On a recent visit to the Philippines, MAX LANE spoke to YUL CARINGAS, secretary general of the Katipunan Ng Mga Katutubang Mamamayan ng Pilipinas or KAMP (Federation of the Indigenous Peoples Association of the Philippines).
Could you explain what KAMP is?
Our organisation is the national federation of all the indigenous peoples organisations all over the Philippines.
Now we have 11 member organisations, four which are regional. These are the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, the Central Luzon Aytas Association, the Lumad Mindanao, which is the umbrella organisation of the indigenous people in the southern part of the Philippines, and another organisation covering the two provinces in the Mindoro region.
The Cordillera Alliance comprises seven different ethno-linguistic groups, collectively known as the Ifugaos. The Lumad Mindanao comprises 18 ethno-linguistic groups. In the Philippines there are over 40 ethno-linguistic groups.
What percentage of these indigenous peoples are organised?
When we organise, we don't do it in the traditional way, through individual subscription, but rather through community acceptance of the organisation. So we don't have any figure regarding how many heads.
What are the main demands of your organisations?.
Centrally, the demand for control of traditional domains and then the demand for the right of self-determination. This is considered to be the central issue of our problems.
For example, the problem of development projects in ancestral domains is very much connected to the activities of agribusiness enterprises. Militarisation of the indigenous people's communities also has links with the interests of business.
One instance here in northern Luzon, a highly militarised area since the Marcos time: the residents were driven out of the territory. Now they see logging trucks hauling out timber. That is why we say that the central issue is control over ancestral lands, the land question.
What do you mean by self-determination?
When we say self-determination here, it has various forms. The Igarots in the Cordillera are demanding political autonomy for the people in the area.
But for other tribes, such as in Mindanao, it is not quite the same. There we define it as the right to manage our communities — politically, economically and culturally. We should have control and management of resources in our ancestral domains. We also want the right to promote our values and traditions.
What success have you had with your campaigns so far?
In terms of legislation, we have influenced the government. For example, in the 1986 constitution, due to KAMP's efforts, the government included a provision protecting our ancestral lands. But no law has been passed to implement this constitutional provision. The reason is most congressmen are from the landed elites, and recognition of these ancestral rights would threaten their mining, logging and cattle enterprises on our lands.
Where do most indigenous people get their livelihood if they have lost their lands?
There are those who, having been driven away from their lands, end up roaming the cities and other lowlands areas begging alms. They have no land to till.
Other tribes still use their ancestral lands, but always they are under threat of being driven away whenever the government decides to use the land for its so-called development projects. One very big issue in Mindanao now is the continued operation of the geothermal plant in Mt Tapo.
Many of the people from the local area have been driven out of their lands because of the ongoing military operation. The people have been evacuated.
Who are the military operations aimed at?
They say it is aimed at wiping out the insurgents, the New People's Army. But our experience is the use of indiscriminate bombing: it is not just the insurgents who are the targets but largely the communities.
What is the state of the struggle for autonomy in the Cordillera region?
After the passing of the act to provide autonomy for the people, there was a referendum. When the Igarot people voted on the referendum, it received support in only one area.
Most of the Igarot people felt that the act did not really answer the needs of the indigenous people. For example, on the issue of ancestral land, it is still subsumed under national programs. The government can dispose of the resources on ancestral lands as it wishes. Resources on such land are still determined by the old laws. Because only one province in the region supported the referendum, the so-called autonomous area covers only that area.
What area of the Philippines do you come from?
I am from the Higaonon tribe in Mindanao. I used to work for the government as a clerk in northern Mindanao. The work seemed to have no meaning. So I had to find work with some meaning. I became involved in working with indigenous peoples organisations in Mindanao. I was elected to the council of the Lumad Mindanao and later was elected secretary general of KAMP.
How do you see the struggle for indigenous peoples' rights and the other struggles occurring in the Philippines?
We are trying to influence the policy of the government. But we do not pin our hopes on the government coming out with truly responsive policies. Our principle is that only we, the indigenous peoples, can achieve our aspirations.
We also enter alliances with other sectoral organisations, such as environmental groups. We are also a member of BAYAN [an umbrella organisation that originated during the Marcos dictatorship]. We have also joined Asian regional and international federations of indigenous peoples.
How does KAMP organise?
In Manila we have about 16 full-time organisers. At the local level we have local leaders and full-time workers. We also get support, mainly financial, from various NGO community organisations. We aim to have self-reliant funding.
We still find it difficult to solicit money from our member organisations because of their past bitter experience. Under Marcos there was an agency set up to "look after" national minorities which used to collect sums of money from the indigenous people and the people received nothing in return. It was a very negative experience for families and tribal communities. So KAMP and its member organisation do not try to collect money from the communities at this stage.
Our main focus of work now is the Filipino Indigenous Peoples' Agenda, which was ratified by KAMP's congress in 1992. It aims to address the problem of the disintegration of
almost all aspects of life of the indigenous people, especially resulting from the loss of control over ancestral land. The Indigenous Peoples' Agenda demands the recognition of ancestral land rights and the right of self-determination.
Our immediate activity now is the discussion at the local level about the agenda and the drawing up of a collective plan as to how to implement a campaign for the agenda. This will take about six months.
The Council of Leaders of the local indigenous peoples organisations will take the agenda down to the local communities as part of the process of working out how to achieve the demands of the agenda.
What is KAMP's electoral involvement?
In the recent elections our member organisations fielded candidates for the municipal council. The intention is to use the election to solicit support for the indigenous peoples' rights.
Some of our people were also fortunately elected. Our experience in general is, however, that it is very hard to win an election in the Philippines if you don't have money. However, some of our candidates won positions in South Kotabatu. Some other non-indigenous candidates who supported the demands of the indigenous people also won positions at the local level.
You visited Australia in later 1992. What do you think came out of that visit?
From my talks with the Aboriginal people there, I see their strategy for regaining control of their lands is different from our strategy here.
One community in Brisbane that I met are entering into contracts with the Queensland state government which requires them to develop their land before they get the right to use that land. Here we have reservations about entering into contracts.
The government here also has this stewardship contract like in Queensland. Here it is for 25 years and is renewable. We have reservations about this because it is an acknowledgment that we are not the owners of the land. We become lessors, with the government as lessee. However, I respect the Aboriginals' method because the Philippines situation is also very much different than in Australia.
At the moment there are no proposals for concrete collaboration with the Aboriginal groups, but we will
continue such exchanges and a process of sharing information.