In her 2001 SONA speech, GMA said that 100 Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) will be distributed every year, but after eight years all she said was “Sa pagpapamahagi ng milyun-milyong ektaryang lupa, 700,000 na katutubo at mahigit isang milyong benepisyaryo ng CARP ay taas-noong may-ari na ng sariling lupa.”

First, she can’t say this smiling and “taas noo” if this is measured against the possible number of indigenous peoples that could have been covered by the implementation of the original target of 100 CADTs per year. There are only 107 approved CADTs as of May 31, 2008.

Secondly, the 700,000 beneficiaries is such an incredulously low output for eight years work when weighed against the 11-13 million indigenous peoples population in the Philippines.

Third, indigenous peoples own their lands and these were never, and have never been, for the government to give away.

During the three day State of Indigenous Peoples Address (SIPA2009), the lumad leaders were passionate in their consensus that this should be GMAs last SONA. These are men and women who had lived in fear, anxiety and insecurity for the future of their people and territories during the past eight years of the Arroyo presidency. These are individuals who had seen the discrimination against their family members, the displacement of their communities, the destruction of the environment, and the death of their fellow resisters and defenders.

The SONA told of a government that is not of the lumad, told by a president that is not of the lumad.

What they know of the Arroyo government is the neglect in the delivery of basic social services, the deceit and force used against them to open up their lands for corporation exploitation; the loss of livelihood and deprivation of economic opportunities, the physical and economic dislocation of their communities, repression and violence against their struggle and resistance, and the corruption and the lies of the president.

We all might still have to endure another year of GMA as president, but we will stand with the indigenous peoples in making sure that she leaves next year, that there won’t be any charter change or martial law, and that GMA finally be held accountable for her crimes against the people.

Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center
on the occasion of the State of the Indigenous Peoples Address (SIPA)
July 29, 2009
U.P. Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines and Manresa Retreat Conference Center, Cagayan de Oro

Contact: Romel Cardenas de Vera (LRC-CDO Campaigns Paralegal) 09063057097 mel.devera@lrcksk.org

Cagayan de Oro City – Participants of the State of the Indigenous Peoples Address (SIPA) here joined their voices in the call for the immediate exit of GMA from Malacanang. Lumad participants from all over Mindanaw assessed the true state of indigenous peoples after eight years of the GMA administration, and for them another year with GMA in power only means continued discrimination, land grabbing, human rights violations, , environmental destruction, corruption and lies.

In a joint statement from the simultaneous SIPA conferences in Cagayan de Oro and Quezon City, the IP leaders declared “Eight years is enough! Eight years of her corrupt, self serving anti-poor administration has brought nothing but suffering to the country, especially the indigenous peoples who have borne the brunt of her misguided development priorities. History’s verdict is loud and clear. It is known to all Filipinos except for her most rabid sycophants and most zealous apologists.”

Reacting to GMA’s SONA speech, lumad participants claim that historical injustices against the lumad have not been corrected and even worsened as the government championed corporate interests. “Discrimination against us remains, even in the way the government identifies its priority projects. Mining, which the government prioritizes, has in fact destroyed our communities.” lamented Quintol Labuayan of La Bugal Tribal Association based in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat.  “Gitanyag niya ang atong kayutaan sa mga foreign investors,” (she offered our lands to foreign investors) said Marjorie Paulin of Pikhumpongan Dlibon Subanen, Inc.

Legitimized Landgrabbing

The SIPA participants rejected moves for charter change not only in opposition to political term extension but also against giving further economic rights to foreign individuals and corporations such as 100% ownership of lands. As it is, even without charter change, lumads already view state policies and projects as instruments to legitimize land grabbing that involve their ancestral lands.

Norma Capuyan of the Apo Sandawa Lumadnong Panaghiusa sa Cotabato (ASPLC) said that “Even titles like CADT could not guarantee indigenous peoples right to security and self determination in their territories, because the government allows the entry of mining companies in ancestral domains.”

Referring to the Pulangi V Hydro Electric Power Dam Project in Bukidnon, Wilmar Ampuan of Nasavakan Tarigunay’t Bukidnon  du’t Kalindaan (NATABUK) added that “If the construction of the dam continues, 40 percent of ancestral lands will be lost. It’s like the government essentially legalized the grabbing of our lands”.

Human Rights Violations

IP leaders and communities have not been spared from the escalating cases of human rights violations. Military operations continue to displace the B’laan communities in Columbio, Sultan Kudarat and the Manobo communities in Lianga, San Agustin and Tago in Surigao del Sur.

