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Human rights violations
Indigenous communities and organizations all over the country are being ravaged by worsening militarization and human rights abuses, especially with the relentless and nationwide political killings that started when President Macapagal-Arroyo took power in 2001. This trend has worsened with the recent declaration of all-out war by the government against the Left, which includes a wide range of organizations suspected of being "legal fronts" for insurgent groups.
According to documentation from KAMP (a national federation of indigenous organizations) and KARAPATAN (an independent national human rights alliance in the Philippines), there have been around 33,000 indigenous victims of human rights abuses, of which 747 are victims of political killings, indiscriminate firing and massacres. As of September 9, 2006, 96 cases of killings had been committed against indigenous peoples in the Philippines during the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (i.e. since January 2001).
In its latest report "Philippines, Political Killings, Human Rights and the Peace Process (August 2006)", Amnesty International concluded that the killings in the Philippines are politically motivated. For the many victims, human rights organizations and advocates, the pattern of killings is clearly linked to Oplan Bantay Laya (Operation Plan Freedom Watch), which is the presidential administration's 5-year counter-insurgency program. It took off in January 2002 and is programmed to culminate in 2007 with a view to: 1) immediately defeating the Abu Sayaf ; 2) actively containing the Moro Islamic Liberation Front secessionists; and 3) halting the growth of the communist movement.
Increasingly, under the Oplan Bantay Laya, military death squads have targeted not merely rural villagers suspected of harboring insurgents but prominent indigenous leaders and elders. They include Nicanor de los Santos, secretary-general of the Makabayang Samahan ng Katutubong Dumagat (killed in December 2001) and Markus Bangit, a regional officer of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (killed in June 2006). The serious concern over the Oplan Bantay Laya is that it does not make a distinction between legal, aboveground, unarmed political dissent and armed rebellion. It does not distinguish civilians from combatants.
If you would like to be updated on developments in the area of human rights, the Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Watch in the Philippines has a list server. Send an email to: iphr_manila@yahoo.com
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 Photo: Christian Erni
 Photo: Christian Erni
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Militarization
Every Philippine president from Marcos onwards has declared their own version of a "Total War Policy" against rebel groups such as the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People's Army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Many indigenous areas are seen as popular bases for the rebels and subjected to large-scale, intensive and sustained army-police operations. Among the indigenous territories, Mindanao and Northern Luzon were the most militarized from 1972 to 1986. Since1986, despite peace talks, one indigenous area after another has reeled from such operations. Particularly vulnerable are localities where planned or ongoing mining, energy and similar projects have been met with strong popular resistance.
Militarized indigenous areas are awash with relentless human rights violations, including: bombardment, burning and forced re-concentration of villages; imposition of food blockades and "free-fire zones" on certain areas; extrajudicial killings, abductions, torture, and sexual molestation; illegal searches and looting of homes and offices; violent dispersal of legitimate protests; and psychological war types of intimidation. Most of the victims are non-combatant civilians, including leaders of legitimate organizations, tribal elders, women and children.
In 2005, a detailed Armed Forces of the Philippines manual, entitled Knowing the Enemy, explicitly identified indigenous areas as "guerrilla bases" and thus targets of massive troop deployments. The Armed Forces of the Philippines recruits paramilitary forces from among indigenous communities. These units are notorious perpetrators of human rights abuses and criminal activities, even as they assume the deceptive guise of "indigenous armies", such as the Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army in the Cordillera, and Alsa Lumad and Alamara in Mindanao.
Apart from the direct victims of violence, militarization disrupts many aspects of indigenous life, from routine farm work to the conduct of rituals. It erodes community cohesion, fuels armed feuds among tribes and clans, and hastens the influx of vice, criminality, prostitution and other forms of abuse against women. Indigenous organizations and human rights advocates have filed tomes of documented complaints with government and non-government agencies, including United Nations bodies, but few have culminated in legal action.
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 Photo: Christian Erni
 Photo: Christian Erni
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Development aggression
Through laws such as the Public Land Act of 1902, the Revised Forestry Code of 1975, the National Integrated Protected Area System Act and the 1995 Mining Act, vast untitled areas have been classified as inalienable public lands, and the natural resources declared as state-owned. Hence, the state and big business have treated indigenous areas largely as a resource base for "national development". They have denied pre-existing native rights over these lands and resources, making indigenous peoples "squatters" on their own lands.
