One particular encounter with Timuey Ronaldo, also called “Jo” or “Jojo” was at the State of the Indigenous Peoples Address (SIPA) last July 24. The activity led by our partners at the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC), was simultaneous with President Ferdinand Marcos’ State of the Nation Address (SONA). Indigenous groups from all over the country gathered to collectively reflect on the current struggles of indigenous peoples, and listen to how the president might address these in his SONA.
A tribal leader leading a ritual to open the State of the Indigenous Peoples Address last 24 July 2023
To the disappointment of everyone, President Marcos never even mentioned the indigenous peoples in his address. While everyone expressed their disappointment and disgust, here came Timuey Jo, saying “Maganda ang nangyari ano?” (what pleasant event, right?). Jo carried on by saying, the body present at the event was given an urgent task, an opportunity to campaign harder, and reach out to more people, so that in the next SONA, the president will have no other choice but to think of ways to address the plight of the indigenous peoples in the country. He further emphasized that the indigenous peoples’ campaign for land, rights, resources and self-governance is a continuous battle, that even a change in the country’s top leader will not immediately win us our campaign. What seemed to be a nonchalant response at first was actually his poetic way of saying that we have to continue fighting.
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