Capuyan further adds “The violation of our human rights continues, like killing of our leaders who stood to defend our ancestral lands. The latest lumad leader killed last July 6, 2009 was our companion”referring to Agustin Cumawas, chair of Matalam-Kabacan Lumad Organization (MAKALO). The Indigenous Peoples Rights Monitor has documented 137 cases of killings of IP community members from 2001 to 2009, 13 of which are women (4 pregnant) and 19 youth.

No to Cha-cha! SIPAin si Gloria!

Regarding the legacy of GMA, the IP leaders said in the joint statement, “for us indigenous peoples, she leaves behind continued discrimination, rising human rights violations and legitimized land grabbing in the name of illusory development. This is her real legacy”. In  Cagayan de Oro the lumad leaders chanted, “Batukan ang Cha-Cha, sipain si Gloria!”

The SIPA is organized by the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC-KsK/FoEI).

Contact:

Romel Cardenas de Vera

LRC-CDO Campaigns Paralegal

09006-305-7097

mel.devera@lrcksk.org

lrccdo@lrcksk.org

Manong Catalino Rutaquio, a Dumagat from Quezon summed it up. “There is a big difference between her claims and what we actually experience in our communities. The smiling faces of the IPs she showed are an isolated case, but on the whole, what we see something else. For us simple folk, there was no truth in anything she said.”

Arroyo claimed her administration had put much work into the 3 E’s- Economy, Environment and Education. But participants of the SIPA, noted that the E for Environment was conspicuously absent throughout the rest of her speech.

“She did not even mention her policy on large scale mining because she knew she would upset many people if she did,” said Manong Peter Duyapat, from Barangay Didipio in Nueva Vizcaya, an area which has lived with the ramifications of large scale mining since 1995. “I expected her to at least acknowledge her mistakes but she did not even apologize.”

And while the president got thunderous applause with her mention of the administration’s Programang Pantawid Pamilya, which facilitates cash dole outs to poor families, indigenous peoples claim it is being used in some areas to soften up resistance to mining and other projects. “The agenda of the Programang Pantawid is unclear to us. Not all the poor families in Apayao are given their share,” Manang Letty Sibuma from the Save the Apayao Peoples Organizations said. “The only areas given dole outs are those touted for large scale mining projects, because mining is a priority project in Apayao.”

“For us indigenous peoples, particularly the participants of the State of the Indigenous Peoples Address being held simultaneously in Cagayan de Oro City and Quezon City, she leaves behind continued discrimination, rising human rights violations and legitimized land grabbing in the name of an illusory development. This is her real legacy. These are what she has “accomplished” in the eight years that she sat in Malacañang,” the SIPA conference statement read.

The SIPA, organized by the LRC, is being held in Quezon City and Cagayan de Oro for the IPs in Mindanao, simultaneously.

Quezon City, Philippines

“We have heard Arroyo before make the SONA, and we have not heard her tell the truth about the situation of the Indigenous Peoples,” says Peter Duyapat, an Ifugao leader.

At seven in the morning, over a hundred IPs from all over Luzon who are convening the SIPA 2009 (State of the Indigenous Peoples Address) in UP Diliman, marched in front of the UP-Ayala Cyber Hub along Commonwealth Avenue to merge with a hundred strong more IPs from KAMP (Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas).

Members of various indigenous peoples in Luzon expressed their disgust for GMAs 8 years of presidency in front of the Commission of Human Rigths (CHR) the morning before th State Of the Nation Address (SONA). They are in Manila for a 3-day conference dubbed State of the Indigenous Peoples Address (SIPA) in UP Campus, Diliman, Quezon City. (LRC-KSK/FoE Phil./AKP-images/Buck Pago)

With their banner “SIPAin si Gloria”, they expressed their strong opposition to charter change that will further the President’s reign.

“Under her administration, our lives have become harsher, as she has allowed foreign mining companies come and take our lands.”  Duyapat is from Brgy. Didipio, Nueva Vizcaya, which is the mining site of the Oceania Gold, an Australian mining corporation. “We cannot allow her to use charter change to prolong her stay.”

“The government, particularly the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), is in connivance with the mining companies.  They allow the companies to operate even without our genuine free and prior informed consent,” laments Librada Isidro, an Alangan Mangyan from Mindoro.

Duyapat and Isidro are both participants of the 3-day gathering of Indigenous Peoples from Luzon to present the real State of the Indigenous Peoples Address (SIPA).

“For the indigenous peoples, Arroyo leaves behind continued discrimination, rising human rights violations and legitimized land grabbing in the name of illusory development. This is her real legacy,” according to Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC-KsK), a legal and policy advocacy institution, closely working with the indigenous peoples. LRC is the organizer of SIPA.

