Veteran stage and screen actor Nanding Josef lends his voice in re-echoing the wise words of Ama Macliing Dulag as we continue to safeguard the legacy and monument of the heroes of the anti-Chico dams struggle.
One of Josef's memorable roles was in PETA’s 1988 production “Macliing Dulag,” a protest play by Malou Jacob about the fearless and fierce Macliing Dulag, the leader of the indigenous peoples in the Cordillera who were threatened with the loss of of their ancestral domain by the proposed Chico Dam project in the 1970s.
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"Land is life.
What is the most precious thing to man? Life. If Life is threatened, what ought a man do? RESIST! This he must do, otherwise he is dishonored and that is worse than death...
... You ask if we own the land and mock us saying "where is your title?"
such arrogance to speak of owning the land when we are instead owned by it!! How can you own that which will outlive you?! Only the race owns the land because the race lives forever. To claim a place is the birthright of everyone. Even the lowly animals have their own place…how much more when we talk of human beings?
... Apu Kabunian, Lord of us all, gave us life and placed us in the world to live human lives. And where shall we obtain life? From the land. To work the land is an obligation not merely a right. In tilling the land, you possess it. And so, land is a grace that must be nurtured. Land is sacred and is beloved."
8 сен 2024
