Bishop renews call to protect IPs: ‘They are also God’s children’

A Catholic bishop has urged the faithful and local authorities to respect and defend the rights of indigenous peoples (IPs), stressing that they, too, are children of God deserving of dignity and protection.

Bishop Valentine Dimoc of Bontoc-Lagawe lamented the continued displacement and marginalization of indigenous communities despite their ancestral claim to the land.

“They are also children of God,” said Dimoc, who also chairs the bishops’ Episcopal Commission on Indigenous Peoples. “We need to walk with them to uphold their dignity and their land.”

“We continue journeying with them, accompanying them in their struggles, because there are still those who are greedy and do not respect their rights,” he said.

The bishop made the remarks as the Church marked the 48th Indigenous Peoples’ Sunday on Oct. 12.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines first designated every second Sunday of October as IP Sunday in 1978 to highlight the Church’s solidarity with indigenous communities.

With the theme “Lakbay-Laya: Pilgrims of Hope in Ancestral Domain,” this year’s national celebration was hosted by the Diocese of Kalibo and the Apostolic Vicariate of Calapan from Oct. 10 to 12.

Activities included a walking and biking pilgrimage, a beach cleanup, and mangrove planting at the Ati village in Manoc-Manoc, Boracay Island.

In Oriental Mindoro, home to the Mangyan tribes, a symposium on ancestral domain and other related issues was held at St. Augustine Parish in Pinamalayan town.

On Oct. 12, Bishop Moises Cuevas of Calapan, the incoming ECIP chairman, presided over a Mass at the Sto. Niño Cathedral to mark IP Sunday.

In his homily, he lamented the continued hardships faced by indigenous peoples due to mining and other destructive projects.

He described this year’s activities as “not merely a protest movement, but a prophetic journey.”

“In every step and every turn of the wheel lies the call to defend ancestral lands, uphold the rights of indigenous peoples, and promote ecological development,” Cuevas said. (CBCP News)

A version of this article was first published by CBCP News.