DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/18 June) - Indigenous peoples’ groups and a
coalition of local and international organizations have been holding
rounds of consultations for a “shadow report” that will contest a
document that government will submit to the United Nations Committee
on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) in Geneva,
Switzerland by the end of this month.

The government, which is taking its turn in the rotating leadership
of UNCERD this year, has committed to comply with the committee’s
June 30 deadline in submitting an assessment of its performance in
complying with substantive articles in the Geneva conventions. The
articles are enshrined in agreements concerning, among others, the
respect for human rights, economic and social rights, political and
civil rights, and other protocols that protect discrimination of
indigenous peoples.

Cathal Doyle, a rights activist affiliated with the Irish Centre for
Human Rights, said during a break in the “shadow report”
consultation here Tuesday that they are anticipating that government
would highlight its accomplishment in passing an indigenous peoples’
rights law but downplays incidents of violations of economic, civil
and political, and cultural rights of indigenous peoples.

Doyle, who was here to represent an international network of civil
society organizations working for the elimination of all forms of
racial discrimination, said that their group have documented at
least 40 cases of violations of the UN protocols and that can be
considered as discriminatory of indigenous peoples in three round of
national consultations.

The consultations were initiated in Baguio City for communities in
Luzon and Visayas on June 13 to 14, and Davao City for tribal folks
in Mindanao on June 16 and 17.

In the 40 cases documented nationwide, Doyle said that the bulk of
incidents of violations of the UN agreements on rights were related
to large-scale corporate mining projects in ancestral domain.

Lawyer Manja Bayang, coordinator of the Indigenous People’s Rights
Monitor, said that based on results of the consultation, the issue
on mining also left an impact on indigenous peoples rights to self-
determination as well as on controversial issues related to the
communities’ rights to free and prior informed consent.

Other issues that are discriminatory to indigenous peoples are
corporate plantation projects for industrial trees, bio-fuels, as
well as governmental policies related to declaration of ancestral
lands into environmentally protected areas and massive military
operations. The issue on conversion of rice and corn lands for bio-
fuels and other types commercial crops may yet spawn food crisis,
especially among the indigenous peoples, Bayang said.

The Philippine government, as a signatory to UNCERD, is required to
submit a report to the Committee at least once every four years but
has failed to do so since 1997. In 2007, the International Committee
on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has instructed the
government to submit a report on June 30 this year or the UN body
will move on with the review of the Philippine record based on other
information available in the committee.

Among all the UN treaty bodies, UNCERD is the most focused on the
government compliance of international rights agreements in relation
to indigenous peoples.

In 2007, two Subanen leaders filed a rights violations complaint
against the government before UNCERD in relation to mining projects
in Mt. Canatuan. Doyle said as a result of that complaint, UNCERD
has asked international civil society groups to submit a parallel
report in relation to the governments record in the elimination of
racial discrimination.

Boyle said that civil society works on the premise that the category
of racial discrimination does not pertain to the biological aspect
of race but the existence of acts of racial discrimination in the
form of governmental policies that are discriminatory especially to
indigenous peoples.

Dulphing Ogan, chair of Kalumaran (Alliance of Indigenous Peoples
Organizations) Mindanao, said that the bulk of the cases that they
are submitting to UNCERD were already filed before the Commission on
Human Rights (CHR) while some of it were in the regular courts. Most
of these cases, particularly those submitted before the CHR, have
not been acted upon, he added.

In Mindanao, what will be included in the shadow report are cases of
displacement and aerial bombing of Mandaya and Mansaka communities
by the military in Bangaga, Davao Oriental; dislocation of Ata-
Manobo villages in Talaingod, Davao del Norte; alleged arbitrary
arrest of Ata-Manobo woman leader Bibyaon Bigkas, the killing of
Datu Dominador Diarog due to a reported land grabbing incident,
evacuations of Ata Matigsalug villagers due to military operations
in Compostela province.

Other incidents included in the report are alleged forced
recruitment of indigenous peoples into paramilitary forces across
the Southern Mindanao region, a planned construction of a
hydroelectric plant in Davao del Sur; and a case of dislocation due
to an Industrial Forest Management Agreement in Caraga, Davao
Oriental.

The group has also included in its filing a reported evacuation in
Liangga town, Surigao del Sur; and a case of corporate mining
project-related discrimination of Subanen folk in Midsalip and
Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur.

Ogan said indigenous peoples consider the report an important arena
in their continuing struggle in calling for government
responsibility on the dislocation and other forms of violations of
indigenous peoples’ rights.

