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Finding One's Identity: The Iraya Mangyan Youth Today, c2006
The Iraya Mangyans are the indigenous peoples in the uplands of the northern Mindoro island, located in the Southern Luzon region of the Philippines. The Irayas have a distinct culture - their own language, farming practices, spiritual beliefs, customary laws and a social organization apart from the lowland local political organization and hierarchy. Over the years, various influences have made their impacts on the lives of the Iraya Mangyans, specially the youth. Their families and communities experience a lot of landgrabbing, discrimination, exploitation and oppression from the majority lowland populace, leaving them impoverished and highly marginalized. They have also experienced militarization which has caused them to be displaced from their ancestral domain. Despite the passing of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act in 1997, government still neglects them even in the delivery of basic social services. Globalization policies highly dictate on national legislation and programs which lead to their continuing loss of ancestral domain. Different agencies - non-government organizations, business foundations, church - implement various forms of development programs in their communities. This paper will look into the effects of these influences on the Iraya Mangyan, specially on the younger generation who are experiencing rapid changes in their lives and their identity as indigenous peoples. A few are already uncomfortable to be identified as Mangyan. Others do not know their traditional songs and poems anymore. How do the youth see their being a Mangyan nowadays? Can the younger generation still chart their own definition of what it is to be an Iraya Mangyan? How will they continue the struggle of their ancestors for the defense of their ancestral domain and their right to self-determination? 
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