Protect the Rights of Indigenous People in the Philippines

The Philippines is considered to be a highly mineralized area, with geological estimates showing that 8.5 million hectares of land could still be explored and mined. Many of these lands fall within traditional territories of Indigenous Peoples.

The Philippines has around 140 indigenous ethno-linguistic groups representing 15 to 20 percent of the country's total population. Indigenous Peoples are present in 50 of the Philippines' 78 provinces. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights and fundamental freedoms of Indigenous People: "They have continuously lived as communities in communally bounded and defined territories, which left occupied from time immemorial."

In its 2004-2010 Medium-Term Development Plan, the Philippines Government stipulated specific divisions for Indigenous Peoples, such as Ancestral Domain Reform, including the implementation of free, prior and informed consent, the provision of assistance in the formulation and implementation of ancestral domain sustainable development and protections plans (ADSDPPs) and integration of the ADSDPPs in all local development plans.

Furthermore, the plan commits to giving preferential access to social assistance, social protection and safety nets, and delivery of socio-economic services to vulnerable groups, including Indigenous Peoples.