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[Music]
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hi
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i'm leo from the interdisciplinary
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studies department
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and welcome to the public intellectual
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lecture series of far eastern university
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the public intellectual lecture series
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is a platform where students can engage
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critical
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issues and listen to the experts that
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can provide
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well-rounded research in terms of
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opinions and perspectives
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today's session involves indigenous
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peoples of the philippines
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as well as the challenges and issues
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that they face
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we have here today attorney jennifer
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tauly corpus
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the program coordinator for the
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indigenous people's rights and policy
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advocacy program
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thank you very much attorney corpus for
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joining us for today's session
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uh thank you very much also leo for
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inviting me and thank you for the
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opportunity to provide
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some um as you said opinions and
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perspectives on indigenous peoples
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thank you so authority corpus before we
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begin this
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discussion perhaps you can provide us a
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brief overview
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of the research and advocacies that that
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are being done by your group especially
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with regards to
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indigenous people's rights as well as
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their political and economic well-being
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we have a whole range of different uh
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research endeavors
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sometimes we focus on the issues but
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most of the time
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what we would like to do is actually
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highlight how indigenous peoples are
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able to contribute to solving a lot of
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the problems
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in the philippines and also worldwide so
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one example would be um
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forest management practices and how that
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has maintained the health of the forests
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and the plants and animals living within
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the forests
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another example would be um for instance
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looking at uh small-scale mining and
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whether
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uh it's uh destructive to the
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environment
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and whether it's um you know something
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that still follows
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the customary practices of you know
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traditional artisanal mining and hence
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non-destructive thank you so authority
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corpus just to start the discussion
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um perhaps you can give us a working
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definition
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of the of the term indigenous peoples
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and who belong
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to these communities because recent
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events or the past few years saw an
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uptick in terms of awareness because
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now we see members of the indigenous
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peoples communities going to manila
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campaigning for their rights um
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[Music]
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critiquing government policy um
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especially with regards to
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militarization and development
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and assets and maybe development or
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destructive development perhaps you can
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give us an overview what does it mean
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and also why the indigenous peoples
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communities
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are vital when it comes to discourse on
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nation and development
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yes well um using layman's language
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as much as i can um indigenous peoples
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are normally those who still
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maintain their culture
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they have to identify as indigenous
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peoples and there has to be a community
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that identifies them as members of their
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community
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there is usually a special relationship
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to the land so it's not your normal land
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ownership where it's an individual
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relationship for indigenous peoples it's
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usually a collective relationship to the
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land
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so there's collective ownership and
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usually they can't sell it
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they can just pass it on to the
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different generations they view
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themselves as two words of nature
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so in the philippines it's actually
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quite a sizable population
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they're around 50 mil 15 million so
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that's uh that's a huge
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chunk of the population of the
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philippines and there are
