Written By: Gabrielle L. Pangan and Milliene Ianah R. Rocas
In October 2024, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) celebrated a month-long festivity for the 27th anniversary of the R.A. No. 8371, otherwise known as the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA), which recognizes and promotes the rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) in the Philippines.
IPRA is a product of the Constitution’s acknowledgment of the role of the ICCs/IPs in national unity and development, advancing their right to preserve and develop their culture and tradition. The IPRA equally affords ICCs/IPs the right to the recognition and protection of ancestral domains and lands. Under the law, they have the right to claim ownership and possession over the domains, to develop, control, use, manage, and conserve it for their benefit, and the right not to be removed therefrom.
Lurking behind the curtains
The view from the window of the October celebrations, however, is not as festive. Destruction driven by national developments, land extraction, resource exploitation, climate change, militarization, armed conflict, and the displacement of the ICCs/IPs—these threats to the rights of ICCs/IPs to their ancestral lands have begun long before the IPRA’s enactment in 1997, and continue to persist today.
Exploitations were sanctioned under the guise of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s renewable energy program, allowing the construction of hydropower mega-dam projects without regard to ICC/IP rights. Marcos Jr. issued an Executive Order transferring the attachment of the NCIP from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to the Office of the President, consolidating control over the former. In the Cordillera region alone, 100 renewable energy projects affect tracts of indigenous lands, including biodiversity hotspots and Protected Areas. Further, Marcos Jr. has revitalized the mining industry by allowing foreign mining investments with many projects covering over 200,000 hectares of indigenous lands.
Fighting on the frontlines
The Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSP) promotes tenets of environmental conservation and enables the preservation and protection of ecosystems, habitats, and species within their domains, where many high biodiversity areas in the Philippines are located. As environmental preservers, by virtue of the IKSP, the ICCs/IPs continually oppose national projects posing threats to their culture, not because of the stark violation of their rights, but also due to their adverse effects on the environment.
CHR Commissioner Faydah Dimurpa, in her message at the 27th IPRA commemoration, acknowledged the invaluable contributions of the IKSP in conserving ecosystems, promoting sustainable agriculture, enhancing health care, and advancing education among other areas.
“We commend the generation of Indigenous advocates who despite numerous challenges… continue to champion their culture,” Dimurpa said, recognizing the threats against ICCs/IPs in preserving their rights and these invaluable IKSP, and the importance of duty bearers and indigenous advocates.
With the imminent threats facing the ICCs/IPs and their concurrent vulnerable position, Dimurpa prompted the promotion, documentation, and revitalization of the IKSP: “It is paramount that these knowledge, practices, and systems are not lost but are instead sustainably passed on to the next generation.”
THE BARRISTER 