“We in UP hold Bai and all Lumad leaders in very high esteem – for her incredible strength and leadership, for standing for her advocacy and for defending her tribe. She’s very strong and vocal. There is no way we could silence Bai.”
“The NCIP’s so-called ‘datus’ vaguely label Rep. Cullamat’s participation in the protest as a ‘disrespectful act.’ We ask these datus: how is speaking in a peaceful protest action ‘disrespectful?’ How is the exercise of one’s democratic rights a rational basis for banning an elected representative from her own ancestral community?”
“Far from protecting the Lumad, the NCIP is the primary arm of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in depriving indigenous peoples of their rights.”
Indigenous peoples say the call to scrap Ipra is more resonant than ever.
“Instead of protecting the indigenous peoples, the NCIP served as a bridge for the entry of destructive projects.”
“The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples has for a long time failed to protect indigenous peoples’ rights and well-being and instead worsens the violations of indigenous peoples’ rights and human rights. It is for this reason that our organizations are now calling for the dismantling of the NCIP.”
Against the 156 processed Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles, of which only 37 were registered, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples issued a total of 320 certifications allowing mining operations.
Elders from Mankayan town refused to be included in the list of representatives made by the National Commision on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Cordillera for the Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) processes regarding mining applications and land conversions affecting the area.
By ALMA B. SINUMLAG Northern Dispatch MANILA – A study on the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) reveals the need for total reform of the commission. At the start of the four-day gathering of indigenous peoples (IP) to observe the International IP day early this month, researchers from the University of the Philippines-Baguio presented…
By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.com Main Story: Respect our rights to land and life, indigenous peoples asked on World IPs Day MANILA – Most often, “large-scale resource-extractive ventures like mining and so-called development projects” destroy the environment, the lands that are home to the country’s indigenous communities, and with it, their traditional economic activities. These prompted…
By LYN V. RAMO Bulatlat.com Main Story: Economic zone project to evict thousands of farmers, fisherfolk in Casiguran, Aurora CASIGURAN, Aurora – An Agta resident here, who has been living here, tending several coconut trees, fruit trees, and has been doing wet-season rice planting in the heart of the Casiguran peninsula, some 500 kilometers north…