Lesson 2.

1: The Philippine Prehistoric Period

Accordingly, if you want to know how early Filipinos look like, you just need to look at
the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) - the pure-blooded ones, not those of intermarriages.
Or if you want to have a glimpse of the early Filipino culture, look at the IPs – the
less tainted ones, not those that are much assimilated already. Most of the Philippine
Indigenous peoples (IPs), also called Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs), can
retain their culture, customary practices, and even physical appearance despite
centuries of subjugation by colonizers. But their story was never a walk in the park.

Before we tackle the lives of the IPs during the colonial period, let’s take a look at
first how early Filipinos are being described by early chroniclers as presented in our
primary references. Constantino though, warned the readers of his book that the
writings of the old chroniclers “tended to generalize based on limited observations,
disparaged native customs and values because these did not conform to Christian
norms or offended personal tastes, and consistently viewed pre-Spanish society
from the vantage point of the European experience” (p 27). So, as we continue, what
you will learn is not the absolute reality, you will only see one dimension (that of the
early chroniclers) of the picture. Be open-minded and be critical.

Figure 5 The Balangay Boat in Balangay Shrine Museum, Butuan City. It was carbonized and dated
320 A.D.
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eazy360/4232496901

Before the arrival of the colonizers, early Filipinos had already encountered and
traded with other nationalities like Chinese, Cambodians, Siamese, Malays, Japan,
Arab, Indian merchants. There were also continuing arrivals of migrants from
different parts of South and SE Asia. As we learned from our elementary years, the
term barangay came from the word balangay, known as the Malays' boat, when they
arrived and settled in our country. But another historical account said that when the
Malays came in the shores of this archipelago, they formed a political and social
organization, of which this unit and pattern is called balangay or barangay (see
Zafra, 1956).

Antonio de Morga, a Spanish chronicler, described the early Filipinos by region as

follows: in the province of Cagayan the natives are of medium height, a complexion
like stewed quinces, both men and women are well-features, they have very black
hair and thin bears, smart, keen, passionate, and of high resolution; and the
Pintados (Bisayans) from Leite, Ybabao, Camar (Samar), Bohol, the island of
Negros, Sebu, Panay, Cuyo, and the Calamianes is well-featured, of a pleasant
disposition, of better nature, and nobler in their actions. Morga did not describe the
people of Mindanao in detail, which indicated that this part of the country was not
subdued by the Spaniards (see Zafra, 1956). Early Filipinos were also described
based on different clothing types: the use of leaves to cover only the privy parts,
while others weaved clothes with colorful stripes. Other groups used ornaments
made of beads, gold, or other precious stones in their body for beautification, while
others have tattoos that are culturally significant (see Constantino, 1975).

In the book of Zafra (1956) there were an estimated 500, 000 population occupying
the country, while Constantino (1975) said that there were about 750, 000 based on
the census of tributes ordered by Governor Gomez Perez Dasmariňas. But the latter
is only confined to the lowlands of Luzon and Visayas. Therefore, the population in
the Philippines before the colonial period is more than these numerical figures. Most
of these barangays were found in the coastal area riverine because the source of
protein came from the sea and river. The number of families or houses on each
barangays varies; the smallest only consist of 20-30 people, others are composed of
30-100 houses/families with a total population of 100-500 persons,
ruled by datos or maginoos, while there were also larger political units, these were
alliances of barangays under rajahs, haris or sultans. These groups of people, or
the barangay itself, are not political units; instead, these are more like social
units. Most of the community members were related to one another by blood or
marriage; this is called a kin-based community. Hence, there were no concepts of
social stratification and private ownership because everything is owned collectively,
hence tilling the land is also a collective activity.

The rulers governed their respective barangays or confederacies of barangays.

They are not absolute rulers because their authority is based on established laws,
customs, and procedures. The position is attained by an exhibition of strength and
traits useful for the survival of the community. Because of these, rulers or chiefs
earned the respect of the people. Despite being the ruler, they still retain their
occupation as farmers and do what the rest of the community does. Next to the
rulers are the freemen, who assisted the ruler on matters regarding the community's
welfare. Below the freemen were the dependent population – debt peons. The
natives did not use money; instead, they lent and borrowed rice. Rice was so
precious, that lending it entailed both risk and sacrifice. The borrower had to repay
double what he borrowed or more depending on the local custom. Failure to pay will
result in peonage - meaning the debtor is bound to render service because of debt.
After paying their debts, they are already free from such servitude.

