The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has urged the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) to "seriously investigate" government officials implicated in the reported human rights violations against the country’s indigenous people (IP).
Among the alleged violations, the CHR said, are the facilitation and granting of illegal permits and licenses to private parties to operate within ancestral domains without the proper Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).
It said that FPIC is a right that involves the participation and consultation of the IPs before starting any development on their ancestral lands using resources that belong to their territory.
It cited the case when the Asosasyon ng Katutubong Mahawang (AKMA) reportedly received a letter from the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) which told them to leave their community in Barangay Aranguren in Capas, Tarlac.
"Apparently, the area is needed for the construction of an access road from the New Clark City (NCC) to the Clark International Airport," it said.
It pointed out that the OMB’s investigation of the cases can help IPs and “bring them to justice."
The issue on human rights violations against the IPs was one of the concerns raised in the CHR’s 123-page report entitled "Rights during a Pandemic: The 2020 Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines."
The report was signed by CHR Chairperson Jose Luis Martin Gascon and Commissioners Karen Gomez-Dumpit, Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana, Leah Tanodra-Armamento, and Roberto Eugenio T. Cadiz.