Magdagasang, Likid; Riches, Lachlan --- "Asia & Pacific - Resource Development Versus Indigenous Rights in the Philippines" [1999] IndigLawB 71; (1999) 4(23) Indigenous Law Bulletin 20

• Resource Development Versus Indigenous Rights In The Philippines
• Speech Of Likid Magdagasang

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Resource Development Versus Indigenous Rights in the Philippines

by Likid Magdagasang and Lachlan Riches

The large southern island of Mindanao in the Philippines has been experiencing a 'land rush' over the last few decades, with rapid development by non-Indigenous Filipinos arriving from other parts of the country. The original Indigenous Lumad people¹ have been exploited and marginalised in this process, and their 'ancestral domain’² lands have been substantially reduced, expropriated and exploited by others, including large multinational agribusiness and mining companies. The dislocation has been so severe that some Filipino commentators have described it as 'genocide' or 'ethnocide'.³

The central government has taken some steps to address the enormous deprivation meted out to the Lumads and other Filipino Indigenous peoples. Such measures include the creation of central and provincial government agencies designed to assist in advancingg the welfare of Indigenous peoples such as the Office for Southern Cultural Communities (OSCC) on Mindanao. In 1997, the National Congress alsoenacted the Indigenous People's Rights Act,⁴ referred to in the speech below.

However, the central government has also been desperate to foster economic development and secure international investment funds and expertise, and so has taken measures which have accelerated the deprivation and exploitation of Indigenous peoples. This has reduced the effect of the positive measures noted above to nothing more than tokenism and window dressing. One of the most devastating measures was the passage of the Mining Act 1995, sponsored by the former Ramos Administration. This Act provides unprecedented incentives for foreign mining companies to apply for areas of land to explore and subsequently exploit under Financial and Technical Assistance Agreements (FTAAs).

In Southern Mindanao, for example, the Australian multinational Western Mining Company (WMC) was granted one of the first FTAAs to explore for a large open-cut copper and gold mine near the village of Tampakan. The area covered by this FTAA includes much of the traditional ancestral area of the B'Iaan people, one of the poorest of the Lumad communities.The Agreement also allows WMC to expropriate land and exploit it for mining purposes and even for forest timber resources, with provision for the forced relocation by the authorities of the people affected. Although the company has not yet confirmed the mine will go ahead, the WMC presence in the area has already left an indelible mark upon the lives of the local communities.

The following text is an edited version of a speech by Likid Magdagasang, Chief of the Mandaya Indigenous group in the Davao Provinces of Mindanao. The speech was made at a meeting betweenthe National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the Philipines Government in Manila in November 1998. It is a powerful statement of the central importance of Indigenous peoples' rights in situations where 'development' is promoted by powerful national and multi-national forces. The Philippines provides a striking example from our own region of a case where a central government has permitted the rights of Indigenous peoples to be neglected and violated, despite the fact it has given legislative recognition and protection to these rights.

Lachlan Riches is a solicitor with Taylor &Scott Sydney.

Speech of Likid Magdagasang

... Ladies and Gentlemen, let me greet you in the Mandaya way, Madyaw na kambag kamayo tibo! Good morning to everyone.

We have a poster at home which boldly says, 'RESPECT INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' RIGHTS TO ANCESTRAL DOMAIN AND SELF DETERMINATION.'... What happened before we put up that poster was the temporary displacement of the Ata-Manobos people of Talaingod, in Davao del Norte,⁵ who went en masse to MJ Haran, Davao City, where they sought refuge. Their opposition to the expansion of the Industrial Forest Management Agreement (IFMA) project on their land by the influential company C Alcantara and Sons, Inc ... resulted in the deployment of the 64th Infantry Battalion, who together with Alsons company guards reportedly harassed them and sexually molested their women.

'Ethnocide! Is it real?' a book title asks, but its content answers you 'it is.'⁶ Listen to some other things documented in this book:

1. The Banwaons of Mahagsay,.Agusan del Sur⁷ have been displaced by continuing counter-insurgency operations. They blame logging interests and the Industrial Forest Management Agreement lease acquired by the Woodland Domain Industries from the Government.

2. B'laan people face eviction from their ancestral areas by the Filipino military from a 100,00 hectare concession area where Western Mining Corporation, an Australian mining firm, has acquired a licence to explore and exploit gold and other mineral deposits ... within the boundaries of South Cotabato, Saranggani and Davao del Sur Provinces.

3. Even the peaceful river communities of the Subanen people in the villages of Malubo and Zamboanga del Sur were no exception. The 3.4 billion pesos multi-purpose dam will inundate homes and farms and displace 2,000 settlers and Subanen Lumads.

4. My own people, the Mandaya tribe, have suffered no less. Land grabbing by the Chinese and Spanish bourgeoisie in the past drove us to the hills, making ranch-farms out of our ancestral domain. Ignorance of the legalities of land matters due to our lack of education and knowledge was used as a weapon against us. We too have suffered mining and logging exploitation, through displacement and dispossession of our homeland.

Yes, it is true that there were government institutions and Government-initiated foundations like CNI,⁹ PANAMIN,¹⁰ OMACC¹¹ and then the OSCC which were created by the government to protect the Indigenous peoples' welfare. But they have not done enough. Instead, some of those in a position to do so became instrumental in the exploitation of the ancestral domains. The previous laws were not ... comprehensive enough .._ to give enough protection and the right direction in the pursuit of self-determination.

