More than 150 indigeneous peoples "stormed" Metro Manila to participate in a National Summit for Indigenous Peoples which opened today, March 21 at SEAMEO-Innotech, Quezon City. The Summit aims to craft a common action agenda to more concretely address the development needs and issues of indigenous communities. The Summit will be held from 21-23 March 2011. President Noynoy Aquino is invited on the last day when the tribes will present their action agenda to legislative and executive agencies and development partners.
Immediately after President Noynoy Aquino’s inauguration, four sets of IP agendas were separately prepared by different IP aggrupations. But it was realized that one consolidated IP policy agenda would better highlight the pressing concerns of the sector. Thus, the Consultative Group on Indigenous Peoples (CGIP) was established in August 2010, composed of several IP federations (including KAMP, KASAPI, ECIP, KATRIBU and FPP formations) and support groups. It is also supported by the House Committee on National Cultural Communities through Rep. Teddy Brawner Baguilat of the Lone District of Ifugao to come up with such a consolidated IP agenda.
At around the same time, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) intended to come up with a Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) for IPs (referred to as IP Master Plan or IPMP), as directed by the National Economic Development Authority, by the year 2010. The CGIP critiqued the content of the IPMP as well as the manner by which it was formulated. The CGIP thus recommended that the IPMP take off from the consolidated IP agenda.
On October 28, 2010, the CGIP facilitated a national conference where more than 100 representatives of major IP federations and IP support groups produced and affirmed a document referred to as the “Consensus IP Policy Agenda” out of the four sets of IP agendas previously crafted by the IP federations (see attached policy agenda).
However, the consultation’s objective of coming up with an action plan out of the consensus IP policy agenda was not realised due to time constraints. Another broad-based consultation was needed to identify concrete action plans that will move forward the IP policy agenda. Thus, the CGIP is organizing this National Summit.
Apart from meeting these objectives, it is anticipated that the activity will result in greater solidarity among IP organizations and communities as well as among IP support groups. The activity would also be an opportunity to celebrate the gains of the IPs in their struggles to uphold their rights, and to renew energies to continue those struggles in the face of continuing and, in some instances, escalating, challenges.
