MANILA, July 27, 2010— As far as the Filipino indigenous peoples are concerned, President Aquino’s first State of the Nation Address was simply “wanting.”
A hundred of IP leaders from Luzon and Mindanao gathered at the Apu Agbibilin Community Center in Brgy. Songco, Lantapan, Bukidnon and listened to Aquino’s speech yesterday.
“Just as in past SONAs by previous presidents, indigenous people were hardly mentioned,” said Robina Poblador, a B’laan from Saranggani province.
“The biggest threats we face in our territories, such as mining, were conspicuously absent.”
The IP participants noted that the SONA demonstrated a marked absence of the issues and concerns confronted by the IP communities, such as the issuance of Certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles, the lack of an environmental and natural resource agenda and the continuing violations of IP rights even within their ancestral domain.
Fidel Malasugui, a B’laan from Polomolok, South Cotabato lamented that Aquino made no mention of the increasing incidences of militarization in ancestral domains.
“Our community is under constant threat from military units and private armies formed by corporations to guard their investments. We had hoped that the President would help us put an end to this problem,” he said.
Throughout the speech, IP communities were only mentioned once- with regard to the peace and order situation in Mindanao, and the need to consult the Lumad tribes, as well as the Muslim and Christian populace affected.
The IP leaders were even alarmed and expressed concern with the President’s pronouncements on business and investments, especially on facilitating “public-private partnerships,” and the streamlining of application processes for investors and businessmen.
“This could make things even easier for the mining companies who seek to enter and operate in our territories,” said Cristina Batiel Moyaen, a Kankaney from Apayao.
“What is alarming is Aquino’s statement regarding his economic strategy, his focus on ‘public-private partnerships’ seems to ignore the long history of plunder of our natural resources and IP ancestral domains, and the long list of human rights violations against local communities brought about by investments and projects by foreign companies,” said Judy Pasimio, executive director of the IP support group Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center.
“Even his call for streamlining processes undermines the stringent environmental and social safeguards in place.”
Pasimio said that to be able to effect real changes, the chief executive has to learn from the past as well as the present.
“Aquino has to prove he is fundamentally different from Arroyo, he has to start challenging the development framework which relies heavily on foreign investments at the expense of our environment, the sustainability of our natural resources, and the survival of local communities” he added.
Miriam Azurin, from the Foundation for a Sustainable Society, Inc. (FSSI) pointed out that “Ultimately, this SONA was more of the same, President Aquino’s framework is no different from those forwarded by the administrations before him, even his anti corruption drive has long been espoused by the World Bank.”
Azurin said that the government’s solutions-the increase of foreign investments and privatization of services as means to augment the budget have already proven “woefully inadequate.”
“Without an understanding of the root of the country’s problems, the reasons why people take up arms, there will be no genuine solutions,” she said.
Realizing the huge gap between their perspectives and those of the people in positions of power, the IP leaders attending the SIPA vowed to forge ahead in their efforts to build greater IP unity and to form a common agenda as an assertion of their right to self-determination. (CBCPNews)
