Indigenous groups to deliver their own version of the SONA
07/28/2008 | 10:46 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Indigenous peoples’ groups from Mindanao will be delivering their own version of state of the nation, drawing attention to the plight of Philippine ethnic groups who feel they have been excluded from the country’s development agenda.
The State of the Indigenous Peoples will be an occasion for truth-telling, a venue for various groups to speak of their situation in their own words, said Judy Pamela Pasimio of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center/Kasama sa Kalikasan/Friends of the Earth.
The State of the Indigenous Peoples will bring together IPs and IP advocate groups in Camp Alano, Toril, Davao City from July 28-31 2008.
Indigenous peoples, estimated to number 12 million, remain practically invisible in past State of the Nation Addresses (SONA), the legal and policy research and advocacy group said.
“Given the reported theme of this year’s address, there seems little chance of this changing," the group said. “The State of Indigenous Peoples will expose the real state of the lives of the indigenous peoples in Mindanao, who seem to be always missing in President Arroyo’s agenda. It is an opportunity for society’s most disenfranchised to be heard."
Besides from a failed promise in 2001 to distribute 100 certificate of ancestral domain titles (CADT) per year, issues pertaining to ethnic groups “were left out of succeeding speeches which focused on economic, fiscal and infrastructure targets."
LRC stated that while virtually no mention is made of the indigenous peoples in Arroyo’s annual report to Congress, they often bear the brunt of the aggressive drive for development emanating from the targets set during the SONA.
“Indigenous groups in effect suffer a double whammy, being excluded from development agenda-setting even as their ancestral lands often end up as the prime targets for ‘development.’ The Arroyo administration’s efforts to attract foreign investment into the mining sector for example often result in displacement of indigenous peoples from their ancestral domains," Pasimio said.
LRC revealed that of 23 identified priority mining areas, 16 cover indigenous territories in Mindanao, Palawan, Mindoro, and the Cordilleras presenting a clear and present danger to indigenous communities in these areas.
“Our indigenous peoples continue to be victims of flawed development priorities which encourage logging, mining, agricultural plantations, chemical farming and other destructive practices. Their survival should not be subordinated to a national agenda they did not participate in crafting," Pasimio said. - GMANews.TV
The State of the Indigenous Peoples will be an occasion for truth-telling, a venue for various groups to speak of their situation in their own words, said Judy Pamela Pasimio of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center/Kasama sa Kalikasan/Friends of the Earth.
The State of the Indigenous Peoples will bring together IPs and IP advocate groups in Camp Alano, Toril, Davao City from July 28-31 2008.
Indigenous peoples, estimated to number 12 million, remain practically invisible in past State of the Nation Addresses (SONA), the legal and policy research and advocacy group said.
“Given the reported theme of this year’s address, there seems little chance of this changing," the group said. “The State of Indigenous Peoples will expose the real state of the lives of the indigenous peoples in Mindanao, who seem to be always missing in President Arroyo’s agenda. It is an opportunity for society’s most disenfranchised to be heard."
Besides from a failed promise in 2001 to distribute 100 certificate of ancestral domain titles (CADT) per year, issues pertaining to ethnic groups “were left out of succeeding speeches which focused on economic, fiscal and infrastructure targets."
LRC stated that while virtually no mention is made of the indigenous peoples in Arroyo’s annual report to Congress, they often bear the brunt of the aggressive drive for development emanating from the targets set during the SONA.
“Indigenous groups in effect suffer a double whammy, being excluded from development agenda-setting even as their ancestral lands often end up as the prime targets for ‘development.’ The Arroyo administration’s efforts to attract foreign investment into the mining sector for example often result in displacement of indigenous peoples from their ancestral domains," Pasimio said.
LRC revealed that of 23 identified priority mining areas, 16 cover indigenous territories in Mindanao, Palawan, Mindoro, and the Cordilleras presenting a clear and present danger to indigenous communities in these areas.
“Our indigenous peoples continue to be victims of flawed development priorities which encourage logging, mining, agricultural plantations, chemical farming and other destructive practices. Their survival should not be subordinated to a national agenda they did not participate in crafting," Pasimio said. - GMANews.TV
