Cordillerans in HK celebrate special day with dances, music


HONG KONG — Despite the distance, Filipino workers here who traced their roots to Abra, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Mountain Province celebrated Cordillera Day 2017 on Sunday.
Dancing their traditional dances and banging their gongs, those who hailed from the region expressed their unity and solidarity to defend their land and ancestral domain.
In a statement, the Cordillera Alliance, Abra Tingguian Ilocano Society, and the United Filipinos in HK said, "Thousands of Cordillerans in Hong Kong are living testimonies of forced migration resulting from lack of jobs, decent wages, and displacement from agricultural and ancestral lands back home despite the so-called 'development' propagated by past and present regimes."
The group cited the impacts of mining, militarization, quest for just peace, access to social services, employment, and just wages as among their issues of concern.
"Many Cordillerans in Hong Kong attest that their families have experienced losing their homes and properties as a result of mining and military operations," the group said.
"Like the general aspiration of the Filipino people, we Cordilleran migrants hope and look forward to a   solution to the struggles of indigenous peoples," it added. —KBK, GMA News

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