The Philippines Indigenous Peoples Rights Act and ILO Convention 169 on tribal and indigenous peoples: exploring synergies for rights realisation

ABSTRACT

This article compares the Philippines’ Constitutional and legislative recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights with the provisions of ILO Convention 169 (C169). It contextualises the Philippines’ contemporary recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights, including the requirement to obtain their Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC), within the country’s colonial and post-colonial legal frameworks and considers the challenges faced in implementing the 1997 Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA). It posits that ratification of C169 and engagement with the ILO Supervisory bodies could benefit the indigenous peoples of the Philippines, given the ILO’s extensive experience in overseeing the implementation of C169’s provisions on good faith consultations in the Latin American context. It argues the ILO’s tendency to occasionally resort to a binary veto-no-veto conception of FPIC disconnects the requirement for FPIC from the rights which it serves to safeguard. It suggests that ratification of C169 by the Philippines could assist the ILO Supervisory bodies to move beyond this conception of FPIC as a veto power. This broader rights-based conception of FPIC, as emerges from the IPRA, would be grounded on its historical underpinning, indigenous peoples’ customary laws, and its importance for the realisation of their self-determination and territorial rights as recognised under contemporary international law.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous peoples
• the Philippines
• free prior and informed consent (FPIC)
• ILO Convention 169
• Indigenous Peoples Rights Act

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr Cathal Doyle is lecturer at Middlesex University London School of Law where he was previously a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow. He has extensive experience assisting indigenous peoples in their engagements with international human rights mechanisms. Dr Doyle has published articles, book chapters, and reports addressing indigenous peoples’ developmental rights, business and indigenous peoples’ rights and free prior and informed consent in the context of extractive industries in indigenous peoples’ territories.

ORCID

Cathal Doyle http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8463-3128

Notes

1 International Labour Organisation, C169 – Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) Convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (Entry into force: 5 September 1991) Adoption: Geneva, 76th ILC session (27 June 1989).

2 Philippines Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997, Republic Act No. 8371 An Act to Recognize, Protect and Promote the Rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples, Creating a National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Establishing Implementing Mechanisms, Appropriating Funds Therefor, and for Other Purposes (enacted 29 October 1997).

3 Cordillera Peoples Alliance and Dinteg, A Critique of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (R.A. 8371) and its Implementing Rules and Regulations’ (Baguio: CPA and Dinteg, 1998); Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, ‘Weaving Worldviews Implications of Constitutional Challenges to the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997’, Philippine Natural Resources Journal, 10, no. 1 (2000): 3–44; Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, ‘The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 (Republic Act 8371): Will this Legal Reality Bring Us to a More Progressive Level of Political Discourse?’ Philippine Natural Resources Law Journal 9, no. 1 (1998): 7–45; and Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, ‘Seeking the Norm: Reflections on Land Rights Policy and Indigenous Peoples Right’, in Negotiating Autonomy Case Studies on Philippines Indigenous Peoples’ Land Rights, ed. Augusto B. Gatmaytan (Quezon City and Copenhagen: IWGIA, LRC- KsK/ FOE- Phils, 2007), 37–66.

4 Justice Santiago M. Kapunan, Separate Opinion, Cruz v Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources et al GR No. 135385 December 6, 2000, 3; and Sedfrey M. Candelaria, Comparative Analysis on the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention No. 169, UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) of the Philippines (Manila: ILO, 2012).

5 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to the Philippines UN Doc CERD/C/PHL/CO/20 (Geneva: OHCHR, 28 August 2009), para 26; Candelaria, Comparative Analysis; Yasmin D. Arquiza, ed., The Road to Empowerment, Strengthening the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act Volume 1 (Geneva: ILO, UNDP, NZAID, NCIP, 2007), 1; and Ponciano L. Bennagen, ‘“Amending” IPRA, Negotiating Autonomy, Upholding the Right to Self- Determination’, in Negotiating Autonomy Case Studies on Philippines Indigenous Peoples’ Land Rights, ed. Augusto B. Gatmaytan (Quezon City and Copenhagen: IWGIA, LRC- KsK/ FOE- Phils, 2007), 193.

6 Jose M. Molintas, ‘The Philippine Indigenous Peoples’ Struggle for Land and Life: Challenging Legal Texts’, Arizona Journal of International & Comparative Law 21, no. 1 (2004): 269–306.