The mobilization also expresses their strong commitment to continue with the struggle for self-determination. They have come all the way to the cities to expose the worsening conflicts in their own lands resulting from PGMA’s neo-liberal economic policies that allow more operations of extractive industries, land grabbing, militarization other state projects that do more damage than development especially to the communities of IPs.

“Eight years of Gloria is enough!” shouts Ponyong Kadlos in Mangyan. Kadlos is the spokesperson of the ‘Alangan-Mangyan’ delegation. “She has done nothing for us but to make us poorer.” Their community is now under threat from large-scale mining operations with the entry of the ‘Aglubang & Intex Mining Corporation’ in their ancestral domain.

IPs along with their allies and other supporters marched along the highway towards the elliptical road playing their traditional musical instruments and back to the side of UP, stopping in front of the commercial stalls and bus terminal in Philcoa before going back to UP.

The SIPA, organized by LRC, is being held in Quezon City and Cagayan de Oro for the IPs in Mindanao, simultaneously.

With these photos, it is a glimpse of how pure and inspiring their life and culture are amidst the political strife and economic uncertainty.  Depicting their everyday struggle and the simplicity of their lives, these photographs depict of sadness, anxiousness, innocence, beauty and hope.    That one day, their lives will be better and more peaceful.

The struggle for the right to self-determination continues and the call for justice is louder than ever.  Consistent with the people’s collective efforts to fight oppression and abuse, truth and justice will prevail.

PHOTOS: Romel de Vera / Campaigns Paralegal / LRC-KsK CDO

Frustrated that the plight of indigenous peoples in the Philippines had never been reflected in any of President Arroyo’s State of the Nation Addresses (SONA), indigenous peoples leaders have come together to hold their own State of Indigenous Peoples Address (SIPA) with the theme “Continuing the historical struggle for the right to self determination”.

In her 2001 SONA, GMA promised to distribute 100 Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) per year but instead of securing lumads in their ancestral domains, the SIPA participants felt more vulnerable now during her last SONA than they ever had been. “Puros kabalaka, puros kakuyaw alang sa kaugmaon para sa tribu ug sa mga teritoryo sa mga lumad ang nahatag sa mga proyekto ni Arroyo ngadto sa mga inahan.” (Because of Arroyo’s projects, we lumad mothers are always full of fear and anxiety for future of the tribe and our territory), shared Patricia Bulay of the Subanon Getaw Tasan from Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur.

Another IP women leader, Bae Rose Undag of Kahiusaan sa mga Higanonon Incorporated (HKI) from Claveria, Misamis Oriental said this of the current woman president, “nine years of GMA presidency has given us lumad women nothing but utmost neglect.

Others protested the force, bribery and deceit used by the government and company personnel in the entry of extractive projects into IP territories and the break-up of communities and division among tribal leaders and members resulting from these. Specifically targeted is the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) that has become more identified with facilitating entry of corporate interests and in sowing disunity in IP communities rather than protecting indigenous peoples and their territories.

Aside from displacement of communities caused by these projects, the resistance of IP communities had been dealt with violence and human rights violations. The Indigenous Peoples Rights Monitor has documented the killings of137 IP community members from the year 2001 until May 1 of 2009, among these are 13 women (4 were pregnant) and 19 youth. 16 cases of extra-judicial killings of IP leaders were also documented.

For the SIPA participants this is the true state of their people – ever increasing violence in the corporate pursuit of the plunder of ancestral domains abetted by the government. “Ang among yutang kabilin wala nay nahibilin, unsa pa ang yutang mabilin para sa sunod na henerasyon” (There will be nothing left of our ancestral domains, what would we leave the next generation with?) added Duphing Ogan. “We will make sure this is GMA’s last SONA. We will make her accountable for her offenses and crimes against us.”

The SIPA is organized by the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC-KsK/FoEI). Two conferences are being held simultaneously in Cagayan de Oro and at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City.

For Reference:
Romel Cardenas de Vera
LRC-CDO Campaigns Paralegal
09063057097
mel.devera@lrcksk.org
lrccdo@lrcksk.org

Quezon City, Philippines–As the nation awaits Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s state of the nation address, over 100 representatives from indigenous organizations and support groups from all over Luzon gathered today , bringing to the table the true state of the indigenous peoples. “The IP voice has been absent in all previous SONAs,” said Zenaida Hamada-Pawid, an IP delegate from Baguio City. “Through this State of the Indigenous Peoples Address (SIPA) we can discuss our situation in our own words. We will then work towards consolidation of IP leadership, support groups and advocacy groups so as to forward a strong and substantial agenda.”

