THE Sandugo Movement of Moro and Indigenous Peoples for Self-Determination (Sandugo) believes the House of Representatives’s decision to slash the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples’s (NCIP) 2018 budget to a mere P1,000 is still way too generous.
The people’s alliance that organized the ongoing three-week “Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya” holding its main camp at the University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman campus said in a statement that NCIP has been getting more than it deserves for what it provides the country’s lumad.
“It is utterly detestable for us national minorities that the NCIP is continually being funded by the people’s money when it has served as an instrument to oppress the indigenous peoples. The billions of pesos it spent since it was established has come to naught—indigenous peoples’ rights are far from being protected by the institution,” Sandugo Spokesman Jerome Succor Aba said.
For the alliance, a “zero budget” predicament would be best for the commission, as it would eventually lead to NCIP’s total abolition—consistent with Sandugo’s position that the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (Ipra) should be scrapped.
The group said the commission has even been failing at the bare minimum mandate it was originally created for.
“The NCIP was created to implement the Ipra. The institution was mandated, foremost, to hand out land title—the Certificate of Ancestral Land Title (CALT). But even in that aspect, the NCIP has failed. CALT or ancestral land claims issued to a few groups of indigenous peoples did not stop large-scale mining projects in ancestral lands,” Aba said.
As the alliance sees it, the Ipra is a deceptive law that benefits large-business interests instead of the lumads. Citing the commission’s purported inaction on attacks in lumad communities, the group said NCIP has done absolutely nothing that is worthy of praise from national minorities.
“Killings, forced evacuations and other grave human-rights violations against the indigenous peoples happen, but NCIP has not lifted a finger. In fact, it was instrumental in the violation of ancestral land rights. It became a rubber stamp, [legitimizing] businesses that grab our land and resources,” Aba said.
Sandugo is, thus, urging everyone to participate in the remaining activities lined up for Lakbayan 2017, which will run until September 21, in order to hear straight from members of national minorities their struggles and all they hope to achieve, such as condeming “US-Duterte attacks on Moro communities and indigenous peoples” as characterized by the declaration of martial law and all-out war in Mindanao.
Today, September 18, at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., a cultural activity called Hugpungan will be held at the UP Theater.
The solidarity activity and cultural exchange among national minorities and advocates are free of charge and open to everyone.
On the last day of Lakbayan in September 21, a national day of action against martial law, will be launched at the Rizal Park in Manila. This is in commemoration of the 45th year since former President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared martial rule.
Satellite camps are also set up at the University of Santo Tomas and at the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) National Cathedral in Manila.
“Take this as an opportunity to listen with their calls, cries, struggles and rights to life and self-determination. May this experience enable us to deepen our understanding and sympathy,” IFI’s Mars Carabio said.