Primitive economies or subsistence economies do not allow surpluses because

these were not geared to exchange and profit. Instead, production is to satisfy the
immediate needs for direct consumption. Excess was granted to a certain extent, but
it was only exchanged for other goods with other groups or within the group. Lastly,
the means of production and labor were controlled and exercised natives
themselves. So basically, these are self-sufficient communities. Even those
provinces that were rich in gold mines and others have pearl oysters; they did not
extract these resources to amass profit and to become wealthy.

Not all pre-historic societies are farmers; many of these were foragers. They hunt
and gather food for immediate consumption. Since these societies are egalitarian,
members have a fair share of responsibilities and equal distribution of resources
depending on the local customary practices. For example, among the Igorot hunters,
games were shared equally among the members. The person who often hunted big
games and was able to feed the people will most likely become a leader because of
his contribution to the group's well-being.

Historians agreed that societies before the colonial period, in general, had different
levels of development. The Muslims in the Southern part of the country had higher
social and economic development and were more organized because they were able
to adopt the institutions of their most advanced neighboring regions. This explains
why they were able to actively resist the colonizers. However, in the course of
colonization, the Spaniards developed other parts of the country and stagnated the
once advanced Muslim south.
Lesson 2.2.1: The Indigenous People Under Spanish Occupation

This discussion will tackle the colonial period, focusing on Spanish and American
colonization. It will only involve the different forms of discrimination, abuses of the
colonizers, and some changes in the existing practices of the natives.

One semester is not enough to tackle this topic, so we will focus on the significant
points to the lives of the contemporary Indigenous peoples. Those that significantly
affected their well-being from the past until the present. What I am referring to are
politics and economics. Yet, these things are quite broad, we will try to narrow and
simplify things because you need to connect this chapter to the rest of the lessons
that we will be tackling for the rest of the semester.

Before the arrival of the Spaniards, Cebu was already a bustling economic hub,
trading mostly with Chinese merchants. Spaniards came and were welcomed in
Cebu's shore, which led to the subjugation of the island and its neighboring islands.
Then eventually, the colonizers moved to the island of Luzon.

Figure 6 Colon St. during the Spanish period. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Cebu.jpg

Bear in mind that pre-historic societies or communities exist independently.

That means, there was no sense of national solidarity until they realized that they
shared the same sentiments against the colonizers. That was already after more
than 200 years under Spanish rule. There was no national government, pre-historic
societies exist independently and with a certain degree of interactions with other
groups through trading and even war. So, when the Spaniards came, they put up
a centralized government.
During the early years, the Spanish regime, respected and uphold the customary
laws of the first Filipinos in terms of slavery, successions, inheritances and wills, and
business transactions. To better practice authority and control, they divided the
provinces into alcaldias governed by officials called alcaldes mayores
and corregimientos governed by corregidors. These are provincial executives, and
they were responsible for administering justice in their respective districts. The
provinces were then divided into towns or municipalities. The Spaniards adopted the
existing communities, but they organized a group of barangays, and the most potent
and influential dato or rajah became the leader. The leader still enjoyed the same
privileges; they were even recognized and respected. This time, they already had
administrative duties and responsibilities in the town's government, like collecting the
tribute and assigning men for the polos y servicios (personal services to the
state). But higher in rank on each town is a Spanish gobernadorcillo (petty governor).
He will coordinate with the leader, especially with regards to the tribute and the polos
y servicios. All these adaptations eventually changed in the latter part of the
subjugation process.

Another essential thing to consider at this juncture is that pre-historic societies did
not recognize private property. Instead, lands and other properties were commonly
owned (communal), no social classes, productions were geared to satisfy immediate
needs, and these were self-sufficient societies (they provide for their own needs) and
many more. But colonization converted all these into exploitative institutions that
geared towards exchange and profit. The means of production became centralized,
former communal lands were transformed into private property, acceleration of social
classes, and other practices like debt peonage and sharecropping were also
institutionalized. These changes, among others, eventually caused struggles among
the natives.