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around 100 to 120 different indigenous
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groups in the philippines
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um as to um why they are vital to the
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the nation well they have maintained
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a lot of our green areas the mountains
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the the rivers
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the seas the waters as well as the
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culture
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so what defines us as filipinos it's the
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multitude of cultures
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within the philippines and indigenous
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peoples you know represent
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a huge um uh percentage of that
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culture that cultural diversity so it
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seems that the primary role
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of the ip of the indigenous people's
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communities it's more of preservation
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and conservation of identity and even of
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the environment but as i mentioned there
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seems to be
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a there seems to be conflict and turmoil
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among in terms of
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um how the ips or the situation of the
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eyepiece in the philippines
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um perhaps you can give us a brief
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background or
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overview of the situations of the
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eyepiece in the philippines
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as well as the challenges and issues
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they face
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well because indigenous peoples have
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been so successful in conserving their
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territories their lands
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um a lot of the pressure
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is a well a lot of pressure is put on
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them
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because um you know many factors the
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population is growing
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not just in the philippines but in other
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countries so they are looking for
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resources to exploit
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and um since indigenous peoples have
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done so well in conserving their areas
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this is where the remaining resources
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can be found
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so trees even water mineral resources
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and because of this pressure there's a
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tendency you know to overlook the agency
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of indigenous peoples or their right
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consent or not to these types of
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development projects happening within
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their communities
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and so without their knowledge they get
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them
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evicted from their lands and um
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you know and when they resist sometimes
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they get militarized
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in order uh because the government is
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intent on protecting the
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corporations that are inside the
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communities you mentioned a
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particular term development and i think
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that's something that really needs to be
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discussed or elaborate on
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elaborated on given the discourse of the
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indigenous peoples
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because if we look at popular perception
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for example
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you have on one hand we view there is an
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attempt or there's this push
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to preserve their identity and then on
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the other there's this critique
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but how will we how what about the
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discourse of development
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how will development come to these areas
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it's as if there's a conflict between
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understanding how can we preserve their
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or how can we help them preserve their
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identity their culture and at the same
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time provide them
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opportunities for them to uplift their
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situations
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well you know what you raise a very
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important issue because
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frequently indigenous peoples are
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labeled as anti-development
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but this is not the case at all it is
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merely that indigenous peoples want to
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be involved in the development process
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they have to be able to have a voice to
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identify what types of development are
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appropriate for them
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you know earlier i mentioned the
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collective relationship to the land
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it's also a very far you know a very
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long view
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of things for example the native
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americans they have this thing that
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everything they do they have to think of
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the seventh generation
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how their impact their actions now would
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impact
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the seventh generation after them and we
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have something similar among the
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indigenous peoples in the philippines
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so i think this is something that we can
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you know that we could leverage
