Katribu: NCIP, Sinungaling, Walang Silbi!

Katribu: NCIP, Sinungaling, Walang Silbi!

For nearly three decades, the NCIP (National Commission on Indigenous Peoples) has been entangled in issues surrounding its mandate to protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines. 

We support Rep. Tinio’s call during today’s plenary budget hearing at the House of Representatives for the NCIP to fulfill its mandate to protect Indigenous rights by publicly condemning killings and attacks and by providing more than token financial assistance. The NCIP must stop hiding behind bureaucratic excuses and instead stand with Indigenous communities resisting dispossession and human rights violations.

Under President Bongbong Marcos Jr., Katribu has recorded no less than 10 incidents of bombings on Indigenous lands. Yet the NCIP only responds in vague terms, citing “coordination” with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the same elements of state forces who drop the bombs and violate the rights of Indigenous Peoples, along with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and local government offices.

Sinungaling ang NCIP. They claimed to have issued condemnation statements on the bombing incidents, but later admitted that no such public statements were ever released. Questioned on the killings of three Indigenous youth: Mangyan-Hanunuo Jay-el Maligday, Lumad-Manobo Kuni Cuba, and Elioterio Ugking, the NCIP could not provide a swift or concrete response. A mere ₱5,000 was given to Jay-el’s family, a pittance that can never equate to the life that was taken.

We heard the NCIP’s inaction, even in the simple act of issuing condemnation statements on attacks against Indigenous communities. Its silence in the face of these violations makes the agency complicit in the attacks suffered by Indigenous Peoples. The NCIP cannot deny its involvement in human rights violations, such as repeated breaches of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) in destructive projects like the Gened Dams in Apayao and the Saltan Dams in Kalinga.

In Sitio Malatabako, Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro, Mangyan communities reported that while hearings over a land case filed by Pieceland Corporation were ongoing, they were pressured to settle and give up their rightful claims to their ancestral domain. In Palawan, the Molbog people face harassment and legal cases over their ancestral land, yet the NCIP remains silent.

If the NCIP cannot protect the very people it was created to serve, then its budget and its very existence must be seriously questioned and abolished. Its funds are best redirected to genuine, community-led programs for ancestral land protection and self-determination. # Reference: Beverly Longid

National Convener Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas information@katribu.net