The most prominent of all these struggle-causing changes is the encomienda

system. Technically speaking, the said system was a land grant. But it was not the
case in the Philippines, such administrative unit was to extract tribute from the
natives on the ground that the Spaniards did not have enough funds. As mentioned
earlier, the leader of each town, which is now called cabezas de barangay, was
responsible for forwarding his respective town's tribute to
the encomiendero/gobernadorcillo. According to Constantino, the encomienda
system was generally characterized by greed and cruelty. The following are the
exploitations and abuses experienced by the natives in the hands of, not just
the encomienderos, but including other tribute collectors like the governadorcillo,
aldaldes mayors, and cabezas who abused their offices:

1. Since the time of Legazpi in the earlier part of Spanish rule, tributes were the
most consistently complained of by the natives:

a. Excessive collection. Local officials required the natives to pay more than the
law required. Aside from the encomienda system, natives paid 5 to 6 different taxes.
This left them with almost nothing from their produce.

b. Tortured and/or imprisonment. The natives did not find the tribute justifiable;
as a result, most of them refused to pay, of which the officials send soldiers to forced
natives to pay, and those who cannot pay were tortured or imprisoned. According to
Fray Domingo de Salazar in his report, “ if the chief does not give them as much gold
as they demand, or does not pay for as many Indians as they say they are, they
crucify the unfortunate chief…many chiefs died of torture.”

c. Forced displacement. Others fled to the mountains because their houses

were looted and burned as punishment.

d. Others remain unmarried, and others were forced to kill their children because
they will only add to the burden because of the tribute

2. Forced labor. Men between 16-60 except chieftains and their eldest son
were required to serve for forty days each year in the labor pool or the so-
called polo y servicio. The conditions under the labor pool are the following:
payment of ¼ real a day plus rice to each polista or pool laborer, laborers
were not supposed to be brought to a distant place nor required to work
during the planting, and harvesting seasons because they need to work in
their farms, private enterprises and public works of a non-military nature were
not to use polo labor and do not use the laborers of voluntary Chinese labor
was available. Unfortunately, all these conditions were violated. This forced
labor resulted in:

a. Ruined communities. The absence of men caused manpower shortage which

meant that fields were abandoned; consequently, many people died of hunger

b. Seldom payment of laborers forced villages to provide them allowances,

especially rice, to help them survive. But as mentioned, fields were already
abandoned, so sending rice to the polo laborers was quite tricky.

3. Bandala. This was an annual quota assigned to each province, which was
subdivided among the towns. But the bandala meant “virtual confiscation” – another
exploitative device of the colonizers. For the local government to raise funds, people
were compelled to sell their products to the government with a certain quota.
Unfortunately, the government will set the price, which was usually lower than the
value of the products, and worse, the government seldom pays. In the part of the
natives, no matter what the circumstances that prohibit them from harvesting their
products, like rats or droughts, they still had to buy rice to give it to the government
on credit. And this forced many natives to become indebted to the government, at
the same time, the government kept on accumulating goods.

Also, failure to pay debts and the taxes imposed by the Spaniards will result in the
usurpation of the lands. Unfortunately, these lands were owned and
cultivated by the natives for many years. The Regalian Doctrine declared all lands
in the Philippine archipelago owned by the King of Spain. This eventually led to the
titling of land to settle land disputes in terms of ownership. Land
grabbing exacerbated when the friars started to accumulate land with the help of
corrupt surveyors and other government officials. The natives then were declared
squatters because they did not have any legal documents to prove their ownership.
Since customarily, they do not recognize private property, they do not have any proof
to show that they own the land. As you can see, massive land grabbing, which
caused displacements among many IPs nowadays, had its origin during the Spanish
period.

All forms of abuse and exploitation led many natives from different parts of the
country to revolt against the Spaniards. The 333 years under Spanish rule wrought
significant changes in the lives of the natives and their cultural landscape. This
means that the Spaniards change the customs, religion, practices, and institutions of
the natives. The colonizers put up economic, social, and political institutions
that were quite alien to the native societies. Those who refused to adopt chose to
flee to the mountains and continue living the life they are accustomed to.