Indigenous peoples' territories are rich in natural resources and vital minerals such as gold, copper and silver. The state has consistently granted big companies easy access to timberlands, mineral lands, agricultural land and even national parks through patents, licenses, permits, concessions, long-term leases and eco-tourism or biodiversity schemes. Government projects in these areas are geared towards providing the infrastructure, power, finance and labor needs of such businesses.
Some examples: of the government's 23 priority large-scale mining prospects, 18 are located in indigenous peoples' territories. The indigenous land area covered by mining applications totaled 14, 498,526 hectares as of February 2001, or 48.3% of the Philippines' total land area. To date, there are seven mega-dams built on indigenous peoples' territories and more dams are planned.
Large-scale extractive and commercial operations typically conflict with indigenous peoples' land rights, livelihoods and ways of life. Many indigenous communities have been dispossessed of and dislocated from their ancestral lands; most remain uncompensated to this day. Indigenous access has been greatly restricted, even for merely traditional subsistence activities such as hunting, gathering, swidden farming and small-scale mining. Mineral, timber, wildlife and soil resources are being depleted, and watershed areas destroyed. Mined-out areas are left un-rehabilitated. River systems, on which indigenous peoples greatly depend for fresh water needs and as an additional food source, are polluted by mine tailings and depleted by deforestation.
Opposition to what is being referred to as 'development aggression' is strong among indigenous peoples who not only fail to benefit economically but who also bear the brunt of environmental degradation. The website of the Philippine Indigenous Peoples Link (PIPLinks) provides further information on these issues.
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 Photo: Christian Erni
 Photo: Christian Erni
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Land titles
Under the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), several tribes have received Certificates of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT). But, in general, the ancestral domain (AD) titling process has been slow, cumbersome and prone to problems, while corporate interests encroaching on ADs enjoy more legal protection. In early 2005, the Ancestral Domains Office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) issued a claim book outline. The claim book is the basic document, which the NCIP studies and deliberates upon to decide whether or not a CADT is to be awarded. Feedback from assisting organizations is that, ironically, the NCIP's attempts to clarify procedures have resulted in further bureaucratization of the process, to the detriment of traditional concepts and practices. In other words: titling has not been made easier for indigenous communities. Many indigenous communities have thus become disappointed with IPRA and decided to explore other avenues for asserting their land rights.
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 Photo: Christian Erni |
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Poverty, health, education and gender issues
Most indigenous communities remain poor, and the spread of a cash economy has pushed up the prices of basic commodities in the interior villages. In far-flung rural areas in particular, the state has largely neglected the need for alternative livelihoods and the delivery of social services such as health, education and community infrastructure. This is made worse by the privatization, commodification, under-funding and increased cost of such services, the impact of which is felt most in the least accessible areas, where most indigenous peoples live.
Statistics thus consistently show that human development indicators are lower, and poverty indicators higher, for indigenous areas. Particularly high incidences of morbidity among indigenous women and children are due to malnutrition, poor sanitation and lack of access to health care, aggravated by militarized or internal-refugee conditions.
Literacy rates are lowest in Mindanao's Lumad areas and among the Negrito groups, again due to poverty, lack of school facilities and the insensitivity of most school curricula to indigenous language and culture. Long-standing distortions of history and culture in school curricula, textbooks and the mass media have not been rectified, thus allowing misconceptions and discriminatory attitudes against indigenous peoples to persist. Valuable aspects of indigenous culture are being lost, or distorted and commercialized, thus undermining the cultural integrity of indigenous peoples.
Indigenous women are typically hit the hardest by poverty and militarization, both of which tend to fuel more violence against women. Due to worsening poverty and a lack of livelihoods, a growing number of indigenous peoples (mostly women) are turning to overseas contract work; it is estimated that more than 50,000 indigenous women are now working abroad.
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 Photo: Christian Erni
 Photo: Christian Erni |
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Indigenous concerns in the United Nations
Dr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, visited the Philippines in 2002 to gather information on violations of indigenous peoples human rights and basic freedoms. He met with various government agencies, UN agencies, indigenous organizations, academic and church leaders, and attended community dialogues. The Stavenhagen report (E/CN.4/2003/90/Add.3 5 March 2003) confirmed many of the problems raised by Philippine indigenous organizations regarding ancestral land, misdirected development programs and human rights violations.
In May 2006, the Philippine UN Mission called for the immediate adoption of the UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Incongruously, however, when the 1st Session of the UN Human Rights Council voted in June to adopt the draft Declaration, with 30 in favor and 2 against, the Philippines was one of 12 abstentions.
The Special Rapporteur is planning a follow-up visit in early 2007.
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 Photo: Christian Erni |
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