The creation of a cultural foundation was conceived right from the start that an organization unifying major ethnographic tribes and sub-tribes all over Mindanao was created. Since the official formation of Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Conference for Peace and Development (MIPCPD) in April 2003, looking into the real situation of indigenous cultural communities/indigenous peoples (ICC/IP) reveals the intertwined reality of a threatened people and a dying culture. Somehow, the tribes have reached a point where they either compromise or abandon the culture altogether for the sake of surviving the challenges of life.
Through the years, the call for a special body that would specifically cater to the needs of the tribes with regard to their rights to cultural integrity has become clearer and stronger. MIPCPD believes that the time is ripe for such an endeavour; thus, the birth of ‘Epanaw’.
‘Epanaw’ means “journey”. For the numerous ethnographic tribes in Mindanao, the term signifies the long road that ethnic culture has been treading on from time immemorial and the rest of the way it will still take the future generations of indigenous peoples.