August 9, 2020
The women and men of the Center for Development Programs in the Cordillera (CDPC) join the rest of the indigenous peoples and their advocates worldwide in commemorating the 26th year of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the United Nations in December 23, 1994 as a result of sustained lobbying by grassroots indigenous peoples movements all over the world.
While indigenous peoples are acknowledged as peoples with minimum set of international standards of protecting and fulfilling our rights as individuals and as collective peoples, they continue to struggle to have the international standards be realized in their full intent.
Here in the Cordillera region, indigenous peasants in the rural areas continue to demand for State support for their sustainable agro-ecological production system. With rice sufficiency as the barest minimum standard for food security, indigenous peasants are calling for comprehensive, appropriate and technologically advanced means of rehabilitation, conservation and protection of their age-old communal irrigation systems and rice terraces. Intrinsically linked with their food security is the conservation and protection of their forests, river systems and ecological systems.
The resistance of indigenous peasants to interventions on large-scale hydropower, and geothermal facilities and mining extraction is a struggle for right to food security. Indigenous peasants in Alimit, Ifugao have filed a petition of ‘no consent’ at the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples against the 390 megawatt SN-Aboitiz Alimit Hydropower Complex. SN fully owned by the Norwegian government. More than 1,100 families of indigenous Isnegs are confronted with the proposed construction of a 150 megawatt Gened 1 Hydro Electric Power Project by the Pan Pacific Renewable Power Philippines Corp. The indigenous Kalinga people are about to confront a 120 megawatt geothermal project by the Aragorn Power and Energy Corporation, which is majority owned by the Henry Sy family. This geothermal project is a joint intervention with Chevron, a US-owned corporation. Both the SN Aboitiz Alimit hydro power and the Aragorn Project in Kalinga are granted Certificate of Energy Project of National Significance.
As indigenous peasants are struggling for right to food security with the COVID19 pandemic, the weak health system in the rural areas makes them vulnerable once the virus enters their isolated communities. While their isolation provides a level of protection, the state of their health system cannot respond to the entry of the virus in their villages. The health protocols in containing the spread of the virus, tracing, isolation and treatment are specifically designed in urban context. While protocols on social distancing, hygiene, personal protective equipment are being forcibly imposed in far flung indigenous communities, nothing is being done to increase the capacity of the health system.
On the opening of school year on August 24, parents will have to choose whether or not to continue their livelihood to be able to attend to the education of their children. The Philippine government insists to implement what they call as blended learning system of modular, virtual platform, radio, television or combination. Apart from the concern on the effectiveness of such blended learning system, parents will be forced to serve as teachers for their children. Indigenous poor families cannot afford not to work. The blended learning system is seen to be discriminatory against poor indigenous children.
As indigenous peoples continue to resist destructive projects and discriminatory and ineffective health and socio-economic response to the COVID19 pandemic, leaders and members of dissenting organizations are being harassed, vilified, arrested and killed. Organizations critical of government, including service NGOs, are being restricted from doing their services. The Anti-Terrorism Act makes it more terrorizing for indigenous organizations opposing projects considered as vital and of national interest.
Given these situations, as we commemorate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, the women and men of CDPC support the call of various sectors for the Philippine government to comply with its obligations to the rights of indigenous peoples set forth in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In particular, CPDC supports the call of the Alyansa dagiti Pesante ti Taeng Kordillera (APIT-TAKO) and the Cordillera People’s Alliance to discontinue the energy power projects of the SN-Aboitiz, Pan Pacific and Aragorn and instead shift government intervention to the rehabilitation, conservation and protection of rice terraces and the forests, rivers systems and ecology. Further, CDPC supports the call for increasing the capacity of the health systems from the villages to municipal, provincial, and national regional health systems to be able to address the health impact of COVID19 as we stand in solidarity with the health front liners demanding reprieve and effective protection. Moreover, CDPC supports the call of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers to delay the opening of school classes. ***