House panel to probe forcible eviction of indigenous groups

MANILA, Philippines - The House committee on national cultural communities will investigate the reported violations of the rights of thousands of indigenous folk forcibly evicted from their ancestral domains declared as military reservations in the country.

“The committee has been informed of the forcible eviction of thousands of (indigenous people) in Nueva Ecija, Capiz, Panay and Iloilo allegedly due to the declaration of their ancestral domains as military reservations,” said Ifugao Rep. Teddy Brawner Baguilat, Jr., chairman of the House panel.

Baguilat also filed House Resolution 2216 urging the House committee on national defense and security and committee on human rights to conduct a parallel probe on the matter.

He said there are many cases of establishment of military reservations or camps on ancestral lands that belong to indigenous communities.

He cited the cases of the Crow Valley military reservation in Luzon, which is covered by a certificate of ancestral domain title awarded to an Aeta community, and a military reservation in Panay, which according to the Bukidnon tribe of Iloilo is located on the ancestral land.

Baguilat also said the military war games and weapon testing, sporadic and frequent military operations and persistent paramilitary group and intelligence network building in the ancestral domains have disrupted the lives of indigenous groups living in these areas.

“The indigenous communities are under constant danger and vulnerable to human rights violations. They are prevented from exercising their rights over their ancestral domains, contrary to the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act,” he said.

Baguilat said the government guarantees the protection of human rights of all citizens as embodied in Article III of the Constitution and as exemplified in the government’s commitments under Part IV of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.

“It provides that the civilian population shall have the right to be protected against the risks and dangers posed by the presence of military camps in urban centers and other populated areas,” he said.