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um in in terms of defining what types of
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development
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would be sustainable so indigenous
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peoples are not anti-development they're
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very much pro-development but it's a
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sustainable type of development
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i'll give you an example in my hometown
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in busau
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there was a proposal for a windmill
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but it was uh it was um a proposal that
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didn't enjoy any consultation among the
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community so they didn't really know
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what the impacts would be
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and so they rejected it but when you ask
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them whether they would like this kind
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of energy in their communities and when
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you're able to give them enough
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information they would in fact approve
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of that kind of development yeah because
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i was also
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we were um it's a critical point because
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if i'm not mistaken most of the
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members of the ip communities they're
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mostly farmers right
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so they actually form a critical part of
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food production
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in their respective areas and if you
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think about it
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they're producing food without harming
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the environment
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but in terms of development you
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mentioned something about
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participation so is there
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is it really supposed to be conflicting
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this notion of development
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and conservation or is there a way for
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from the ip perspective that we can
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balance both
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because as you mentioned nobody wants to
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just neglect development
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we want our lives to improve regardless
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of whether
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you're from the ip community or from um
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from the general population
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but how can we balance this perspective
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of development
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and at the same time not be exploitative
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and still follow this process of
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consultation
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and especially respecting the rights of
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the indigenous people
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the very critical thing there is to
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listen to indigenous peoples
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and to trust that they have expertise
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about what the land
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can and cannot take okay so
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um this can be done through
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participation a lot of laws require
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participation right
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and in the participation of indigenous
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peoples they bring their
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you know their visions of sustainable
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development
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into play and i think this is something
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also that the government wants
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they don't want to be developing in a
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way that
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you know you consume the resources
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prematurely
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so there's a in a way there's a false um
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dichotomy that indigenous peoples are
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anti-development
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government one very bad development
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projects i think there's a meeting
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ground if only
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they would uh you know listen to each
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other you mentioned something about
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development projects
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and i think one of the development
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projects that heavily
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impact the ips is mining
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i think mining is a very big issue and
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even before the duterte administration
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there were issues on mining
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and how it displaced um the
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the various communities so can you
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please give us a brief
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perhaps background or overview of how
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the indigenous peoples view mining and
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again
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is it really necessary to engage i mean
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do you do the ips believe that mining
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should not happen or
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are there ways to determine whether
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it is necessary or how we can meet in
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the middle when it comes to mining
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well for mining a lot of the issues
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surrounding mining and indigenous
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peoples have to do with
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precisely what we mentioned earlier lack
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of participation
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and the lack of voice of indigenous
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peoples in
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decision making whether mining should go
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ahead or not
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the other aspect is that a lot of these
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mines
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are put up in sacred areas and these
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sacred areas of indigenous peoples they
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are usually mountains or
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you know unique formations in nature
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when you have these sacred areas they
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are usually critical
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to how the indigenous peoples take care
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of their
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territories okay so um
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and that's why it's become so
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controversial you know what would you
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think if someone came up and
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dug up came and dug up your graves or
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your
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you know your church and just put a hole
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there and
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extracted minerals so those are the two
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things
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the impact on sacred areas and the lack
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of participation
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but i don't think that indigenous
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peoples are just you know opposed to
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mining just for the sake of it
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it i think there are some areas
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that could be open to mining and i gave
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you the example of my community
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this is a traditionally practiced uh
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livelihood in among the igurus and also
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among the kalinga
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and um there's a way for them to do it
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without destroying the environment
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and i think people should be listening
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to indigenous peoples
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uh on this but uh just to um
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append something you know recently the
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the landslides that happened in itogon
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um and it exposed something right
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because the people
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the indigenous peoples there in the area
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they were doing small scale mining
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in a former mine site by bengett
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corporation
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but because of the heavy rains and some
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say because of the
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extensive digging there were devastating
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you know landslides many people were
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killed no
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but the response of the government was
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to immediately prohibit small-scale
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mining there's a moratorium
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right and so for indigenous peoples who
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have been doing this since time
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immemorial as part of their culture
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they view it as a as a violation of
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their rights
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but i think that's the answer to your
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question not all mining is bad
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we just have to be listening to the
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indigenous peoples
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yes and that's where i would like to
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also build up on that
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perspective because now we're talking
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about environmental destruction
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because um apparently if we follow if we
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can actually study
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the tradition and cultures of the
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indigenous peoples
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there seems to be a sustainable way of
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doing things
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sustainable farming because i remember
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one of the things that i learned with
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regards to the eyepiece
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the immune system is not necessarily
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destructive
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it is first when the i when for example
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the manga and even the igarots when they
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did it
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it didn't result into the the new
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addition of forests it's in fact very
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sustainable because of population and
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the strategies
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but given that now as you mentioned most
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of what
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the ips are doing in terms of economic
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activity they're small scale
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so to what extent or how to what extent
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did environmental destruction brought
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about by exploitative practices
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to what extent did it impact the ips in
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their areas
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oh well it's a very big impact and one
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emerging issue now beyond mining is this
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large-scale agribusiness
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you know um i've heard several
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pronouncements from the president
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uh expressing favor for palm oil
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and you know in a way this is uh
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this is an approach um to reducing our
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dependence on fossil fuels
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but when you go to indigenous
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communities where the oil pump
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plantations are
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it's just you know it's heartbreaking we
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went to a community where we see
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high levels of malnutrition and stunting
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among the children because when you have
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these plantations they just
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they're very toxic they kill off um
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their other crops normally and you know
