enhance the safety and security of non-Moro indigenous peoples (NMIPs) in the Maguindanao provinces who have endured a string of attacks that killed at least 80 in the last three years.

The Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity convened a consultative meeting last week among representatives from national agencies and BARMM ministries, indigenous peoples’ groups, local governments, nongovernment organizations and the security sector. It aimed to formulate measures to ensure the welfare and protect the rights of NMIPs in the region amid reported acts of violence committed against them.

The consultation, led by Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez Jr., was able to draw top-level participation from regional and local leaders.

Maj. Gen. Donald Gumiran, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, welcomed the opportunity of addressing the “serious concerns that have long affected our NMIPs in the BARMM.”

“These include the right to ancestral domain, the killings and displacements of communities, threats to their safety and property, and their lack of representation…,” Gumiran said.

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Among the agreed measures is for the BARMM police to update its assessment of the security situation of NMIPs in Datu Hoffer, Maguindanao del Sur, where recent incidents of violence occurred, and for the Timuay Justice and Governance (TJG) to sit down with the police and Army commands to review reports of violence against NMIPs.

The TJG is the indigenous political structure of the Teduray and Lambangian tribes in Maguindanao communities.