Hope for indigenous peoples

FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY
Ka Iking Señeres

It’s good to have ancestral domains for indigenous peoples, but let us be aware of the fact that not all indigenous tribes have their own ancestral domains. In the United States, the federal government there set aside Indian reservations for their indigenous tribes, but for practical reasons, the sites given to them were not necessarily their original ancestral domains, but were new territories that were in the vicinity of their original settlements.

This should be the approach here also, because there are native tribes here that could no longer go back to their original settlements, not to mention the nomadic tribes that really have no physical areas so to speak.

In theory, the ancestral domains are already private properties, except the fact that the legal owners are the tribal associations that the natives have formed among themselves. Actually, the process of awarding Certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADT) is more complicated, because the applicants have to prove that they have occupied the claimed areas for so long.

This could be a problem, because many of the tribes have been displaced for so long also, so much so that they no longer have the legal advantage of being in possession of the land.
To go direct to the point, I am now advocating the creation of new tribal communities for the members of the indigenous tribes who may not have (or who may no longer have) their own ancestral domains to claim, but are still intact as a cohesive tribal society.

This could be the case of Manobo people who still live around the mountain areas of Mindanao, but have been scattered all over the big island by their own diaspora of sorts, caused mainly be irresponsible logging and mining over the past years. Believe it or not, it could be responsible tree planting and controlled land use that could bring them back together again.

For all intents and purposes, these new tribal communities could be given land titles that could be carved out of the former logging concessions and mining camps all over the country. By doing this, we will not only be able to restore the scattered tribes geographically, we will also be able to repair the ecology of these damaged areas, in a way bringing them back as much as possible to their original natural state. Repair is just a starting point of course, because in the long run, we might build enough confidence to go for restoration as well.

There is now a global trend towards the creation and promotion of Indigenous Peoples and Community Conserved (ICCA) areas, and the national government is now supporting it locally through the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB). On the academic side, the local implementation of the ICCA approach is also supported by the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP-NCPAG). On the private side, the lead organization for ICCA is the Koalisyon ng Katutubong Samahan ng Pilipinas (KASAPI). It is also supported internationally by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The creation of new tribal communities would fit perfectly into the ICCA approach, because it will bring together the organized CADT areas and the now disorganized tribal areas into one cohesive strategy. In a recent meeting of the Corinthian Coffee Clutch (C3), it was agreed to channel all the resources of C3 to all ancestral domains all over the country, including what would eventually become the new tribal communities.

If you know of organizations of indigenous peoples who could benefit from this offer of assistance, please let us know. KASAPI Secretary General Giovanni Reyes says that the ancestral domain areas are actually natural cathedrals where the indigenous peoples are able to express their faith in God, through their own native ways.

He also says that if the ancestral domains will disappear, our natural culture will also disappear, and that could also lead to our disappearance as a nation. In the same meeting of C3, it was also discussed that the disappearance of our native seeds and natural crops could also pose threats to our food security in the long run. For feedback, email iseneres@yahoo.com or text +639083159262