THE UNITED NATIONS Development Programme (UNDP) is providing assistance to strengthen the stake of indigenous peoples (IPs) in resource management particularly in ancestral lands.

Titled “Strengthening Indigenous People’s Rights and Development (SIPRD) in the Philippines: 2010-2011,” the program acknowledges IPs’ rights on sustainable use, management and protection of ancestral lands, supporting the implementation of good governance principles, and promoting indigenous peace-building mechanisms.

The program would give IP organizations greater role in decision making involving IP issues.

Ma. Vicenta P. de Guzman, executive director of Tanggapang Panligal ng Katutubong Pilipino, said at the event that “it should no longer be said that in order for, say, a mining project to be pursued that encompasses ancestral domains, IPs will be sought for consent,” she said. “Instead, IPs will be consulted in the decision making, where they will be given a voice to accept or reject the project.”

For his part, Katutubo Center of Ateneo Human Rights Director Sedfrey Candelaria said IPs must be legally empowered through policies that strike the balance between economic development and the right of IP for self-determination.

“Just [last] December, the Office of the Court Administrator released Circular No. 175-2009 which directed all judges, clerks and courts at first- and second-level courts to accomplish a monthly status of cases involving IPs,” he said at the program launch at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

“Traditionally UNDP’s response in the Philippines has been to include local-level components that target IP issues in individual projects. However, unlike many discrete development problems, those faced by IPs are truly crosscutting and require pragmatic interventions that span traditional development focal areas,” UNDP said in a statement.

“SIPRD will integrate and build on current responses and help facilitate greater main-streaming of IPs’ concerns across development agenda,” UNDP added.

UNDP Resident Representative to the Philippines Jacqueline Badcock said at the event that “while about one-third of the world’s poorest people are suffering disproportionately in areas like health, education and human rights, and often experience discrimination and exclusion, around 12 to 15 million IPs in the Philippines also had the same fate.”

The country has an estimated 14 million-17 million IPs belonging to 110 ethno-linquistic groups, of which 61% are concentrated in Mindanao.

As part of the program that would be implemented by the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) and IP organizations, the National Statistics Office will conduct a population census among IPs this year.

SIPRD was launched during a ceremonial signing spearheaded by UNDP, NCIP and the National Economic and Development Authority. — GKLG