“The shadow report is not the end of our struggle but it will
strengthen and inspire us to further organize our ranks against the
discriminatory policies of the government,” Ogan said.

The incidents of rights violations were documented with Philippine-
based non-government organizations working with indigenous peoples
that include the Indigenous People’s Rights Monitor, Philippine
Indigenous People’s Links, Tebtebba, Philippine Indigenous People’s
Links, Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamayan ng Pilipinas, the Legal
Rights Resources Center, Anthrowatch and EED Task Force on IP
Rights. (Jowel F. Canuday / MindaNews)

The food security of indigenous peoples in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya is being threatened by the large-scale mining operations of OceanaGold Philippines, Inc. (OGPI) and Oxiana-RoyalCo. At the same time, the FPIC process under the IPRA law brings disunity among the IPs residing in the mining-affected areas.

 Different organizations like the Philippine Network for the Environment (PNE)-Kalikasan, Katinnulong Daguiti Umili iti Amianan (RDC-KADUAMI), which is a member of the EED-Task Force for IP Concerns (EED-TFIP), joined the Congressional hearing with their partner Save the Valley Environmental Alliance together  with the local people organizations and other civil society organizations.

The House Committee on National Cultural Communities conducted two on-site hearings and investigations in June 7-8, 2008 in Brgy. Kakidugen and Brgy. Didipio, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya which are the sites of the operations of Oxiana-Royalco and OceanaGold, respectively.

 Indigenous peoples expressed their concern about the adverse impacts that these mining operations will bring to the environment and their sources of livelihood and subsistence.  

“How do these mining operations address the food crisis being experienced by the people?”,  said Lucas Buay of Kasibu Inter-Tribal Response for Ecological Development (KIRED).

“We have been displaced from our ancestral lands in Ifugao and Benguet due to mining operations, and now we are facing the same problem here again. We have witnessed the destructive impacts these mining operations brought to the environment and we cannot allow this to happen again. The people in these areas already have a more sustainable source of livelihood than what these mining companies claim to provide upon entry of these operations,” added Buay.

 The municipality of Kasibu has a wide forest area - about 30% of the total land area is forest land. It is proven that almost all crops except mango are suitable in this area.The primary agricultural products of the province are still rice and corn, but this gateway to the Cagayan Valley is envisioned to be the regional center for fruit and vegetable production and spice-based industries.

“We cannot let the entry of these mining companies destroy our lands as Kasibu is considered the citrus capital of the country, with an annual output of about 10 million kilograms of oranges from an estimated 20,000 hectares of citrus plantations. The citrus farmers stand by its position that agriculture is still the sustainable development for the people as our independent study on the success of citrus industry here would show. We do not want mining here,” Alfonso Namuhje II of the Mallabing Tribal Development Association (MTDP) said.

 In Nueva Vizcaya, about forty percent of its total population of 366,962 (based from the 2000 census) is comprised of indigenous peoples (e.g. Bugkalots, Ifugaos, Ibalois, Gaddangs, Isinais, Ikalahans and Ilongots). Bugkalots, a group of indigenous people from Nueva Vizcaya has entered into a peace covenant through a blood compact in 1950s with other IP groups who have migrated to this area after they had been driven away from their ancestral lands.

The areas stated in the mining permit granted to the mining companies are within an ancestral land applied by the Bugkalots for Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claims (CADC), through the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

 “We were not consulted by the NCIP during the process of securing the FPIC certificate because we are only migrant IPs in the areas and we are not holders of CADC. But there was no such thing in the provisions of the IPRA law that migrant IPs could not be consulted, especially that we have been here for three decades now,” Fidel Opay of the Lower Muta Valley Farmers’ Federation (LMVFF) explained.

 The FPIC process is being questioned because of the bribery and deception controversies in securing the certificate.  “ Our peace pact with the Bugkalot tribe is also threatened to be negated because of this conflict that arises due to these controversies,” Opay added.

 Mayor Romeo Tayaban of Kasibu, who was one of the resource speaker during the hearing said, “mining corporations claim that they will bring development to the people in Kasibu. But what kind of development is this if our people are disunited? We were once a peaceful community but these issues have divided us because of the mining operations.” #

(NOTE: The foregoing article is featured in the 09 April 2008 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer) How to starve indigenous communities By Maurice MalanesPhilippine Daily Inquirer BAGUIO CITY – The Igorot people now acknowledge their ancestors’ long-term foresight in ensuring the food security of succeeding generations by carving rice terraces, even in tough, challenging terrain, in the Cordillera mountains. READ ON.