The long-running land struggle of the Lumad in South Cotabato

The long-running land struggle of the Lumad in South Cotabato

Datu Jeffrey Lamyan, 28, hails from Sitio Datal Bonlangon, a small settlement where life is bare, located inside the ancestral domain of Tboli Manobos in the village of Ned in South Cotabato. He believes in the oft-repeated maxim, “Land is life,” even after surviving a military operation in 2017 that killed eight indigenous people from their village. In their village is a smattering of houses made of weathered wooden panels. Corn seeds were left…