The Igorots under Colonial Rule

In the writings of Antonio de Morga (see Zafra 1956), the natives in Cagayan were in
“revolt and rebellion” since the beginning of the pacification. The colonizers were not
able to subdue and penetrate the province's interior, where the natives, called
Ygolotes (Igorots), live. This is not surprising, considering that the Igorots are
headhunters who were capable of resisting the colonizers. Evidence of the Igorot’s
fierce resistance to foreign invaders is recorded by the late Governor Primo de
Rivera who realized the futility of their actions against the Igorot people:

“It is certainly humiliating for Spain and her government at home and abroad to
realize that thousands of human beings, some at the very doorway of the capital,
and many others within sight of Christian towns with government forces and
authorities, not only live in pre-Conquest backwardness, but commit crimes even to
the extent of collecting tribute from the Christian towns themselves without receiving
any punishment for their boldness” (ECP).

Figure 7 Igorot photo as souvenir during Colonial period.

Source: ttp://www.mangyan.org/content/hanunuo
The famous “Igorot revolt” took place in 1601. In essence, it was a religious uprising
against attempts by Friars to Christianize the Igorot people of Northern Luzon.
During this revolt, Fray Esteban Marin was martyred when he and some Spanish
troops were ambushed by some 3000 Igorot warriors. The Spaniards were forced to
withdraw, unable to conquer the Igorots. There were also recorded evidence of
Igorots attacking Spanish settlements in Luzon. For example, in 1773, the Igorots
burned the church in San Nicolas, Pangasinan, “in revenge for the loss of their gold
which they entrusted to a local businessman” (ECP, n.d.).

Identity

Another essential thing to remember is that, when the Spaniards came, pre-historic
inhabitants of the Philippines are not called Filipinos; there was even no country
called “The Philippines.” Because of the Spanish occupation, this archipelago finally
had a name, and the people already had an identity. However, those who were first
considered Filipinos are not the natives; instead, they were the Espaňoles-Filipinos
– those Spaniards born in the Philippines. The term “Filipino” back then had a racial
and elitist connotation. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Chinese mestizos and
urbanized natives were already considered as Filipinos. It was through the
propaganda work of the illustrados when the term Filipino finally became a national
identification, which included the entire people of the country.
Lesson 2.2.2: The Indigenous People Under American Occupation

The Treaty of Paris, signed on December 10, 1898, ceded the Philippines to the U.S.
In a lay man’s term, sovereignty over the Philippines had passed from Spain to the
United States of America. On January 23, 1899, the First Philippine Republic was
inaugurated with Aguinaldo as the Republic's first president. One of his first two
decrees was to “give Spaniards and all other foreigners the right to engage in
business in the Philippines.” I want you to note that, as we discuss the American
Occupation in the Philippines, we will focus on its primary objective: to “exploit” our
resources to satisfy the expansionist policy of the U.S.

The opportunists, the collaborators, and illustrados, showed their acceptance of

American rule. In the words of T.H.Pardo de Tavera, one of the illustrados, “after
peace is established, all our efforts will be directed to Americanizing ourselves; to
cause knowledge of the English language to be extended and generalized in the
Philippines, so that through its agency the American spirit may take possession of
us, and that we may so adopt its principles, its political customs, and its peculiar
civilization that our redemption may be complete and radical” (see Constantino, 1975
p.201). Imagine how these opportunists were aiming to be like the Americans and
trusting the Filipinos' future to the hands of these foreigners because of the notion
that “Filipinos could not be abandoned because they were incapable of self-
government.”

Unfortunately, this “trusting the Americans” resulted in various struggles among the
natives, which eventually led to an uprising. In the first week of July 1901,
Americans established a civil government, two weeks after they created the
Philippine Constabulary. The creation of the latter was to pacify any forms of
resistance against the American occupation. The policy was to use native force to
suppress native opposition. The suppression campaign resulted in the sufferings of
so many Filipinos:

1. Death or lengthy prison sentences. It was the Sedition Law, passed by the
Philippine Commission on November 4, 1901, imposed the death penalty or long
prison term on anyone who advocated independence or separation from the U.S.
even by peaceful means. Even those who “utter seditious” words or speeches, write,
publish or circulate scurrilous libels against the colonizers were punished for many
years of imprisonment and fines. Eventually, on November 12, 1902, the Brigandage
Act was passed. This law classified guerilla resistance as banditry, which is
punishable by death or with a prison term of not less than twenty years. Because of
these laws against resistance and banditry, prisoners overflowed in the Philippine
jails. Many of these prisoners died of undernourishment, outright starvation, or
illnesses due to these prisons' unfavorable conditions.