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um so there's a huge impact of um
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poorly thought out development projects
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such as large mining
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large dams and large agribusiness
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the things that indigenous peoples were
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able to do at a small scale in order to
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feed themselves and keep themselves
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healthy
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are now you know affected they can't be
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carried out anymore
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so um so uh
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there's a need really to listen to them
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so that um
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whatever development projects can be
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carried out properly without affecting
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you know all these small scale
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enterprises of indigenous peoples
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i also remember because as you were
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saying about
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the conversion of ancestral lands into
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large-scale agri plantations
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agribusiness plantations
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i think the bananas i think and then
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palm oil pineapples
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i was i remembered that there was an
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issue with land reform in the eyepiece
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because
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on one hand the the government was
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saying okay we will
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implement land reform i think it was in
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boracay if i'm not mistaken
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we will um we will implement land reform
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we will sequester these lands
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and then redistribute it for you
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and then i think there was some also
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some problematic views regarding that
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issues perhaps you can elaborate on that
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yes well to begin with you know land
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reform is a very good thing
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especially for farmers who um you know
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who practice
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um you know your non-indigenous farming
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well
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non-indigenous peoples kinds of farming
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it's very good
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but for indigenous peoples you know what
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the one thing that
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that most destroys the the the community
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it's when individual land titles are
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given out
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and when there is the potential for you
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know these very poor communities to sell
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off
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to sell the land so while it's um
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it's a very good uh you know it's a very
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good
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um program of government land reform
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it may not be the most appropriate for
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indigenous peoples
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because of again this collective view of
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things
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and because of the tendency because of
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their uh
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in their their state in life the poverty
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prevalent in indigenous communities
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um there might be unintended
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consequences
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you know the lands might be lost because
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of the
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the the the ability to sell or to sell
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the land
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instead of you know ancestral domains
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are non inalienable
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so which also brings me to my next
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question because
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you were saying that in terms of so the
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id
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based on also my understanding the
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eyepiece in the philippines they often
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do land as a collective not even
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property
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if i remember it was making gulag who
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said that we do not own the land how can
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you own something that
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will live longer than you right and it
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is very painful for the eyepiece
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to even contemplate selling or moving
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out of land
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but now you also have some of the ips
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moving to manila or going to manila
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establishing schools
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and also but some of them are also
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brought to manila not because of their
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desire
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to integrate because that's a different
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issue altogether
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but because of militarization i think it
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especially in the southern philippines
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there's this very big issue
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and it's all tied up again i think the
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mining and then tourism
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i was thinking what uh
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what do the ips think of this of these
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particular conflicts militarization and
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even
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the wars on ancestral domain and the
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conflict with regards to development
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you know we had a indigenous youth
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summit
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a national indigenous youth summit last
