House body invites UN exec to probe abuses vs Filipino tribes

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines --  UN Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples James Anaya is being invited to come over to the Philippines to assess the status of alleged abuses against indigenous peoples.

Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr., chairman of the House committee on national cultural communities, has filed  House resolution 2989, inviting Anaya amidst a “seemingly uncontrollable spate of killings of leaders and members of indigenous communities, including children.”

“Genocide is not too farfetched a word to describe the killings of indigenous peoples, which now include women and children,” Baguilat said.

The House of Representatives’ committee which the Ifugao congressman heads has received numerous reports of “exclusion, discrimination and other cases of human rights violations against indigenous peoples.”

Though acknowledging that the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, the Commission on Human Rights, and other relevant government agencies have taken steps to address issues of human rights violations against indigenous peoples, “there remained a need to get an objective third party to assess the human rights situation in the Philippines.”

“Having a third party, such as the special rapporteur, would contribute to devising and implementing a stronger government response to human rights violations against indigenous peoples,”  Baguilat said.

A number of indigenous peoples  have reportedly been killed because of their anti-large scale logging and mining stances in the country.  “Most of those suspected of the killings are military and paramilitary. Thus, government investigators could have a bias when the military is involved,” Baguilat said.

The UN Commission on Human Rights has appointed a Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples to promote good practices and to ensure the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples.

Inviting the special rapporteur to the Philippines was part of efforts to possibly introduce new legislation or amend current rules to further protect and promote the human rights of indigenous peoples in the Philippines, Baguilat  said. - Artemio Dumlao