“Through this SIPA we want to preempt Arroyo’s attempts to paint another rosy picture full of glossy facts and figures and lists of development projects. We want people to know that it is these same projects which are responsible for the many problems indigenous communities face today, from mining to coal plants to large dams,” Ronald Gregorio of Legal Rights and Natural Reources Center-Luzon (LRC-KsK) said.

“Under the Arroyo administration, we have been witness to the intensification of militarization in IP areas. Systematic landgrabbing is happening at an alarming rate to serve the interests of mining, logging and other extractive industries,” Joan Jaime, secretary general of the Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP) revealed.

From Capas, Tarlac, leaders Bayani Sumaoang  and Lito Diaz from the federation Labayku (Lupon ng mga Katutubong Aeta para sa Bagong Adhikain upang Yumabong ang Kabundukan at Umunlad ang bawat isa) came in the face of a formidable issue. The delineation of their ancestral domain has currently been stalled by a boundary conflict with the Philippine Air Force’s Crow Valley military reservation. “Gusto po sana naming makaharap ang iba pang grupong katutubo upang makakuha kami ng karanasan at inspirasyon mula sa sarili nila pakikibaka,” Manong Bayani said.

The SIPA, organized by LRC-KsK, a research and policy advocacy institution primarily working with IPs, is scheduled specifically to coincide with the Presidents’ yearly State of the Nation Address. This year’s SIPA, with the theme “Continuing the Historical Struggle for the Right to Self-Determination”  is the second, following last year, which was held in Toril, Davao.  There are two regional gatherings simultaneously being held in Quezon City for the Luzon communities, and in Cagayan de Oro for the Mindanao communities.

“This SIPA is our protest to GMA’s SONA,” says Judy A. Pasimio of LRC.  “This SIPA will also serve as a common platform for indigenous peoples to forward their agenda, and for us advocates to support their struggle for self-determination.”

The SIPA 2009 (Luzon) is a 3-day activity at the University of the Philippines College of Social Welfare and Community Development (UP-CSWCD), from July 26-28, 2009.#

In a report called “State of the Indigenous Peoples’ Address” for presentation on July 29 in Plaza Divisoria, tribal leaders told local media their statement would push for reforms on ancestral domain issues that the government has failed to address.

One tribal leader, Datu Tony Lumandong of Northern Mindanao’s Higaonon tribe, said his community still has problems that could be resolved by the government’s recognition of the community’s judicial system and ancestral development.

For her part, Bae Rose Undag, another tribal leader from Claveria, Misamis Oriental, said they want a faster implementation of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) signed on Oct. 29, 1997 by President Fidel V. Ramos. (BusinessWorld)

The awarding of the CADT in Pampanga looks very nice in picture and sounds very good in the news.

Reality check

This has long been overdue and ironic at the same time.  Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) in her State of the Nation Address in 2001, promised to issue one hundred (100) ancestral domain titles by that year.  Nearing the end of her term, it is very disheartening for the indigenous peoples that there is a total of only 29 CADTs issued since then, and the last to be issued was the first one to be registered.   

What about the Aetas from Zambales, Bataan and Tarlac and the other indigenous peoples from all over the country waiting and struggling to get the same Ancestral Domain Titles?  What distinguishes the awarding of the 4 CADTs to the Aetas in Central Luzon from the others?  What happened to GMA’s promise to issue 100 ancestral domain titles in 2001?

“The single photo-ops in Pampanga cannot conceal the glaring fact that the Arroyo administration dismally failed to recognise the rights and aspirations of the indigenous peoples for their ancestral domains and lands”, said Mr. Ronald A. Gregorio, Campaigns-paralegal of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources-Kasama sa Kalikasan/Friends of the Earth Phils. (LRC-KsK/FoE Phils).  The 4 CADTs when finally registered only represents 25,764 hectares (of land and waters) corresponding to only 2 percent of the government target of 1.4 million hectares to be issued to the indigenous peoples as CADT.  Expect GMA to make use of these event as part of the gimmick in her coming SONA.

Military interest over IPs rightful claim for CADT

Labay Ku, the Aeta Mag-Antsi of Capaz, Tarlac applied for CADT in 2004 but until now they are deprived of their rightful claim to their ancestral land.  The Philippine Air Force based in Tarlac denied in 2006 the conduct of a perimeter survey being done by Labay Ku which apparently overlaps with the military reservation in a proclamation by President Ramos during his term.

Labay Ku engaged in a series of dialogue with the AFP to resolve the issue and made the appeal to be allowed to continue with the perimeter survey which is only a step through to establish the locations of the lands and therefore determine the possible overlaps.