2. Different forms of torture: water cure (suspect’s head is raised partially,

gallons of water is poured into the mouth), suspects were “tied up by their thumbs” or
“pulled up to limbs of trees and fires kindled underneath them,” others were tied and
dragged bodily behind galloping horses, some were tied to trees shot through the
legs and left to suffer.
3. Towns and villages were burned; hostility involved the entire population:
men, women, and children were massacred, and their possessions looted. Gen.
Smith, in Samar, even said, “I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn: the more
you kill and burn, the better you will please me.”

4. Reconcentration camps were established after the passing of the

Reconcentration Act on June 1, 1903. People were kept in the reconcentration area
so they could be watched closely and to prevent them from helping the guerrillas.
The entire population of an accused barangay/s must move into the zone with all the
food supplies they could bring. Properties found outside the reconcentration area
were destroyed and confiscated, any individual found outside would be arrested and
imprisoned if he/she has no pass or would be shot if he/she attempts to run away. As
a result, fields became unattended. In the reconcentration area, food became
scarce, and diseases were rampant due to overcrowding, inadequate nourishment,
and poor sanitary conditions.

So what is the implication of these? Despite what these American officers were
presented in the U.S., Filipinos welcome the Americans wholeheartedly, except for
the opportunists who got high ranking positions in the government, the rest of the
Filipinos resisted the colonizers.

Why were these people fighting? Different regions of the country experienced
various struggles, exploitation, and hardship in Americans' hands. Poverty escalated;
many officials were corrupt, imposing new taxes and laws that people could not
understand. All forms of resistance, even those of the quasi-religious groups who did
not have clear political programs, sought freedom from foreign rule.

The Economic venture of the U.S.A.

In the first place, why do you think the Americans came? It actually all boils down to
“business.” In May 1898, a geologist from the U.S. Geological Survey, together with
the U.S. Military Expedition to the Philippines, secured information regarding
geological and mineral resources.

The Americans developed import-export trade and invested principally in

the extractive industries (mining and logging). For the operations to be smooth,
there was a need to put up roads, railroads, and other public works. However, funds
for these projects were taken from the people - Filipinos were taxed. In other
words, Filipinos shouldered the costs to facilitate their own exploitation. The
development of the Philippine economy is not intended for the country’s economic
growth but to attract American traders and investors to fatten the U.S. economy.
Our country bought imported manufactured goods from the U.S., and we exported
cheaper raw materials. The colonial policy ensured that our country would remain a
producer of raw materials; hence, we were always at the mercy of the industrialized
countries. Let’s take a look at the reason why the U.S.A. is interested in the
Philippines.
Like Spain, the U.S.A. was primarily targeting China for economic reasons. For its
capitalist forces to fully operate in different countries, it needs to expand. The
Philippines' strategic location makes it an excellent gateway for America to extend its
trade and commerce throughout the Far East, particularly China. When America
started occupying our country, American investors started pressuring to open the
Philippines for exploitation. But since the military government did not have the
authority to enact a law governing property and contracts, on January 2, 1901, the
Taft Commission urgently recommended the passage of the Spooner bill that will
authorize the government to grant the public franchise, to sell public lands and to
allow mining claims. During this time, American miners were already waiting in the
Philippines.

William Howard Taft was the Civil Governor in the Philippines, in 1903 he articulated
a slogan “The Philippines for the Filipinos.” This was widely interpreted by the
Filipinos as an endorsement of Philippine independence. But the objective of Taft
was to promote the standard of living of the people by providing them American
education and developing a consumerism behavior that is profitable in the market for
American products. For the Americans, it is all about investors and Filipino
landowners. Hence, the following opposed to the country's independence: the
American investors in the Philippines, the beneficiaries of the free-trade, the
manufacturers who exported to the Philippines, and others who benefited from all
these exploitations.

