IT astounds me that there has been radio silence from Malacañang with regard to the Lumad in Manila – now on its second week over at the Liwasang Bonifacio (thank you Mayor Erap!).

I don’t get it. How can government pretend that the Lumad are not here, and how can its National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) fall quiet like it is not being pinpointed as the government institution that has allowed the large plantations and mining interests to gain ground on indigenous peoples (IP) lands?