INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' WATCH

Gov’t Asked to Adopt UN Declaration on IP Rights
As tribes denounce killings of 72 indigenous peoples

What could be the reasons for the Philippine government’s refusal to vote for the adoption of the draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples last June?

BY JHONG DELA CRUZ
Bulatlat

FOR LIFE AND LAND RIGHTS: Aeta activists protest killings of indigenous peoples and grabbing
of ancestral lands, Aug. 9                                                          PHOTOS BY JHONG DELA CRUZ

In an August 3 letter addressed to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) questioned two provisions of the UN’s draft declaration on indigenous peoples’ rights.

On the right to self-determination (Art. 3), the OSG said that there is a need to consider “the peculiar crisis that the Philippines is facing within its own territory,” referring to attempts by rebel forces in Mindanao to separate the territory and form an independent Muslim state.

“There is a strong possibility that the provision…could be subjected to untrammeled interpretations by secessionist groups like the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which, since the enactment of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), has been clamoring for recognition as indigenous peoples,” the letter read.

It then proposed the article to read, “Nothing in this Declaration shall be construed as authorizing or encouraging any action which would dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and Independent States…”

At the same time, the OSG clarified that it does not intend to “dilute or redefine the said rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination.”

The OSG also questioned Art. 26 which seeks the recognition of the indigenous peoples’ right “to own, use, develop and control the lands, territories and resources they possess by reason of traditional ownership.”

Abstention due to OSG opinion

Sec. 57 of the IPRA provided that indigenous peoples, “shall have priority rights in the harvesting, extraction, development or exploitation of any natural resources within ancestral domains.” The OSG said that this provision “does not speak of ownership of natural resources,” but merely “priority rights.”

“It is strongly recommended that the right of ownership be limited only to lands and domains,” the letter further stated.

Chairman Janette Cansing Serrano of the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) noted that the OSG’s legal opinion on September 12, 2002 became the basis of the government’s abstention during the high-level session of the UN.

Other members of the Philippine mission to New York and Geneva, were caught by surprise when they learned of the government’s stand.

During the session UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York, the Philippine mission clearly expressed support to the declaration. However, the government later held back during the Geneva high-level session of the UN’s Human Rights Council on June 22

“The government abstained based on the September 2002 opinion of the OSG, which had undergone several [revisions],” Serrano said. NCIP was not been furnished a copy of the document even if it worked hard for the adoption of the declaration. “The Philippine mission should have been consistent with foreign policies. We wonder why they changed it based on the 2002 legal opinion of OSG. When we discovered it, it was too late.”

Serrano vowed to work for the adoption of the declaration at the 61^st UN General Assembly in October.

OSG rebuked

“We find it ironic that the Philippine government always crows about how it fully supports indigenous peoples’ rights as evidenced by the IPRA,” said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the head of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

In a roundtable dialogue last August 1, Commission on Human Rights Chair Purificacion Quisumbing rebuked the OSG for its opinion on ownership and self-determination. The commission has supported the adoption of the declaration.

NCIP has issued an en banc resolution, officially endorsing the adoption of the draft declaration.

Corpuz stressed that indigenous groups have the right to own the lands and resources within their ancestral domains, claiming ownership was inherent even before local and international measures supporting this came to life.

She also criticized the OSG for speculating that the MILF would use the declaration to separate Mindanao, saying the MILF has not declared itself as an indigenous group.

In a statement hailing the UN adoption, MILF said the measure would bolster the struggle of the Bangsamoro people.

For her part, Serrano said that the inter-agency committee tasked to discuss the declaration could reach a consensus by mid-September. She expressed optimism that the committee will move for a “yes” vote in time for the UN 61^st General Assembly in October.

The Department of Justice (DOJ), along with the OSG, also recommended further study of the declaration which they said should be consistent with the Constitution.

72 indigenous peoples killed

In a related development, indigenous groups expressed alarm over the wave of killings against activists that victimized at least 72 indigenous peoples, according to the records of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Watch.

In their annual celebration of the Indigenous Peoples Week, groups belonging to the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP, National Federation of Indigenous Peoples Organizations in the Philippines) denounced the all-out war policy of the Arroyo administration.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared in June her plan to wipe out the insurgency in the country with the release of additional funding for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) amounting to P1 billion ($19.5 million, based on an exchange rate of P51.25 per US dollar).

According to KAMP, 42 of the 72 killed were Lumads from Mindanao; 14 belonged to Dumagat/Remontado and Mangyans from Southern Tagalog; 10 were Igorots from the Cordillera; and six were Aetas from Central Luzon.

The latest victim is Alice Omengan-Claver, 42, who belonged to the Kankana-ey. She was the wife of Dr. Chandu Claver, chair of the Kalinga chapter of the party-list group Bayan Muna (People First).

Corpuz who is also executive director of indigenous center Tebtebba Foundation said that the international concern generated by the killings and abductions has put the government in a defensive position. She said that the government’s dismal human rights record tarnished its moral authority to promote human rights.

Baguio-based Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) said that an independent body should investigate the violations. Militant groups have denounced the government-led Task Force Usig which they said practically absolved the violators of the killings and abductions like Major General Jovito Palparan.

Meanwhile, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has recommended the formation of a tripartite committee to oversee the implementation of the program of the 2^nd International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People from 2005 to 2015. 

The program, which will also be adopted during the 61^st UN General Assembly, stresses the need for a worldwide mechanism to monitor the situation of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and in danger of extinction. Bulatlat

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