What do you think happened to the lands acquired by the Friars during the Spanish
period? President Roosevelt sent Taft to Rome to negotiate with the pope. To make
the story short, America finally bought 410 000 acres of the Friars estates for some
seven million dollars. The act that prescribed the conditions regarding the sale and
lease of the friar estates stated that the estates will be given to some sixty
thousand tenants who worked on the land. But how is it possible for the tillers to
gain back what was taken from them when the law requires them to present
financial security and the selling price set for the land was also beyond the reach
of most tenants. As a result, wealthy corporations and private individuals were the
only ones able to purchase the estate. And those peasants who fought and died
because they struggled against the exploitation of the friars were left, still landless.

Also, the land titling perpetuates the struggles of the small farmers, this has already
started during the Spanish period. Under the Regalian Doctrine, titling alienates the
natives from their lands. Landlords were capable of legalizing their ownership over
the lands, which, for most cases, were usurped through fraudulent surveys and other
means. While those poor and ignorant, the small farmers were prevented from
protecting their property and from acquiring a legal document, the tile. Americans
strengthen the Filipino landed elite:

1. Economically, it was the landholdings of this elite that provided the raw
materials which the Americans required
2. Politically, the landed elite were collaborators of the Americans, and many of
them took positions in the office

Lastly, Americans established the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes (BNT) last 1901
to conduct a “special investigation” of the different ethnic groups living in far-flung
places. As consolidated by Banga (n.d.), some of the impacts of this agency to the
natives or those we called Indigenous Peoples (IPs) are as follows:

1. It intensified and institutionalized the division of the Filipino people,

2. It institutionalized the alleged superiority of the Christianized Filipinos,
3. The category “non-Christian” was associated with the terms savage and wild.
It also perpetuated a feeling of alienation among the Muslims from the term
“Filipino” which was always associated with Christian Filipinos, and
4. It subjugated and objectified national minorities

These impacts are significant in understanding the conditions of the IPs in the post-
colonial period, specifically in the political and economic contexts.

The peasants’ resistance was the result of exploitation. Remember those pre-
Spanish societies called barangays were politically independent of each other, and
they were self-sufficient in food and different needs. All members of each community
had the opportunity to till because lands were communally owned. During the
Spanish period, the natives started to lose their properties and become tenants or
leaseholders subject to the exploitation and physical abuse of the landlords. And
during the American period, the country’s linkage to world capitalism resulted in
the concentration of production for export, not for immediate consumption, unlike
during the pre-Spanish period. This causes more struggles to the people who no
longer produced their staple food. The land is just one of the many things that the
native Filipinos lost every single occupation of the colonizers; cultural
changes were escalating every decade since foreigners colonized our country.
Unfortunately, such changes, as well as the natives' struggles, continue until this
very day. The post-colonial Indigenous Peoples will be discussed in the rest of the
subject.

I want you to remember this historical process to better understand the Philippine
IPs' conditions in contemporary times. Connect this lesson to each topic that we are
going to tackle for the rest of the semester.
Lesson 2.3: Indigenous Peoples Rights and FPIC

Indigenous Rights

All the never-ending struggles, marginalizations, inequalities, abuses, and

exploitations experienced by the IPs during the colonial period call for identifying,
acknowledging, and respecting indigenous rights. International Government
Organizations like the United Nations (UN) and the International Labor Organization
(ILO), as well as the Philippine Government, responded by drafting legal
instruments. These instruments were intended to correct and to avoid the
experiences of discrimination in the past. However, this could be significantly
challenging due to diverging and contradicting worldviews, and most of the issues
relevant for IPs are not appropriately covered nor considered by the existing legal
and development framework of the country. This boils down, again, to lack of
information about IPs among existing government offices.

Indigenous rights covered a wide array of human and social rights regarding land,
health, education, religion, culture, and many more. We will not tackle all these rights
in this subject, but I wanted you to be aware that there are two necessary
international legal instruments and one domestic law that address the plights of the
Philippine indigenous peoples over their rights. These are the International Labor
Organization (ILO) Convention No. 169, the United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of the Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the Philippine Indigenous Peoples
Rights Act (IPRA), respectively.