Bayani Somaong, one of the leaders of Labay Ku expressed sadness and disappointment over Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro’s statement that he was ‘after the protection of the military’ in an interview in May 6 in Clark Freeport, Pampanga.  Bayani added “we do not understand the Secretary in protecting the military when in fact we are only asserting our legitimate claim to our ancestral land that has long been deprived from us since the various foreign occupations that passed in this country, most specially the US military base.”

Labay Ku was only asking to let them continue with the perimeter survey so that both of them will identify and concretely determine the possible land overlaps.  Consequently, they will have a more factual basis to discuss the overlaps and conflicts in their claims.  The continued denial of the perimeter survey shows the military’s unwillingness to recognise a rightful and necessary process for a fruitful dialogue.  Labay Ku in 2008 even brought their issue to the Office of the President that until now rendered no valuable response.

Mining over IPs rights

In contrast, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) was very quick to issue mining permits and the unfortunate situation is that most of these permits involves or includes the ancestral lands being claimed by the indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent.  In a brief span of only 7 years since 2001, DENR has issued mining permits and concessions covering 184,175.6585 or 34 percent out of the total 545,467.28 hectares issued since 1990 (Source: MGB-DENR, as of December 2008).

These mining operations as indigenous peoples have long maintained are affecting their way of life; they now face a great battle defending their territories, source of livelihood and culture from the aggression of foreign large scale mining corporations.  Peter Duyapat, leader of Didipio Earth Saver Multi-Purpose Association (DESAMA) based in Didipio, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya said, “Mining means destruction of our farmlands, our water systems and demolition of our houses.  We usually equate the entry of mining in our community as a threat to our displacement, a bad omen that has become real as what happened in 2008 when OceanaGold demolished more than 180 houses of our indigenous Ifugao brothers and sisters coupled with the shooting of one of our member in the community and the harassment of the others including myself.”

For more information please contact: Ronald A. Gregorio, Campaigns-paralegal, Luzon Regional Office, (02) 926 4409; (02) 434 4079, ronald.gregorio@lrcksk.org; luzon.lrc@gmail.com.

STOP THE RAPE AND PLUNDER OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES

Today, the Alternative Mining Bill will be filed in Congress to replace the existing anti-Filipino and foreign friendly Mining Act of 1995.

It is high time the Mining Act of 1995 (R.A. 7942) be scrapped that has become so disadvantageous to the the welfare of Philippine economy and the Filipino people.

Mining revitalisation program – a land grabbing tool

The government’s mining revitalisation program, sadly became a land grabbing tool by mining companies, encroaching and displacing indigenous peoples and rural poor in the countryside.  Mining has brought more problems in the already impoverished rural communities; fertile agricultural lands were bulldozed and wasted just to extract the minerals that will only be exported for the huge profit of transnational mining corporations.

FTAA and MPSA – a badge to commit Human Rights Violations

The Financial and Technical Assistance Agreements (FTAA’s) and Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSA’s) given by the government to mining companies became like a badge of a ‘scalawag’ police.  Displacing indigenous peoples and rural communities – demolishing their houses as in the case of the Ifugao and Hinaki tribes in Didipio, Nueva Viscaya and Tubay, Agusan de Sur; harassment and killings of anti-mining activists done by goons and private armies of mining companies, and with strong suggestions that the military are condoning these acts.  A strong accusation with credibility considering that the government initiated the creation of the ‘investment defense force’ to provide security to mining investments against the opposition of the people.

Rape and plunder

The negative impacts of mining are proven to destroy not just the environment but the livelihood and welfare of the people as well.  Marinduque island province suffered the worst ever mining disaster done by Marcopper mining.  Marcopper destroyed the two major rivers in the island that until now contains the toxic mine tailings that no living organisms were able to survive up to this day.

Mining has been done for more than 40 years in the island province of Marinduque but it remained a fourth class municipality and one of the poorest province in the country.  Marcopper left the people in misery with their toxic wastes and unpaid billions of pesos in taxes due to the local government of Marinduque.

A New and Nationalist oriented mining law

The Alternative Mining Bill should be passed into law to protect our remaining natural resources.  The Alternative Mining Bill recognises the importance of utilising our mineral resource and to use the same in building our own basic industries – our export oriented and import dependent economy has driven the Philippine economy to more debts and poverty.

The time is now to end the rape and plunder of our country.

ENACT THE ALTERNATIVE MINING BILL!

STOP THE PLUNDER OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES; SCRAP THE MINING ACT OF 1995!

For more information please contact us: Ronald A. Gregorio (Campaigns Officer, Legal Rights & Natural Resources Center); 926-4409; 434 4079, 41-B Mapagsangguni St., Sikatuna Village, Quezon City