ON AUGUST 9, 2023 we commemorate the 29th International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. The date was chosen by the United Nations General Assembly to mark the first meeting of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations in 1982. There are at least 110 indigenous cultural communities/indigenous peoples (ICC/IP) in the Philippines. Individually, they number anywhere between 14 and 17 million. Geographically, they are predominantly located in Mindanao (61%) and Northern Luzon (33%). While they represent a sizeable chunk of the population, IPs continue to be among the most disadvantaged groups in the country.
The World Bank previously noted that IPs, while comprising only six percent of the global population, account for nearly 20 percent of the world’s extreme poor. According to the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, more than 70 percent of the world’s population are living in countries with rising income and wealth inequality, including indigenous peoples who already face high rates of poverty and acute socio-economic disadvantages. They attribute the high levels of inequality to institutional instability, corruption, financial crises, increased crime and lack of access to justice, education and health services.
In its report on the Philippines, the International Labour Organization took note of how IP communities, generally located in distinct ancestral territories, have high rates of unemployment, underemployment, and illiteracy. While their socio-economic, cultural, and spiritual lives revolve around their ancestral domains, indigenous peoples see their ownership of land shrinking and disregarded.
The Philippines was among the 144 countries of the UN General Assembly that voted to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) on September 13, 2007. It establishes a universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the IPs of the world and it elaborates on existing human rights standards and fundamental freedoms as they apply to the specific situation of IPs.
The UNDRIP affirms that indigenous peoples are equal to all other peoples. Reaffirms that indigenous peoples, in the exercise of their rights, should be free from discrimination of any kind. It recognizes the urgent need to respect and promote the rights of indigenous peoples.
Our Constitution mandates that the State shall recognize, protect, promote and fulfill the rights of IPs. In 1997, Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) was enacted, fulfilling the State’s constitutional duty to recognize the millions of ICCs and IPs in the country. The IPRA has been around for 26 years but little headway has been made to improve the lives of our IPs.
What exacerbates the situation of our IPs is the absence of reliable public data on ICCs and more often than not, this leads to situations where they are neglected in the delivery of basic, social, technical and even legal services. It is for this reason that we filed Senate Bill 1167 in August last year, which calls for the establishment of ICC/IP resource centers in strategic areas in the country, as determined by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples. These centers will be composed of three major service areas, namely: the Statistical Service Area; Human Development Index Service Area; and the Domains Management Service Area.
The Statistical Service Area will be responsible for the documentation and recognition of ICCs and IPs, their indigenous knowledge, systems and practices, political structures, and customary laws through census, appraisal and baseline reports and libraries. For the Human Development Index Service Area, it will address the problems of ICCs and IPs and provide basic and necessary services through link-ups with concerned government departments and agencies, such as training programs, grant of scholarships, employment, livelihood and enterprises, and health services. In the case of the Domains Management Service Area, it will be tasked to promote participatory programs, projects and activities for ICCs and IPs to effectively deliver their responsibility of maintaining ecological balance, restore denuded areas, observe laws, and ensure the implementation of the Ancestral Domains Sustainable Development and Protections Plans and other existing programs.
We authored Republic Act 10908 or the Integrated History Act of 2016 to raise the awareness and understanding of our youth on Filipino-Muslims and IPs. The law mandates the teaching of Filipino-Muslim and IPs history in basic and higher education in the country. I believe that raising the awareness of people about the history, culture and practices of our IPs by educating them in their early years, will help in fostering inclusivity and in eliminating discrimination.
ICC/IPs have unique practices and customs that contribute to the richness and complexity of Philippine culture and heritage. They deserve to be noticed and just like any other Filipino, their needs should not be neglected and the services provided by government should reach all of them, wherever they are situated.
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Sen. Sonny Angara has been in public service for 18 years—9 years as Representative of the Lone District of Aurora, and 9 as Senator. He has authored, co-authored, and sponsored more than 330 laws. He is currently serving his second term in the Senate.
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Email: sensonnyangara@yahoo.com| Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @sonnyangara/PN