The ILO Convention no. 169 was adopted in 1983, it is both a legal and technical
instrument. UNDRIP was adopted in September 2007, but this is a non-binding legal
instrument. Meaning, it does not have a binding force of a treaty, and all member
states of the UN are only expected to take it into account in good faith. While IPRA, a
Philippine domestic law, was enacted on October 29, 1997, as part of the Philippine
government's social reform agenda to correct the historical injustices experienced by
its indigenous peoples .

Sedfrey M. Candelaria (2012) made a comprehensive comparative analysis between

the three instruments. In summary:

All three are grounded in the same rationale: to address extreme marginalization of
IPs that has its root causes into historical injustices and discriminations. These
instruments deal with a wide range of similar rights and themes including the
following: the description of IPs, the concept of land and right of ownership, right to
natural resources, right against displacement and unauthorized intrusion,
government responsibility and special measures, human rights, development cultural
integrity, and customary laws, recruitment and conditions of employment, education,
social security, health, and many more. All three also affirm the human rights and
fundamental freedoms of ICCs/IPs based on equality and non-discrimination, prohibit
the use of force and coercion against the IPs, and the exaction of compulsory
personal services. Moreover, ICCs/IPs whose rights are abused should seek redress
through legal proceedings, as emphasized in the three instruments. And on lands, all
three instruments recognize the collective and individual aspect of the right of
ownership and possession of the IPs over the lands they traditionally occupy or have
had access to. Since these lands form an integral part of their lives and culture; and
are essential for their survival, the government is mandated to undertake measures
to protect their rights of ownership and possession over these lands. IPRA provides
for a process of delineation or identification of the IPs ancestral land and ancestral
domains for issuance of titles of ownership of IPs over this land (p.4).

Although the provisions of IPRA were heavily drawn from the standards set by ILO
Convention no. 169, the Philippines government’s ratification of this convention is
still under consideration. Candelaria (2012) enumerated the advantages of the
Philippine government in ratifying the convention: 1. The supervisory mechanism of
this convention would enhance the implementation, monitoring, and supervision of
ICCs/IPs rights contained in IPRA and UNDRIP; 2. Ratification would enable the
country to share its best practices and efforts in protecting its IPs through regular
reports that it would submit to ILO; and 3. Close coordination with ILO would allow
the ILO technical cooperation program on IPs to intensify its activities and assistance
in the Philippines (p.5). Thus, Candelaria strongly recommends the ratification of the
ILO Convention no. 169 because of its advantages to the Philippine IPs, despite
IPRA and UNDRIP, still suffering from historical injustices.

This comparative analysis of the three legal instruments is not enough. You are
required to read these instruments, especially IPRA, which can be found online to
know the IPs' specific rights. This will be applicable in the following class activities.

Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC)

One way to recognize and respect cultural diversity and integrity is to secure FPIC
from the Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs). What is FPIC? When to obtain it,
and how to get it? These are probably the questions that you have in mind.

FPIC or Free Prior and Informed Consent is a means to protect the rights of the IPs
and to have the voice on matters that affect them. This is the ICC’s way of permitting
the outsider to initiate any activities involving them or affecting their community. In
other words, outsiders should religiously comply with the guidelines provided by
IPRA (Part 3) in securing FPIC before initiating their plans, activities, or any forms of
interventions. Despite the guidelines provided by IPRA, securing FPIC is quite
crucial for the following reasons/factors:

1. Language. Because IPs and outsiders came from different socio-cultural

backgrounds, their worldviews differ as well as their perceptions. Thus, the
interpretation of things also varies. With this regard, misinterpretations and
misunderstanding are quite possible to happen.
 2. Fraudulent outsiders. There are already many cases of deceiving the IPs just
to secure FPIC so they could continue with their plans.
3. Disclosing partial information with regards to the activities or interventions.
4. Buying the leader. Most of the ICCs regard their leader as the sole decision-
maker. Outsiders tend to negotiate with the leader alone and bribe the leader
in the exchange of the FPIC.
5. And for some cases, no FPIC at all.

It is imperative to remember that securing FPIC is never as simple and easy as it

may sound. It requires patience, time, and dedication. Because it requires a
repetitive visit to the community until the two parties came up with an agreement.
Unfortunately, in reality, those who engage with IPs or ICCs like developers,
researchers, and even government officials do not have ample time, patience, and
dedication to strictly and religiously comply with the guidelines in securing FPIC.