7 Isagani Cruz and Cesar Europa v. Sec. of Environment and Natural Resources, et al. G.R. No. 135385, 2001.

8 Candelaria, Comparative Analysis; International Labour Organisation, Indigenous & Tribal Peoples’ Rights in Practice: A Guide to ILO Convention 169 (Geneva: ILO, 2009); Yasmin D. Arquiza, ‘Weaving a new web of life’ INDISCO Case Study No. 7 (Geneva: ILO, 2001); Yasmin D. Arquiza, ed., A Journey of Hope: Implementing the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of the Philippines, Volume 1, The Quest to Reclaim Ancestral Domains (Geneva: ILO, UNDP, NCIP, NZAID, 2005); and Bureau of Rural Workers, ILO Convention 169 Tagalog Version (Manila: Department of Labour and Employment, 1997); and Evelyn S. Dunuan, Vicenta G.P. De Gusman, Christine A. Tomas, Francia H. Concepcion-Bulatao, Marietta R. Aguja-Aboga, Donna L.S. Dunuan, and Maria R.L. Cisnero, ILO Convention 169: Frequently Asked Questions (Manila: PANLIPI, CORE 169, 2006).

9 PIPLinks, Indigenous Peoples Rights Act. http://www.piplinks.org/indigenous_rights/Indigenous+People%27s+Rights+Act+(IPRA).html; UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, GA Res 61/295 (13 September 2007).

10 Manuela Tomei and Lee Swepston, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples: A Guide to ILO Convention No. 169 (Geneva: ILO, 1996), 24; International Labour Organisation, Representation (Article 24) Colombia (GB.277/18/1): (GB.282/14/4) (Geneva: ILO, 2001), para 59; and International Labour Organisation, ILO Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples 1989 (No. 169): A Manual (Geneva: ILO, 2003), 16.

11 Cathal Doyle, Indigenous Peoples, Title to Territory, Rights and Resources: The Transformative Role of Free Prior and Informed Consent (London: Routledge, 2015), 80–100, 126–59.

12 National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Master List of Approved Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) by Region as of March 31, 2018. https://www.doe.gov.ph/eicc/list-process-certificate-ancestral-domain-titles-cadts-region.

13 Tebtebba, Statement of 39 Indigenous Peoples’ Groups from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao “Ensuring Fulfilment of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals: Harnessing Resources and Knowledge for Indigenous Peoples’ Development” August 9–11, 2017. http://www.tebtebba.org/index.php/content/415-ensuring-fulfillment-of-indigenous-peoples-rights-in-the-implementation-of-the-sdgs.

14 ILO Convention 169, Art. 1(2); IPRA, 1997, § 3(h).

15 IPRA, § 18.

16 ILO Convention 169, Art. 1.

17 IPRA, 1989, § 3(h).

18 International Labour Organisation, International Labour Conference, 75th Session, ILO Partial Revision of the Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957 (no. 107): Sixth Item on the Agenda, Report VI(2) (Geneva: ILO, 1988), 14; and International Labour Organisation, International Labour Conference 75th Session Record of Proceeding (Geneva: ILO, 1988), 32 § 6.

19 IPRA, § 5.

20 Cruz v Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources et al GR No. 135385 December 6, 2000.

21 CERD, Concluding Observations of the Committee 2009, para. 22.

22 Doyle, Indigenous Peoples, Title to Territory, Rights and Resources; and Luis Rodríguez-Piñero, Indigenous Peoples, Postcolonialism, and International Law: The ILO Regime (1919-1989) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).

23 Doyle, Indigenous Peoples, Title to Territory, Rights and Resources; Jeremie Gilbert, Indigenous Peoples’ Land Rights under International Law: From Victims to Actors (Leiden: Brill, 2016); and Rodríguez-Piñero, Indigenous Peoples, Postcolonialism, and International Law.

24 International Labour Organisation, International Labour Conference, 75th Session, ILO Partial Revision of the Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957 (no. 107): Sixth Item on the Agenda, Report VI(1) Appendix 1 (Geneva: ILO, 1988), para 74; International Labour Organisation, International Labour Conference, 76th Session, ILO Partial Revision of the Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957 (No. 107), Report IV(2A) (Geneva: ILO, 1989), 33.

25 Fergus MacKay, ‘Indigenous Peoples Rights and Resource Exploitation’, Philippines Natural Resources Law Journal 12, no. 1 (2004), 57.