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week
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and one of the main things that the
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children were bringing up was the
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problem with militarization
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you know if they had a choice they would
00:19:06
never leave their ancestral domains
00:19:08
i mean of course some would go out to
00:19:09
study but many go back
00:19:12
because some of the need for community
00:19:14
for the culture
00:19:15
so this is a very big problem um the
00:19:18
militarization because it drives
00:19:20
out the people from their lands and you
00:19:22
know
00:19:23
for indigenous peoples when you uproot
00:19:24
them um
00:19:26
forcibly um uh you know force them to
00:19:30
uh leave the community and go to an
00:19:32
unfamiliar place
00:19:34
you know it has a psychological impact
00:19:35
it's like a trauma
00:19:37
for indigenous peoples so um
00:19:40
and the the other thing that i've heard
00:19:42
is that um
00:19:44
you know much as the situation becomes
00:19:47
unbearable in communities of indigenous
00:19:48
peoples
00:19:49
there are some who still refuse to leave
00:19:51
because they view this
00:19:53
as you know people making an opportunity
00:19:56
or um because when they leave others
00:19:59
would be able to come
00:20:00
inside and claim the lands so
00:20:05
it's a essential being like caught in a
00:20:07
rock between the
00:20:08
rock and the hard place isn't it because
00:20:12
you leave because of the unbearable
00:20:13
conditions and then you you try
00:20:15
you know you i actually that's also what
00:20:19
i mean
00:20:20
because of course uh the ips do not want
00:20:22
to leave their land they don't want to
00:20:24
abandon it
00:20:25
but there's also this question on how
00:20:28
these things militarization national
00:20:30
environment destruction forced
00:20:32
unsustainable destructive development
00:20:34
like mining
00:20:35
like unsustainable mining
00:20:39
does it attack the
00:20:42
fabric of unity among the eyepiece
00:20:46
does it for example foment descent does
00:20:48
it
00:20:49
lead to the eyepiece you know going
00:20:51
against each other
00:20:52
that's something that i think has come
00:20:54
that's a question that comes up
00:20:56
especially with the recent events
00:20:58
and challenges of the ips yeah that's
00:21:00
very interesting
00:21:01
it's very classic it's a very classic
00:21:03
strategy divide and conquer
00:21:05
and in fact we see that more and more in
00:21:07
some of the projects that uh
00:21:09
you know that come into communities
00:21:11
without the consent of the communities
00:21:12
you see the companies hiring community
00:21:14
facilitators who are from the same tribe
00:21:17
and that results in great divisions
00:21:19
within the community
00:21:21
we had a partner community in agusan del
00:21:24
sur
00:21:25
the mamanwa and you know it was just
00:21:28
heartbreaking to see
00:21:29
the divisions within the community
00:21:31
because the the
00:21:32
the mining uh corporation had taken on
00:21:36
a lot of the community members uh as
00:21:38
part of the
00:21:39
the company and their goal their
00:21:42
their their main goal was to get the
00:21:45
other members of the community to agree
00:21:46
to the mining
00:21:48
and so you see uh conflicts within clans
00:21:50
within communities
00:21:52
and as you said this this just it
00:21:55
destroys the sense of community
00:21:58
and um uh just to cite there are some
00:22:01
um uh you know rulings at in the
00:22:04
international level as well as
00:22:06
in national courts that say that uh you
00:22:09
know culture is an essential part of the
00:22:12
um you know of the community and if you
00:22:16
do something that disrupts the culture
00:22:18
you're killing the community yeah that's
00:22:21
interesting because
00:22:22
i think some of them actually utilize
00:22:25
indig
00:22:26
some of them appropriate indigenous
00:22:28
people's culture
00:22:30
to attack the eyepiece and force them to
00:22:32
either
00:22:33
accommodate or concede territory
00:22:36
they have any information or
00:22:38
perspectives regarding
00:22:40
that well one of the things that reached
00:22:43
the national media
00:22:44
was the use of the fabric in
00:22:48
ifugao and you know one of the ways to
00:22:50
get indigenous peoples to back off from
00:22:52
their protests
00:22:54
is to you know it threaten them so
00:22:57
we heard of um cases where some
00:23:00
activists some
00:23:01
indigenous activists were sent the death
00:23:03
blankets
00:23:05
so that's one way that culture has been
00:23:06
appropriated in order
00:23:08
to quell the descent within indigenous
00:23:10
communities
00:23:12
so um and of course you have all these
00:23:15
um
00:23:16
because they know within indigenous
00:23:18
clans and families
00:23:19
usually the eldest has you know they're
00:23:21
they're very well respected
00:23:23
and sometimes what they say is is law
00:23:26
okay so we've seen um you know uh
00:23:30
corporations taking advantage of this uh
00:23:33
you know this sort of cultural
00:23:34
norm and so they they try very hard
00:23:39
to get at the heads of the clans and the
00:23:41
families and once they get them
00:23:43
the rest of the clan falls yeah also
00:23:46
something about indigenous activists and
00:23:48
they encounter harassment
00:23:52
have you any incidences or
00:23:55
events were in the government exercise
00:23:58
state or coercive powers
00:24:00
to harass or prevent
00:24:03
the struggle of the eyepiece or to
00:24:05
hinder the struggles of the eyepiece
00:24:07
well many many times
00:24:11
many times in fact one of the main
00:24:15
problems faced by indigenous peoples
00:24:16
worldwide
00:24:18
is criminalization
00:24:21
well criminalization which includes
00:24:24
killing and harassment of indigenous
00:24:27
activists
00:24:29
and we see the reports year after year
00:24:31
of human rights defenders being killed
00:24:33
a significant up to 40 percent or even
00:24:36
up to 70
00:24:37
are indigenous peoples yeah so
00:24:40
um you see false charges being filed
00:24:43
against them
00:24:44
and in many countries you see the
00:24:47
population in the prison
00:24:48
they're disproportionately indigenous
00:24:51
and it's mostly those who are
00:24:53
you know opposing certain projects so um
00:24:57
i mean i don't mean to sound
00:25:00
dark and dreary but this is what happens
00:25:04
no
00:25:05
and of course indigenous peoples are
00:25:07
trying to do something about it
00:25:10
by providing sanctuary for example and
00:25:13
uh
00:25:14
you know just uh trying to address it
00:25:17
if i'm not mistaken red tagging i think
00:25:19
it's very prevalent and very common as a
00:25:22
common tool of harassment for
00:25:24
the eyepiece right why is it that the
00:25:28
government
00:25:29
views for example they say ah these
00:25:32
they're fighting because they were
00:25:34
influenced by the communists sorry by
00:25:36
the npas
00:25:37
can you elaborate on that
00:25:41
this strikes close to home actually
00:25:44
because
00:25:44
a close family member was put on a list
00:25:48
of um alleged communists filed by the
00:25:51
doj
00:25:52
and you know once the government tags
00:25:55
you as
00:25:56
a either a rebel a sympathizer a
00:25:59
communist or
00:26:01
you know um or you've heard the term
00:26:04
masa
00:26:05
then you're fair game it's in a way
00:26:10
removing the human rights protections
00:26:13
for people so
00:26:16
once you're tagged it's like a hit list
00:26:19
basically
00:26:21
when when you're put on a list it's a
00:26:22
hit list even if they say no no this is
00:26:24
just
00:26:25
you know a listing of um of people who
00:26:27
are potential
00:26:29
or alleged communists but in practice it
00:26:32
becomes a hit list
00:26:33
yeah so yeah you're right you're
00:26:35
completely right this is another way
00:26:37
of um harassing and quelling the descent
00:26:41
of indigenous peoples
00:26:42
because i also remember as well i think
00:26:44
for the lumads who went to
00:26:46
manila for la bayana i think whenever
00:26:49
the military goes to their place anyone
00:26:52
who's
00:26:53
who tries to ask questions are
00:26:55
immediately tagged as
00:26:56
communists or communist sympathizers i
00:26:59
think
00:27:00
that's why i was wondering why is it so
00:27:02
easy for the government to immediately
00:27:05
see the iep who is struggling
00:27:07
for determination for for their rights
00:27:11
they're immediately branded as com
00:27:13
they're immediately branded as
00:27:14
communists why is it why is there this
00:27:16
dynamic between
00:27:18
the ip who is assert the ips who are
00:27:21
asserting their rights
00:27:22
and their relations to communists now
00:27:24
why is there something like that
