女性問題(川口) エスニックマイノリティ(原田)
□Indigenous people in dumaguete
1ﾍﾟｰｼﾞ/1ﾍﾟｰｼﾞ
REPORT about indigenous people
We interviewed three types of ethnic groups; Banjao, Ate and other Muslim community.
Banjao is the people from Mindanao who live along the sea catching fish. In the city, they squat for begging and they have a big poverty. They cannot go to school and also cannot find job.
Ata is the people from Mabinay, Negros Oriental. That is in the mountain. One woman who I could interview is a farmer. But she cannot let her children go to school because she has poverty and school is so far.
Muslim, third interviewed, is a merchant in Muslim community. His problem is the health of family. He does not feel financial difference between Muslim and other majority.
5 steps of violence
One of the direct violence is the discrimination by specific person.
Another one is to lose family member by conflict. Some of Banjao come to the city to escape conflict in Mindanao. In the interior of Negros Island, there are also conflicts in the mountain. So some of other indigenous people comes to the city to escape from them.
There is a lot of structural violence
First one is the historical factors. Their poverty is related to Spanish colonial period.
Second one is the poverty.
Third, the distance is the one of the big problems. Because they live in the mountain where it is so far from the city, they cannot go to school everyday.
Fourth, they are out of economic system. They do not have economical foundation.
Fifth, there is difference of religion. It is not violence for itself but it is problem because one religion is the majority and the other religion is the minority. Some person who I interviewed said that government and NGOs pay attention better to majority sector having poverty. So it reduces a possibility to give them the supports. Sixth, there is education. Many of them do not have literacy. Seventh, it is the conflict which is the one of the reason why they come to the city. Last one is an internalization of inferiority for themselves. And also other has the stereotype to them.
Second, their self-reliance is very limited.
Because they migrated to the city for several reasons, so they do not have a base in new place. But coming to the city is just one of the self-reliance. It is because they come to the city to overcome poverty. And they have no work, but they catch fish for eating. To beg is not seem to self-reliance but they have no support, no education and cannot find job. So it is the occasion of self-reliance.
Third, the obstacle is that there is not support for indigenous people by NGO and government. Actually it exists, but very few. In addition to that, one girl in banjao said that she is afraid to capture by police. If policemen capture them, they will be sent to their place. That is the obstacles.
And also there is a pressure of the Philippines society. When Ramos was a president, the law about independence of Mindanao was passed between national government and Muslim side. But the pressure of Philippines society, that they do not want to separate, does not make it realize. So new type of trigger is increasing and banjao, who come to the city, is also increasing relatedly.
Fourth, there is little support by NGOs and government but there is solidarity between neighborhoods and victims. A girl in banjao who I could interview was helped by one person. He is a teacher in elementary school and often went to the beach where she had stayed, so he knew her and offers her the small place to live.
In conclusion, as a commitment, it is important to inform NGOs and ODA that the poorest people among poor people cannot receive any support. And we have to think about the way to use support or found by NGOs and ODA.