26 Ibid., 57.

27 IPRA, § 3g.

28 Ibid., § 7c, 8b, 32, 33a, 35, 46a, 52b, 58, 59.

29 ILO Convention 169 Arts 6, 7, 15 & 16.

30 International Labour Organisation, Understanding the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) Handbook for ILO Tripartite Constituents (Geneva: ILO, 2013).

31 International Labour Organisation, Report VI (2) 1988, 56; and International Labour Organisation, International Labour Conference, 76th Session, ILO Partial Revision of the Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention, 1957 (No. 107), Reports IV(2B) (Geneva: ILO, 1989),

32 Doyle, Indigenous Peoples, Title to Territory, Rights and Resources, 85.

33 Ibid., 85.

34 Molintas, ‘The Philippine Indigenous Peoples’ Struggle’.

35 Nicholas P. Cushner, Spain in the Philippines: From Conquest to Revolution (Quezon City: Institute of Philippine Culture, Ateneo de Manila University, 1971), 12; and Owen J. Lynch, ‘Land Rights, Land Laws and Land Usurpation: The Spanish Era (1565-1898)’, Philippine Law Journal 63, no. 1 (1988), 85.

36 Jesús Gayo Aragon, ‘The Controversy over Justification of Spanish Rule in the Philippines’, in Studies in Philippine Church History, ed. G. Anderson (Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, 1969), 6.

37 William H. Scott, Cracks in the Parchment Curtain and Other Essays in Philippine History (Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1982).

38 Aragon, ‘The Controversy over Justification’, 16; De Rivera, ‘Memoria’; and Overseas Minister, Letter to Governor General.

39 Owen J. Lynch, ‘The Legal Bases of Philippine Colony Sovereignty: An Inquiry’, Philippine Law Journal 62, no. 3 (1987), 292.

40 William H. Scott, The Discovery of the Igorots: Spanish Contacts with the Pagans of Northern Luzon (Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1974), 3.

41 Joji Cariño and Geoff Nettleton, The Philippines Indigenous Peoples and Development Series: 1 Authoritarian Government, Multinationals and Ancestral Lands (London: Anti-Slavery Society, 1983), 29.

42 Kapunan, Separate Opinion, 3.

43 United States Congress, A Treaty of Peace Between the United States and Spain, U.S. Congress, 55th Cong., 3d sess., Senate Doc. No. 62, Part 1 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1899).

44 Stuart C. Miller, Benevolent Assimilation: The American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899–1903 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1982).

45 Ibid.; and Cariño and Nettleton, The Philippines Indigenous Peoples, 32.

46 Lynch, ‘The Legal Bases of Philippine Colony Sovereignty’; and James F. Eder and Thomas M. McKenna, ‘Minorities in the Philippines’, in Civilizing the Margins: Southeast Asian Government Policies for the Development of Minorities, ed. Christopher R. Duncan (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004), 68.

47 Winfred L. Thompson, The Introduction of American Law in the Philippines and Puerto Rico 1898-1905 (Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 1989), 128.

48 1902 Land Registration Act (Philippines Bill) and Public Land Laws enacted in 1913, 1919 and 1929.

49 Owen J. Lynch, ‘Native Title, Private Right and Tribal Land Law: An Introductory Survey’, Philippine Law Journal 57 (1982), 274.

50 Cariño vs. Insular Government of the Philippine Islands, 212 U.S. 449 (1909).

51 Ibid.

52 Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC-KSK), A Divided Court, A Conquered People? Case Materials from the Constitutional Challenge to the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997. Quezon City: Legal Rights and Natural Resources Centre Inc, (Manila: Kasama sa Kalikasan LRC-KSK, Friends of the Earth-Philippines, 2001), 15.

53 Cariño vs. Insular Government of the Philippine Islands, 212 U.S. 449 (1909).

54 Leonen, ‘Weaving Worldviews’, 6–11.

55 Leonen, ‘The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 (Republic Act 8371)’, 15; Dante B. Gatmaytan, ‘Confusion in the Courts: The Misinterpretation of Cariño’, Philippine Natural Resources Law Journal 7, no. 2 (1996): 129–43; and Dante B. Gatmaytan, ‘From Cariño to Central Mindanao University: The Troubled Track of the Right to Ancestral Domain’, IBP Journal 36, no. 2–3 (2011): 38–53.

