Indigenous Peoples Framed Electoral Agenda

The indigenous cultural communities flash an array of hope that the national and local elections in May 2022 will bring about in them genuine progress and development which they longed for as the country starts to embark the gruelling electoral process.

Many Indgenous Peoples (IP) leaders, during a town hall meeting expressed their dismay of the still dehumanizing acts committed against cultural communities noting from a number of violent deaths, alleged illegal arrests, detentions, abductions and attacks in what they believed as a force of intimidation or coercion targeting them to relinquish their ancestral domains.

The Human Rights Commission observed that current development projects greatly impacted IP communities, cause internal displacement and divisions while the Free Prior and Informed Consent is either obtained by harassment, bribery and attacks to those who oppose.

The struggle of IP communities in the national context centers on their participation in the political process to persuade political leaders to endorse national policies that promote the welfare of the IP and the full implementation of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act. However, in some local government context even the selection of IP mandatory representative can be marred by political color sidelining the indigenous democratic selection process. In another scale, the promulgation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, IP leaders face an enormous challenge in pushing for the full inclusion of the rights of Non-Moro IPs in the Bangsamoro Organic Law pivotal to this right is the recognition of Non-Moro IPs Ancestral domain areas.

Indigenous Cultural Communities pray for self-determination that will free them from the pangs of conflict being always vulnerable, caught in the crossfire between government troops and insurgencies, which sometimes malign them into conspirators. Hence, in no way IP and Cultural communities should the EO No. 70 or the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict or even the Anti Terror Law (2020) mechanized a weapon adversarial to them. The present Administration vows to protect the lives of Indigenous People, therefore it shall also vouch the guarantee that those who have committed oppression shall answer the law.

In preparation for the upcoming elections in May 2022, tribal leaders during their town hall focused group discussion framed a five point agenda to present to candidates seeking either national or local positions to look into these matters seriously while they appeal for circle of discernment among indigenous communities in choosing the right leader from the lens of this electoral agenda.

The IPs appeal those who would become political leaders to support their right to self–determination enshrined by the IPRA through protecting the Ancestral Domain and recognizing its critical role in combating climate change. Ancestral Domain is rich in biodiversity and is a sacred ground of the IPs. But while mining of ancestral lands is among the notable challenges for the survival of IP communities, the Government has lifted the moratorium on application for mining in the pretext of economic recovery vis-avis Covid-19 pandemic. Some major watershed areas are now threatened by establishment of dams and similar projects.

On the one hand included in the electoral agenda is to investigate the so-called climate of impunity resulting into several reports of violence and deaths while seeking of social justice on the other demanding for their inclusion in major government programs starting from their right to identification according to ethnicity and indigenous roots in the national census. This will enable them for better access to social services and address the deep seated marginalization of IP Communities.

Meanwhile the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Resolution no. 08-009-2021 strongly denouncing the utilization of “Lumad” to refer to Indigenous Peoples of Mindanao by reason of its association to the Communist Party of the Philippines sets up the wires against self-ascription. Should anybody to be called a “lumad” or a reference thereto poses the risk of being linked to anti-government forces, they asked.

The IP communities have been time and again contended that genuine development for them must begin with respecting their ancestral domain rights – the inherent right of ownership, control and management. As such laws and policies inimical thereto are sought to be amended if not repealed. The equal protection to life, liberty and justice enshrined in the Constitution must also be enjoyed by IP communities, inasmuch as activities and struggles that is in conflict with the States shall be dealt with according to the law.

The IP Electoral agenda declaration under the spirit of dialogue consistent with their custom and traditions is a clear manifestation of their conscientious participation in the political process. (IPA-DAVAO)