{"id":38738,"date":"2015-01-16T16:45:50","date_gmt":"2015-01-16T08:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=38738"},"modified":"2015-01-16T16:45:50","modified_gmt":"2015-01-16T08:45:50","slug":"mindanao-lumads-to-confer-indigenous-name-apo-edsila-on-pope-francis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/01\/16\/mindanao-lumads-to-confer-indigenous-name-apo-edsila-on-pope-francis\/","title":{"rendered":"Mindanao Lumads to confer indigenous name \u201cAp\u00f4 Edsila\u201d on Pope Francis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pope<\/a>
Pope Francis visited Malaca\u00f1an Palace this morning for official welcoming ceremonies. The Pontiff and President Aquino delivered statements during a general audience of senior government officials and members of the Diplomatic Corps (Photo by the Malaca\u00f1ang Photo Bureau)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA — Lumad (indigenous people) leaders from Mindanao will confer on Pope Francis the title Ap\u00f4 (Elder) Edsila on Friday in an event called \u201cGathering of the Poor\u201d to be witnessed by Catholic sisters and Typhoon Yolanda survivors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are bestowing on him the title Ap\u00f4 Edsila since he is worthy of high esteem with his love for us, indigenous peoples, and for his respect for the values and beliefs that we have held sacred since time immemorial,\u201d says Dulphing Ogan, secretary general of the Mindanao-wide indigenous peoples’ group Kalumaran.<\/p>\n

\u201cEdsila means \u2018light\u2019, \u2018sunrise,\u2019 or \u2018dawn of a new day\u2019—- all signifying hope, newness, and change,\u201d Ogan said. It is a term used by Higaonon and Talaandig tribes inhabiting the mountains around the Pulangi River in central Mindanao.<\/p>\n

The honor will be solemnized by Ogan, a Blaan, and five other Lumad leaders coming from the Bagobo, Manobo, and Higaonon tribes through a ritual, along with around 50 Catholic nuns belonging to the Sisters\u2019 Association in Mindanao (SAMIN) and a thousand Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) survivors belonging to People Surge. The Panubadtubad will be performed just before the sun sets today, eve of the Pontiff\u2019s visit to Tacloban on January 17.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look up to the Pope to usher in \u2018newness\u2019 and transformation in this global system that perpetuates greed, exploitation, and oppression— the very opposite of mercy and compassion,\u201d Ogan said referring to the theme of the Papal Visit.<\/p>\n

Ogan says chicken blood will be offered to Magbabaya (the Supreme God of the Lumads) to signify the Mindanao indigenous peoples\u2019 solidarity with the Pope.<\/p>\n

He says that along with the offering is an incense \u201cwhich seeks to drive all the bad spirits away that may bring harm to the people and the Pope and invite the good spirits to protect and guide him in all of his undertakings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ogan says a betel nut, an \u201capog\u201d (lime) and a seashell will also be offered \u201cas symbols of the heart and compassion of the Lumads in defending and protecting their rights to self-determination and ancestral lands \u2013 the same compassion to the poor that the Pope has manifested.\u201d<\/p>\n

To go with these symbols is the partaking of a local wine \u201cwhich stands for the courage and our shared determination as Lumads to carry on the struggle for a dignified and just life,\u201d Ogan adds.<\/p>\n

Bagobo chieftain Monico Cayog, 77, speaking in Visayan, added: \u201cI see in Pope Francis the qualities of an elder who is down-to-earth and breaks barriers dividing his esteemed position and the realities of his people. These are characteristics of a true elder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cayog added that \u201cthe Pope\u2019s pro-poor and pro-environment principles are akin to an elder\u2019s teachings and wisdom which is centered on people and the Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA — Lumad (indigenous people) leaders from Mindanao will confer on Pope Francis the title Ap\u00f4 (Elder) Edsila on Friday …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":38764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-ph","mauthors-philippines-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}