Ladies and Gentlemen, our land is our identity and history... It is our heritage ... our life. Our survival as Indigenous peoples depends on our gaining of land rights over what is justly and rightfully ours.

Not only do we fight over land for land's sake; we are fighting against ... society's extermination of the Lumads as distinct peoples to make way for the so-called multi-billion development projects, which benefit only a few business tycoons and corrupt public servants.

We envy the wildlife, which has a better situation than the Lumads. Take for example the case of an endangered species, the Filipino eagle. On the verge of extinction, it was given a beautiful home, protection, and bountiful attention by the Philippines Government, which declared thousands of hectares of forest reservations for the cause, while we Lumads were driven out from our ancestral domain. Organisations and foundations were hastily put up for wildlife maintenance, protection, propagation and preservation ... with such great care. And yet I ask, are we not endangered ourselves? Are we not on the verge of extinction? Think about it. Even eagles have the right to forest reservation, should Lumads have less?

The struggle for land is also the struggle for self-determination. As we seek for control, management, development and the opportunity for reaping .... the fruits of our ancestral domain, which is ours by inseparable right, we also pursue self-determination involving self-governance, economic activities, protection of our environment, inter-personal relations, and the entirety of our culture as extensions of our ancestral land. These are part of our heritage from our ancestors ... our right!

New hope ... dawned upon us when the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act was enacted last 29 October, 1997. It provides the avenue for working towards the kind of peace, justice and development we have clamoured for throughout history as Indigenous peoples ... But on July 1998, it was a great dismay for the Indigenous Peoples when the newly appointed secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) interfered by endorsing a certain Mr Sulong from Zamboanga del Surf- (who had pending and decided cases in the Office of the Ombudsman)¹³ as chairman of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), the implementing agency for the IPRA. Furthermore, he endorsed a certain Attorney Rita Deunas who got appointed as executive director of NCIP without going through the process as mandated by the Republic Act 837114 and was not an Indigenous person at that! This situation created a stir among the tribal communities, and led to the tribal consultation organised by Attorney Donna Gasgonia, the Presidential Assistant. In that tribal convention, Indigenous people as one strongly opposed the appointments of Mr Sulong as Chairman and Rita Deunas as executive director. But up to now, it seems that the Government is using a delaying tactic in order that the IPRA will not be properly implemented. Maybe this is because the people behind it are not members of the Indigenous Peoples and are not after our welfare, but are after the protection of the interest of the investors.

Ladies and gentlemen, our objectives as Indigenous Peoples depend on both immediate action and long process. We first need to survive. And as our physical existence and identity are inextricably linked to our land, in order to survive, we have to defend it. For the peoples displaced from their lands, we shall seek to recover it for them.

Consolidation and rebuilding of what remains of our ravaged existence must follow. We will build up our morale, re-establish our beliefs and lifeways for the maintenance and enrichment of our collective identity and struggle, and discard and rectify those things which have proven to be hindrances to our growth.

Let us move on. Let us aim to improve and be progressive. But let us not forget, most importantly, that Philippines development is not development at all when the heritage of the Lumads is being sacrificed and when ... our very existence is at stake.

Holistic development touching every aspect of our lives is what we ultimately aspire to. It will be an ongoing process, life after life, generation after generation of Indigenous peoples. Upon the restorationof the respect for Indigenous peoples' rights to ancestral domain and self-determination, we will be able to feel and understand the concrete and true meaning of socio-political, economic, cultural and spiritual freedom for the Lumads.

Endnotes

1.	'Lumad' is the generic name for the Indigenous inhabitants of Mindanao.

2.

Indigenous communities in the Philippines can make a claim for a Certificate of Ancestral Domain under procedures prescribed by a 1993 Department of Environment and Natural Resources Administrative Order. However, agreements made under the Mining Act 1995 mentioned below can lead to the surrender and waiver of ancestral land rights, to the extent that they conflict with the miner's rights under the Act: There have been numerous unsuccessful attempts since the 1980s to introduce a national Ancestral Domain Law to recognise Indigenous land rights in the Philippines.

3.

Cf n 7.

4.	Republic of the Philippines Act No 8371 ('the IPRA'). 5. North of Davao City in Mindanao.

5.	Ethnocide! Is it real? Media Mindanao News Service Investigative Team (1993).

6.	Near Surigao in Northern Mindanao.

7.	A$850 million.

8.	Commission on National Integration, a government agency which oversaw Indigenous affairs until about 1969.

9.

Presidential Assistant on National Minorities. A Marcos-era bureaucracy responsible for tribal minorities from 1969 until 1984, when the head of PANAMIN, Manuel Elizalde, suddenly disappeared out of the country. Elizalde was responsible for the fraudulent 'discovey of the Tasaday cave people in 1971. The agency helped the Marcos Government to Fake consent from tribal elders for the Chico Gorge dams project in Mountain Province, which the World Bank eventually abandoned.

10.	Office of Muslim and Cultural Communities. Succeeded PANAMIN as government agency in charge of tribal affairs in 1984, but is also now defunct.

11.	In Southern Mindanao.

12.	The Ombudsman is an independent constitutional office which investigates complaints especially of graft or corruption against any public official or agency.

13.	The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act.