00:27:27
well um you know uh
00:27:30
the current um i i've really called the
00:27:34
civil war
00:27:34
or insurgency within the philippines
00:27:37
it's
00:27:37
of course it's um it's a guerrilla war
00:27:42
so um many of the rebels
00:27:45
they don't you know form huge companies
00:27:49
of you know
00:27:49
armed uh armed components and parade
00:27:52
them out in the open
00:27:54
of course they have to hide and you know
00:27:56
these very remote areas are in
00:27:57
indigenous communities
00:27:59
so there are studies in fact that say
00:28:01
that 92 percent of rebel bases are
00:28:04
within ancestral domains of indigenous
00:28:06
peoples
00:28:06
and you know the military is saying that
00:28:08
75
00:28:10
of the npa are lumad and so they became
00:28:13
they become a convenient escape yeah so
00:28:17
also with the crest of that because
00:28:18
you're mentioning something about
00:28:20
there is a need for consultation you
00:28:23
should not
00:28:23
enter or even especially exploit
00:28:28
new mud area um ip areas just because
00:28:30
you want development or
00:28:32
or the argument there is because i
00:28:33
remembered that she could have before
00:28:34
during the marcus regina
00:28:36
they were saying why are the ip where
00:28:38
they go
00:28:40
hindering the dam when it will benefit
00:28:42
everyone and also again
00:28:45
there seems to be an issue under an
00:28:47
underlying issue here about
00:28:49
why the ig why people know why the
00:28:53
indigenous peoples
00:28:54
should be consulted why um
00:28:58
how can the eyepiece how we should we
00:29:00
understand
00:29:01
this notion of self-determination of the
00:29:03
eyepiece is it something that
00:29:05
we as because there would be this a
00:29:08
compelling argument that
00:29:09
they're fighting for a mind for the
00:29:11
rights of the minority why should
00:29:13
they why should we suffer so that they
00:29:16
could but there's this viewer but
00:29:18
there are only a few people why should
00:29:19
we always accommodate them and vice
00:29:21
versa
00:29:22
so how can we navigate this
00:29:24
understanding of self-determination
00:29:27
well you know under international law
00:29:30
sorry to be technical but i'll try to
00:29:32
do you know to tone it down as much as
00:29:34
possible all
00:29:35
people have the right to
00:29:37
self-determination
00:29:38
so the filipino people have the right to
00:29:41
self-determination that's why
00:29:42
no other foreign country can impose on
00:29:45
us
00:29:46
well technically yes but um and
00:29:50
indigenous peoples you know from the
00:29:52
term are also regarded as people's why
00:29:54
because they have a territory they have
00:29:57
uh in
00:29:58
social political political cultural
00:30:00
judicial systems
00:30:02
and they have people so they are people
00:30:05
and they also have the right to
00:30:06
self-determination which is basically
00:30:08
just the right to
00:30:09
you know determine what type of
00:30:10
development you know you determine your
00:30:12
identity
00:30:13
your political status as well as the
00:30:16
type of development that you would like
00:30:17
to take place in your territory
00:30:20
so um uh that's
00:30:23
that's the long short of it they should
00:30:25
have self-determination because
00:30:27
that's what that's what all people have
00:30:30
if we really want
00:30:31
to be uh to be equal you know to have
00:30:34
equality and non-discrimination
00:30:36
then this is something that should be
00:30:38
recognized and respected
00:30:40
you mentioned discrimination because
00:30:42
it's something i think that
00:30:44
still needs to be elaborated on because
00:30:47
again
00:30:47
the eyepiece as you mentioned the
00:30:49
eyepiece can be found around the
00:30:50
philippines all throughout the
00:30:51
philippines
00:30:52
and is even in the in even especially in
00:30:55
manila because of the recent
00:30:56
advancements
00:30:57
and now there's this view that
00:31:00
when the eyepiece when they come to
00:31:02
manila it's either because
00:31:04
they want something or
00:31:07
they because i mean for example in term
00:31:10
here in manila
00:31:12
there's this understanding instead of
00:31:14
viewing the for example the bajaus i say
00:31:16
noble seafaring people in
00:31:18
the south they're now being seen as
00:31:21
beggars and i think discrimination plays
00:31:24
a very big role
00:31:26
in that perspective how do the ips
00:31:29
see these events especially when now
00:31:32
they're being seen as something
00:31:34
different and since you're different
00:31:36
you're discriminated against
00:31:40
well you're in fact bringing back some
00:31:43
memories from very bad memories from
00:31:46
the recent elections if you recall uh
00:31:48
senatorial candidate uh
00:31:50
gordon richard gordon he said something
00:31:52
about you know the igorots having gunned
00:31:54
down to beg
00:31:56
having gone down from the mountains you
00:31:58
know to beg
00:31:59
and um you know it's the same thing that
00:32:01
the bajas are facing
00:32:03
and uh this is something even the eye
00:32:04
test during the pinatubo eruption they
00:32:07
also
00:32:07
went to the torah yes in fact um there's
00:32:10
one
00:32:11
story that i always tell in whenever i
00:32:14
lecture to
00:32:14
lawyers in the context of the mandatory
00:32:17
continuing legal education
00:32:19
i tell them that you know in pampanga
00:32:22
where you find the itas
00:32:24
the itas are not welcome they are not
00:32:26
allowed in the regular emergency rooms
00:32:29
in hospitals no and one of the reasons
00:32:32
is because you know they
00:32:33
maybe they stink because they've been
00:32:35
hunting and gathering maybe because
00:32:36
their
00:32:37
skin color is different but that's one
00:32:39
of the things that the
00:32:40
um you know the officials there have had
00:32:43
to face
00:32:44
and you know very well meaning officials
00:32:46
they try to
00:32:48
address it but it's very funny how they
00:32:50
try to address it now
00:32:51
they um proposed a separate emergency
00:32:54
room for the ita that's very
00:32:56
discriminative
00:32:57
yeah so maybe the approach should be um
00:33:00
you know to preach tolerance
00:33:03
or just you know respect for the
00:33:05
different cultures because this is what
00:33:06
makes us who we are
00:33:08
and the diversity of cultures is what
00:33:10
makes us resilient
00:33:12
as a filipino you know as a filipino
00:33:14
nation
00:33:15
so um yeah it's very unfortunate and um
00:33:19
one of the shortcomings of the
00:33:20
government is that they haven't managed
00:33:22
yet to enact a law
00:33:24
that prohibits discrimination on the
00:33:26
base of ethnicity on the basis of
00:33:28
ethnicity
00:33:29
i mean even the anti-discrimination bill
00:33:32
on the basis of sexual orientation and
00:33:34
gender identity it didn't manage to pass
00:33:36
no so that's very sad but what more for
00:33:39
the
00:33:40
anti-discrimination bill based on ethnic
00:33:43
identity
00:33:44
which is an important thing because you
00:33:45
mentioned medical
00:33:47
access or access to hospitals which
00:33:50
brings
00:33:51
brings me to the question in terms of
00:33:53
government social services
00:33:56
do ips have access to social services
00:33:59
like education health
00:34:00
and is it something that they are able
00:34:03
to fully enjoy
00:34:04
again without experiencing
00:34:06
discrimination or
00:34:08
attacks against their identity and
00:34:10
culture yeah
00:34:11
this is something that's also very raw
00:34:13
as um
00:34:14
you know demonstrated by the comments of
00:34:16
the the indigenous youth in our
00:34:19
national youth summit um
00:34:22
yeah you know there's a special term
00:34:24
used by some government agencies
00:34:27
jida have you heard of it geographically
00:34:30
isolated and disadvantaged areas
00:34:32
no um it's their weight is problematic
00:34:36
but yes but it's used to different it's
00:34:38
mostly indigenous peoples because they
00:34:40
live in very remote remote
00:34:42
places where there are no schools
00:34:45
no no government schools there are no
00:34:48
health centers
00:34:49
and so uh this was the basis for asking
00:34:52
for reforms in the
00:34:53
four piece you know uh the panta with
00:34:56
pamela filipino
00:34:58
because one of the conditionalities for
00:35:00
the cash transfer
00:35:02
is that you're able to attend 80 percent
00:35:04
of the classes and
00:35:05
able to have your checkups but if you
00:35:07
don't have any
00:35:09
health centers within the community or
00:35:11
any schools
00:35:12
it makes it really difficult you know so
00:35:15
um
00:35:16
in terms of you you asked about access
00:35:18
of course they have access but it's to
00:35:19
their traditional medicines
00:35:22
but access to the mainstream hospitals
00:35:24
and health centers it's very limited
00:35:27
and then you have this funny thing now
00:35:29
