IP group Katribu tags NCIP inutile; renews call to abolish agency, hold Marcos Jr. accountable for attacks on Indigenous Peoples

October 20, 2025

Indigenous Peoples and advocates led by Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas, the national alliance of progressive Indigenous Peoples’ organizations in the country, trooped to the central office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) in Quezon City on Monday to condemn what they called the agency’s complete failure as a supposed “protector” of Indigenous Peoples’ rights.

According to Beverly Longid, national convener of Katribu, the call to abolish the NCIP “rings louder now more than ever” as attacks on Indigenous Peoples and their communities intensify under the Marcos Jr. administration.

“Indigenous communities face a rise in human rights violations, yet the very institution meant to defend our rights remains silent, blind, and complicit. We do not need an agency that serves the plunderers of our lands. We demand justice, not betrayal,” Longid said.

In a previous statement, Katribu denounced the escalating human rights violations against Indigenous Peoples even as the country marks National Indigenous Peoples Month. A recently concluded International Solidarity Mission (ISM) investigated the widespread militarization of Indigenous communities across Southern Tagalog, Eastern Visayas, and Negros regions.

The mission documented numerous cases of state-perpetrated abuses, including the food blockades and fabricated charges against Mangyan-Iraya communities in Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro; the military harassment and interrogation of Dumagat families in Tanay, Rizal; and the land-grabbing and displacement of Indigenous farmers in Negros due to the corporate takeover by Consunji-owned Hacienda Asia Plantation Inc. (HAPI). Delegates of the ISM were also subjected to intimidation and surveillance.

In the Cordillera, Indigenous communities continue to resist various forms of aggression. From the red-tagging of a Kalinga community leader, to violent assaults by corporate security forces against small-scale miners in Itogon, and ongoing barricades by Mankayan residents opposing destructive drilling operations. Katribu said these incidents expose the hypocrisy of the Marcos Jr. administration’s supposed celebration of Indigenous heritage while waging war against Indigenous lives and lands.

“We are not surprised how these attacks are orchestrated by the state, especially under Bongbong Marcos. Like father, like son. Their greed bleeds for profit and self-interest, while millions of Filipinos, especially Indigenous Peoples, are driven to hunger, displacement, and criminalization,” Longid added.

The alliance also condemned the violent dispersal of residents in Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya, who set up barricades against the mining company Woggle Corporation, whose exploration permit covers more than 3,000 hectares across five barangays. Katribu expressed solidarity with the barricading residents, stressing that Indigenous communities have long resisted destructive mining and so-called “development” projects that encroach upon ancestral domains.

“This only adds fuel to the fire. Mining permits are being granted left and right, displacing communities and destroying the environment, while those who plunder public funds for their own gain are never held accountable. Instead of protecting the people, the state protects corporate interests,” Longid said.

\She added that such projects would not have been legitimized if the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) of affected Indigenous communities had truly been respected, something the NCIP has repeatedly manipulated and faked in favor of corporations.

Longid also emphasized that public funds must be used for public service, not for corruption, militarization, or destructive corporate projects.

“We demand that public funds be used for education, health, and community-led climate rehabilitation, adaptation, and mitigation. The people’s money must serve the people, not the few,” she asserted.

“For twenty-eight years since the IPRA was passed, the NCIP has brought nothing but dispossession, betrayal, and injustice to Indigenous Peoples. It is beyond reform. It must be abolished,” Longid declared. #

Reference:

Beverly Longid

National Convener

Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas