Access and our Indigenous People
PAGBABAGO
Latest surveys show that there are 5,000 different indigenous peoples comprising 476 million people or 6.2 percent of the global population. In the Philippines, the 2010 survey showed that we had 14 to 17 million belonging to 110 ethno-linguistic groups concentrated mainly in Luzon.
Last week, I dealt with a serious flaw in our culture which is that of “social exclusion” of groups outside the family and social circles. One of the excluded are the indigenous peoples or IPS.
This exclusion continues despite the passing of IPRA or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act and the establishment of the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) in 1997, 10 years after the recognition of IPS rights in Section 5, Article 12 of the Constitution which states that “the State, subject to the provision of the Constitution and national development policies and programs shall protect the rights of indigenous cultural communities to their ancestral lands to ensure their economic wellbeing. The Congress may provide for their applicability of customary laws governing property rights or relation in determining the ownership or extent of ancestral domain.”
But Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio criticized IPRA as being inconsistent and divisive. Others found it a very weak protector as the IPS continued to be displaced. Institutional rivalries among agencies and poor treatment by local government which was unable to protect the IPS from the powerful sectors which continued to take advantage of its contradictions.
But up to 2023, 26 years later, the Philippine Task Force for Indigenous Peoples Rights continues to blame the National Commission for IPs for failing to promote IP rights to self-determination.
Ancestral lands are neglected and misrepresentation of indigenous culture and political restrictions continue to be tolerated. Too, dissent by IPS against destructive projects and policies are allegedly criminalized while the NCIP remains silent amid these intensified attacks against IPS.
A gathering of Asian indigenous journalists in Thailand last year concluded that IPs have low representation in decision-making. This extends to decisions on media content and programming. If IPs are covered at all, they are not always properly or positively portrayed. Thus, the need to decolonize and indigenize the media, was the recommendation of the group.
“We are currently living in a situation that is difficult with a government that is hostile to indigenous peoples,” according to the station manager of Radyo Sagada, the first ever community radio station in Cordillera. “Indigenous peoples have been excluded from accessing media. They can no longer relay in existing TV channels, radio stations, or newspaper, or online publishers to tell their stories. We must do it ourselves,” the group said. ([email protected])