where the government
00:35:30
based on a study conducted with the eu i
00:35:33
think
00:35:34
prohibited home-based birthing you know
00:35:37
they were encouraging facility-based
00:35:39
births in order to
00:35:41
lower maternal and child mortality but
00:35:44
the funny thing is the way that the lg
00:35:46
use interpreted it
00:35:47
is to penalize mothers and
00:35:50
midwives and children who were you know
00:35:53
who who
00:35:54
had home-based births so that's
00:35:57
another funny thing because can you
00:35:59
imagine i heard a story about
00:36:00
from the bastard community in palawan
00:36:04
there was a young mother who was about
00:36:05
to give birth but the hospital was 25
00:36:08
kilometers away through rough roads
00:36:11
so how do you force it do you risk it
00:36:14
you know the mother might die along the
00:36:16
way there are no
00:36:17
and you know you have hubba and you have
00:36:20
the structure
00:36:22
yeah but how can you transport a
00:36:24
pregnant woman who is about to give
00:36:26
birth that way
00:36:27
so yeah there are a lot of things that
00:36:29
need to be recalibrated in order to
00:36:31
address or to respond to the needs and
00:36:34
the
00:36:34
context of indigenous peoples which is
00:36:37
interesting because you're mentioning
00:36:39
you were talking about
00:36:40
how in fact the indigenous peoples were
00:36:44
being penalized for exercising their
00:36:47
traditions precisely in that instance
00:36:49
wherein
00:36:50
they were using traditional medicine but
00:36:53
because
00:36:54
they were being imposed modern views or
00:36:57
not even modern but more of
00:36:59
western views you will be penalized if
00:37:02
you're a midwife or a
00:37:04
traditional birth practitioner
00:37:07
which brings me to my question in terms
00:37:09
of
00:37:10
legal access because we're talking about
00:37:12
several things like ancestral domain
00:37:14
we were talking about now being
00:37:16
penalized for
00:37:17
uh for doing something that's integral
00:37:19
to your culture
00:37:21
and of course in terms of protecting
00:37:23
themselves against harassment and
00:37:24
militarization
00:37:26
how have the ips
00:37:29
engaged government in terms of the legal
00:37:34
processes
00:37:36
organization goes a long way and i think
00:37:39
uh indigenous communities have been
00:37:41
doing a good job
00:37:42
in organizing themselves and linking up
00:37:45
with other indigenous communities who
00:37:47
are similarly situated
00:37:49
there well under national laws also
00:37:53
there are mandatory representatives in
00:37:55
the local government and sometimes they
00:37:57
are able to help
00:37:58
advance the causes of these indigenous
00:38:01
communities
00:38:03
and of course then you have um
00:38:07
organizations that extend legal
00:38:09
assistance
00:38:11
um in fact now we're hoping that even
00:38:13
the integrated bar of the philippines
00:38:15
would be able to extend legal assistance
00:38:16
because of this
00:38:18
it's sort of mandatory legal aid for all
00:38:21
new lawyers
00:38:22
but um but yeah it's it's not very easy
00:38:25
to come by
00:38:26
but indigenous peoples have been strong
00:38:28
in organizing themselves and reaching
00:38:29
out to people who could help them which
00:38:32
is an important
00:38:33
important point because you're
00:38:34
mentioning indigenous people so it's not
00:38:36
just
00:38:37
not just because it means peop the
00:38:41
indigenous
00:38:41
community regardless of your clan or
00:38:44
your
00:38:45
ethnolinguistic group you're now uniting
00:38:48
towards each other now
00:38:49
and i think that's a very important
00:38:50
development so
00:38:52
i guess related to that view and since
00:38:55
the ips are now organizing themselves
00:38:57
or in fact they've been organizing
00:38:59
themselves in time since time immoral
00:39:00
amano it's not as if it's a recent
00:39:01
occurrence now
00:39:02
but what do you think are the just to
00:39:05
conclude this discussion
00:39:06
just to sum everything up now what do
00:39:08
you think are the government actions or
00:39:10
government legislation that should be
00:39:12
passed to address the
00:39:14
issues of the indigenous peoples and
00:39:16
more importantly
00:39:18
why should we why people know regard
00:39:21
even though we're not members of the
00:39:23
indigenous peoples communities why we
00:39:24
need to be engaged in pushing both
00:39:27
government and encouraging the eyepiece
00:39:28
because
00:39:29
the assumption is we're different in
00:39:31
fact we're all filipinos so
00:39:33
um in a way why and how can we help in
00:39:37
the struggles of the ips especially when
00:39:39
it comes to
00:39:40
government legislation and support well
00:39:43
i'll take the
00:39:44
the second question you ask i'm going to
00:39:46
answer that first
00:39:48
and it's um well i've g i've given
00:39:50
several reasons already but
00:39:52
one of the popular things that we always
00:39:54
say is that you know a whole body which
00:39:56
is the entire philippines
00:39:58
cannot be considered well if one part of
00:40:00
the body is not well
00:40:02
no and this is reflected in now what the
00:40:05
un has developed the sustainable
00:40:07
development goals
00:40:08
you know the goals to enable sustainable
00:40:10
development their theme is leaving no
00:40:12
one behind
00:40:13
because if you leave these um
00:40:15
communities the indigenous communities
00:40:16
behind
00:40:17
then you know you're not going to get
00:40:20
where you want to go
00:40:22
no and um in terms of
00:40:25
the changes from government that we want
00:40:27
to see
00:40:28
um you know the election was recently
00:40:31
concluded
00:40:32
and typically what indigenous peoples do
00:40:34
is we develop a legislative agenda
00:40:37
for the incoming lawmakers and one the
00:40:40
top one of the top things is some
00:40:42
uh you know to enact an alternative
00:40:45
mining bill you know something that
00:40:47
respects the right of the people and the
00:40:49
right of indigenous peoples
00:40:51
because as it is now it trumps the
00:40:53
indigenous people's rights act it trumps
00:40:56
you know protections for indigenous
00:40:57
peoples and it provides i mean when
00:40:59
mining is allowed
00:41:00
it provides for a very small share in
00:41:03
the benefits
00:41:05
the others are well um indigenous
00:41:07
people's education
00:41:09
because um you know it's a different
00:41:12
kind of education that indigenous
00:41:13
peoples need it's not just
00:41:15
the for ours that we learn in school
00:41:17
it's also
00:41:18
education about their culture culturally
00:41:20
sensitive education
00:41:22
then the other is to recognize that
00:41:24
indigenous peoples are doing a good job
00:41:26
in taking care of their environment
00:41:28
and this is not reflected in the
00:41:29
protected area system
00:41:31
of the government so one attempt is
00:41:34
through the
00:41:35
indigenous conserved areas bill
00:41:39
which is uh basically to recognize what
00:41:41
indigenous peoples have been doing since
00:41:43
time immemorial
00:41:44
no and another well maybe
00:41:47
one of the last items on the list would
00:41:50
be um
00:41:51
something that uh uh that protects the
00:41:54
traditional knowledge
00:41:56
of indigenous peoples because um you
00:41:59
know
00:42:01
many designers nowadays they really like
00:42:05
for some reason the fabrics produced by
00:42:07
indigenous peoples
00:42:08
and sometimes you see them in new york
00:42:10
fashion week even hollywood has
00:42:12
appropriated
00:42:13
yes indigenous culture from the
00:42:15
philippines
00:42:16
too yeah exactly exactly and so
00:42:19
um that's one of the things we've been
00:42:21
hearing from from the communities
00:42:23
they need a law that would protect them
00:42:25
against all of this misappropriation
00:42:27
of elements of their culture so
00:42:31
it's a long list i can go on i can go on
00:42:34
but
00:42:35
i'll stop there thank you very much
00:42:38
jennifer so just to conclude this
00:42:40
session
00:42:41
it is imperative that we look into the
00:42:44
discourse of the indigenous peoples and
00:42:46
their struggles
00:42:48
it's not because of charity but rather
00:42:50
because we
00:42:51
are part of one big community and in
00:42:54
fact if we look at their contributions
00:42:56
to the preservation of both our culture
00:42:59
our identity and our environment and
00:43:01
their continued protection
00:43:03
of these things that really matter to
00:43:05
our lives as filipinos
00:43:07
it is imperative that we support their
00:43:09
struggles and become one with them in
00:43:12
struggling for a true and liberated
00:43:15
philippines
00:43:16
thank you very much attorney corpus for
00:43:18
joining us today
00:43:19
and thank you for watching this session
00:43:21
of the public intellectual lecture
00:43:23
series
00:43:24
good day
00:43:30
[Music]
00:43:45
you
