BEHIND
THE SCENES
Alfred
P. Dizon
(Rocky Ngalob,
information officer of the Cordillera regional office of the National
Commission on Indigenous Peoples writes this week’s piece)
Baguio, the birth
place of the Native Title doctrine and arguably Indigenous People’s Rights Act
(IPRA) could be its death bed.
In this
year’s recently concluded celebration of the advancement of rights and
collective well-being of indigenous peoples through the annual observance of
the National Indigenous Peoples Day in the Philippines, the NCIP– Cordillera
Administrative Region registered its comments and remarks to the growing
confusion spreading throughout the indigenous peoples of Baguio; that the City
of Baguio is beyond the coverage of Republic Act 8371 or widely known as
Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA).
NCIP-CAR was
alarmed of the erroneous information being planted among the IPs’ consciousness.
If not
corrected, it would lead IPs in the city in limbo. And if tolerated, such
erroneous information will form fragments of the indigenous peoples’ psyche
thus adversely revising our rich history.
This sprang
from the pending case of the Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR)
of Baguio before our regular courts which, by virtue of the Sub Judice rule,
the author is prohibited to comment particularly on the merits of the case.
Nonetheless,
there were issues triggered in aid of answers that is beyond the IPMR issue.
Thus, this humble narrative.
Claiming that
Baguio is beyond the coverage of IPRA, with an intent of excluding the IPs from
the due rights bestowed by the law, is creating a dangerous path for IPs of
Baguio.
The IPs of
Baguio including IPs throughout the nation know too well that IPRA, a
revolutionary law that lifted the then discriminated IPs above marginalization,
sprouted when an Ibaloi native in the person of Mateo Carino went before the
highest court of the highest country (USA) to question and claimed due
recognition over his land against a feudalistic law imposed by our foreign
colonizers.
Such act of
defiance gave birth to the principle of the “Native Title Doctrine,” a victory,
which we, IPs, and other IPs including those across our nation’s borders, hold
dear.
IPRA was also
the only legislation that specifically provided for right of indigenous peoples
to determine their own development, even if there was a qualification in the
1987 Constitution that such development of communities must be in accordance
with national development.
The law
specifically states; “The State recognizes the inherent right of ICCs/IPs to
self-governance and self-determination and respects the integrity of their
values, practices and institutions. Consequently, the State shall guarantee the
rights of ICCs/IPs to freely pursue their economic, social and cultural
development.”
Ideally, this
would mean that indigenous peoples do not only have the power to participate in
decision-making processes of the State, but going beyond that, they themselves
have the power to determine the fates of their territories and their lives.
Our history
dictates that from birth, towards the enactment, Baguio played an essential
role to IPRA’s realization. To think that Baguio is outside the coverage of
IPRA is like stripping the IPs of Baguio off their rights -- rights which were
fought and asserted by their ancestors.
We reduce
them to mere spectators separated from rest of the IPs throughout the nation
enjoying the privileges of the law they have greatly contributed in achieving
-- the very law which sprouted from Baguio. Worse, were rendering them
powerless against the ever evolving forms of injustices deeply rooted in the
centuries old institutionalized feudalistic type of resource management.
Section 78 of
IPRA stating; “The City of Baguio shall remain to be governed by its Charter
and all lands proclaimed as part of its townsite reservation shall remain as
such until otherwise reclassified by appropriate
legislation: Provided, That prior land rights and titles recognized
and/or acquired through any judicial, administrative or other processes before
the effectivity of this Act shall remain valid: Provided,
further, That this provision shall not apply to any territory which
becomes part of the City of Baguio after the effectivity of this Act”, should
not be interpreted as an exclusionary provision of Baguio under the coverage of
IPRA.
In fact, the
high court stated that; “The foregoing provision indeed states
that Baguio City is governed by its own charter. Its
exemption from the IPRA, however, cannot ipso facto be deduced
because the law concedes the validity of prior land rights recognized or
acquired through any process before its effectivity. The IPRA demands that
the city’s charter respect the validity of these recognized land rights and
titles”.
The high
court expressly made such statement in order to maintain the true spirit and
wisdom of IPRA. IPRA did not intend to exclude Baguio from its coverage while
it embraces others. A law that was created to cure an illness of
discrimination, for sure, was not intended to be enacted in order to inflict
another. More so, the law did not intend to sever its ties from its place of
origin. The very place where the law was trained to crawl, walk and was reared
to fight for the rights due for the IPs.
The challenge
currently being faced by IPRA in Baguio is not the first of its kind. In fact,
IPRA has met challenges even greater, one that challenged its
constitutionality. But no matter how great the challenges were, IPRA emerged as
the victor. In these challenges, particularly on the one being currently
impressed to the IPs of Baguio, one thing is for sure; it is not IPRA that is
being tested.
Nor the
rights of indigenous peoples, as these rights have not ceased to exist, and are
only awaiting society’s ability to recognize them. What is currently on trial
is the willingness of our bureaucracy and people seated in power to finally rid
themselves of prejudices and misplaced fears.
The IPs,
especially those who believed and fought for IPRA, their crusade did not end
with the enactment of IPRA in 1997.
They are
mindful that their crusade is a continuous struggle to rid our nation the
discrimination introduced by our colonizers that’s now institutionalized in our
bureaucracy. It is about changing mindsets and prejudices.
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