Rights of Mother Earth - Igorot's Response

Response from the Igorot Peoples of Philippines Asia Pacific Indigenous Youth Network and InsightShare present Rights of Mother Earth My world - water, earth, wind, gold, fire! In Bontoc, we call mother earth Fatawa or Lawag Mother earth encompases the mountain, tree river, water, air and all things found above and under the land In our ili (community) in Mountain Province, particularly in Sagada We call Mother Earth, Batawa. or lubong related to world if we are discussing mother earth, I would also like to compare or correlate the role of Mother Earth with that of the role of a mother if we are discussing mother earth She, as connected to our environment as an important role in the sustainbility of the food and life of the people Protecting the land is one of the rights of the earth it should not be destructed so that, we would have source of living For instance, in terms of planting agricultural products such as vegetables, it is our source of living to feed our children These are trees that they call "century trees" in Kalinga the elders prohibit to cut the trees because they believe there are "creatures" guarding it. that's why people are scared of cutting the big trees. This is how they look after mother earth For instance, if there are disasters and moutains are erroded the elders are saying that mother earth is mad. If there is no rain the women will go dancing in a huge rock They taught us their rites They go singing like... chant! that calls for water or rain. This rite is really effective. If they are doing it, all of a sudden it rains Here in Ucab, we do rituals especially when mother earth gives us lot of gold mines. Muyong (forest) for us is a very important source of livelihood Community needs come from there People cannot just cut trees Only old or mature trees are allowed to be cut for building houses Those deforested mountains should be planted trees and other plants. So the government should take effort or should repeal or review all laws and policies regarding their project on development. Like for example, the large scale and destructing mining projects dams, loggings and any other projects that are detrimental to the lives of indigenous peoples. We should protect mother earth so that its beauty will come back Even if we can't bring back its previous features. We can do reforestation We can bring back the beauty of denued mountains through planting trees She provides all the needs of the people for the present, tomorrow and the future For the people at present and for the next generation it is very essential for us to continue, if not, to begin safeguarding the earth. If "fatawa" doesn't exist, life would not exist