AFP in campuses need people’s consent

2 MIN READ

By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — The campuses-turned-barracks by the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the areas inhabited by indigenous people need the free, prior and informed consent from the affected communities.

With the campuses-turned-barracks by the AFP in the Cordillera and other parts of the country, the House of Representatives may conduct legislative inquiry to look into the matter.

Ifugao Representative Teddy Baguilat expressed this in a press conference after his talk on the revision of the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) guidelines in the Northern Luzon Mining and Human Rights Summit at the Teachers Camp on December 14 attended by more than 500 environmental and human rights advocates from the regions of the Cordillera, Ilocos and Cagayan.

As the media raised the reported AFP camps inside school campuses in Sadanga, Mountain Province, Baguilat pointed out that the FPIC from the affected community is necessary. He clarified that this Sadanga case should be consolidated though with the same issues by indigenous peoples for a realistic legislative inquiry.

The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997 mandates the FPIC from affected communities before a project or program can be done in their communities.

This paper reported the Sadanga case and which was verified by the Hongkong-based Human Rights Watch when they visited the area on November 18.

Summit to recommend FPIC improvement

The participants in the summit came from communities of Northern Luzon where large-scale mining applications are being pushed, said Windle Bolinget, chairman of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance.

He added that that these communities have reached a level of collective opposition to these mining projects amidst military deployment by the Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM).

“Their achievements will be consolidated in this summit and will be sustained through consolidated programs on how to face their burning issues,” explained Bolinget.

One of the concrete results of the summit was on how to address the loopholes in the 2006 FPIC guidelines. “On how to implement this action plan, we will have a Northern Luzon mine watch and human rights network,” he added.

Baguilat expressed his support on the mine watch and human rights network. This will serve to watch the government policies as most of the collective voices of the indigenous peoples are not heard. He shared that the revised guidelines of the House Committee on the National Cultural Communities is now ready to be brought down for consultations with key indigenous community members in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Baguilat is the chairman of the House Committee on National Cultural Communities. # nordis.net