Tribal Leaders from Northern Mindanao gather for the Indigenous Peoples Summit, March 16, Pearlmont Hotel, Cagayan de Oro City. The summit opens with the “Panubad-tubad”, a ritual of the Lumads in Mindanao where they kill a chicken and spill its blood on the ground to invoke the presence of ‘Magbabaya’ (Supreme Creator). Present during the ritual are Department of Social Welfare and Development 10 Regional Director Nestor B. Ramos (2nd from right), and NCIP Regional Director Roberto Almonte (right). DSWD’s Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services – National Community Driven Development (Kalahi CIDSS-NCDDP) will construct a total of 22 classrooms in San Fernando, Bukidnon as a Priority 1 area for the intervention for Lumads in El Niño affected areas. The project is in partnership with the Department of Education (DepED) who will provide school teachers for the school buildings, and the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples.
Photo by Shaun Alejandrae Yap Uy, DSWD