INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' Watch  

Indigenous Leaders Bring Ethnocide Issue to UN Special Rep

The Philippine government is allowing, even perpetrating, the systematic extermination of indigenous peoples in the country. This is the summary of the report submitted last week by organizations of various indigenous groups and their advocates to the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Peoples Rights.

By Elmer D. Sagbigsal
Bulatlat.com   

Fifteen regional leaders of indigenous peoples (IPs) from all over the country convened in Manila last week to dialog with UN Special Rapporteur Professor Rodolfo Stevanhagen.

The meeting, organized by the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (Alliance of Indigenous People of the Philippines) or KAMP, was part of the UN representative’s dialog with leaders and advocates of various indigenous groups in the country.

“I am here to listen you to and gather information through the dialog to get a clear picture of the human rights situation of indigenous peoples in the Philippines,” Stevanhagen said.

The results of his investigation will reportedly be made public and presented to the UN in April next year. Stevanhagen said it would then be up to the Human Rights Commission to decide on whether to act on his recommendations.

Negative impact of projects

Fifteen regional IP organizations presented to the UN representative a thick volume of documented cases of human rights violations, fact-finding mission reports and case studies on the impact of development projects to indigenous peoples in various parts of the country.

In the summary report, KAMP accused the government and big foreign corporations of perpetrating  “ethnocide.”

KAMP argued that the government has consciously employed methods that systematically sought to exterminate the indigenous peoples in order to take away their ancestral lands for business purposes. It also reported the intensified military operations that target indigenous people’s communities.

“The strategic location of the IP communities and the rich resources within make our lands the target of foreign funded ‘development projects,’” said KAMP.

Datu Tomas Ito, a leader of PASAKA, a regional confederation of lumad (indigenous) organizations in Southern Mindanao, said that a 29,000-hectare forestry project managed by the company Alcantara and Sons in Talaingod, Davao del Norte displaced more than 2,000 Ata-Manobo families.

Erlinda Pedroso, a Tumandok in Central Panay, revealed that their 33,310 hectares of ancestral lands-home to more than 14,000 Tumandok-was converted into a military reservation area. It is now occupied by the Philippines Army`s 3rd Infantry Division and has become a venue for war exercise and weapon testing.

Adding insult to this injury, the government promised to give land titles under the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) covering a total of 643,687 hectares of lands to only a few of the communities occupied by the 12 million indigenous peoples.

Raul Edrado of KASALO in Caraga region said that IPRA is being used not to protect the indigenous peoples rights and welfare but to facilitate the entry and implementation of destructive projects detrimental to indigenous peoples. Edrado declared, IPRA has become a landmark legislation that promotes deception rather than rights protection.

The report also revealed that a total of 4.2 million hectares of indigenous peoples land are up for grabs by various concessionaires in the agro-forest related businesses. The loggers took 255,438 hectares while 5,232 hectares have already been given to big ranchers through pasture lease agreements. The so-called bio-diversity conservation program has fenced off 1.4 million hectares of land. Pending mining applications now cover 1.6 million hectares.

The leaders maintained that these projects in effect take away from the indigenous peoples their land and resources.

Militarization

Henry Borreo of  Bigkis at Lakas ng mga Katutubo sa Timog Katagalugan (Unity and Strength of Indigenous Peoples in Southern Tagalog) or BALATIK- Southern Tagalog stressed how militarization is used to ensure the smooth implementation of “development projects.” 

Borreo disclosed that the government has deployed 10 brigades and 15 battalions of army in indigenous peoples’ communities. Spread into company formations, the total deployment forms a formidable cordon around the indigenous peoples villages, he noted.

Borreo added that in the 19 months of present administration, 198 incidents and 637 cases of human rights violations victimizing 2,115 individuals and 1,506 families have been reported in the Southern Tagalog region alone.

He also noted the intensifying recruitment into armed fanatic groups, the Civilian Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) and other paramilitary groups of IPs.

“At present, more than 32,000 civilians all over the country have been recruited into the CAFGU.  Of these, 24,000 are active in lumad communities in Mindanao. Platoon and squad levels are deployed in the communities of Kalinga, Ifugaos and Tinggians of Cordillera as well as in Mangyan communities,” Borreo also said.

“The militarization of our communities,” protested Borreo, “is tantamount to the violation of our basic human rights. The military imposes martial-law type regulations in our communities. In many communities, people are prohibited from buying more than three kilos of rice, wearing black shirts and using flashlights. Logbooks and authorization letters are demanded  by the military to be signed and submitted by those who enter and leave the villages.”

Meanwhile Dr. Mel Elio, secretary general of PASAKA, a regional confederation of Lumad groups in Southern Mindanao, said, “These twin evils -- militarization and development aggression -- directly result in the destruction of IP communities, the disintegration of their socio-political and cultural systems, the loss of economic bases and the death of indigenous peoples.”

Despite the weak role of United Nations Special Rapporteur in implementing their recommendations, the members of KAMP are determined to counter the ethnocide. “We are preparing our cases to be presented to all appropriate courts of human justice both local and international. We will launch sustained protest beginning from our villages right to the most urban centers until the government has felt our presence. We will hold the most appropriate actions to halt the destructive projects that threaten our survival as a people,” KAMP said in a statement. Bulatlat.com

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