56 Cariño vs. Insular Government of the Philippine Islands, 212 U.S. 449 (1909).

57 Reavis v. Fianza, 215 U.S. 16 (1909).

58 Antonio H. Noblejas, Philippine Law on Natural Resources (Manila: Central Book Supply, 1961), 1.

59 International Labour Organisation, International Labour Conference, 40th Session. Report VI(2) (Geneva: ILO, 1957), 13.

60 Ibid.

61 Phil. Const., 1973, Art. XV § 11.

62 Ibid.

63 Cariño and Nettleton The Philippines Indigenous Peoples.

64 Phil. Const., 1987, Art. XIV § 17.

65 Ibid., Art. II § 22.

66 Ibid., Art. XII § 1, 5.

67 Ibid., Art. XII § 5.

68 Ibid., Art. XIV § 17.

69 Philippines Constitutional Commission (1986), 4 Records of the Constitutional Commission 37 (28 August 1986) Amendments to P.R. 533; and Leonen, ‘Weaving Worldviews’, 29.

70 Phil. Const., 1987, Art. XII § 5.

71 Ibid., Art. XIV § 17.

72 Ronaldo R. Gutierrez, ‘Reconciling IPRA with the Regalian Doctrine’, Ateneo Law Journal 46 (2002), 826.

73 International Labour Organisation, International Labour Conference 76th Session Record of Proceedings Provisional Record 25/4 (Geneva: ILO, 1989), para 14.

74 Department of the Environment and Natural Resources, Administrative Order No. 02 January 15, 1993: Rules and Regulations for the Identification, Delineation and Recognition of Ancestral Land and Domain Claims.

75 Department of the Environment and Natural Resources, Administrative Order 02 1993, Art. VII; and Augusto B. Gatmaytan, ‘Philippines Indigenous Peoples and the Quest for Autonomy: Negotiated or Compromised’, in Negotiating Autonomy Case Studies on Philippines Indigenous Peoples’ Land Rights, ed. Augusto B. Gatmaytan (Quezon City and Copenhagen: IWGIA, LRC- KsK/ FOE- Philippines, 2007), 1–35.

76 Department of the Environment and Natural Resources, Administrative Order 02 1993, Art. IV § 2, 3, 4.

77 Ibid., Art. VII § 1.

78 Ibid., Art. IX.

79 Ibid., Art. 1 § 2.

80 Gatmaytan, ‘Philippines Indigenous Peoples and the Quest for Autonomy’, 8.

81 IPRA, § 2, 13.

82 Ibid., § 2–17, 66.

83 Frank Hirtz, ‘It Takes Modern Means to be Traditional: On Recognizing Indigenous Cultural Communities in the Philippines’, Development and Change 34, no. 5 (2003), 901.

84 The Economist, ‘Undermined in the Philippines’ 27 November 1997. http://www.economist.com/node/107069; and Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, A Divided Court.

85 Cordillera Peoples Alliance and Dinteg, A Critique of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act, 5–7.

86 Ibid., 23.

87 Herminia Degawan, ‘Small Scale Gold Mining as a Traditional Occupation in the Cordillera, Philippines’, in Traditional Occupations of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. Emerging Trends (Geneva: ILO, 2001), 166–7.

88 Gatmaytan, ‘Philippines Indigenous Peoples and the Quest for Autonomy’, 2–3; Philippines Indigenous Peoples, Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines, Philippine’s Indigenous Peoples ICERD Shadow Report’ Submission to CERD 75th Session (3–28 August 2009) (Manila: Tebtebba, 2009); and UN OHCHR, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous People, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, Mission to Philippines UN Doc. E/CN.4/2003/90 /Add 3 (19 March 2003) (Geneva: OHCHR, 2004).

89 Leonen, ‘The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 (Republic Act 8371)’.

90 Department of the Environment and Natural Resources, Administrative Order No. 02 January 15, 1993; and Gatmaytan, ‘Philippines Indigenous Peoples and the Quest for Autonomy’, 10.

91 Gatmaytan, ‘Philippines Indigenous Peoples and the Quest for Autonomy’, 11.

92 Bennagen, ‘“Amending” IPRA, Negotiating Autonomy’.

93 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination, para 13; Philippines Indigenous Peoples, Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines.

94 June Prill-Brett, ‘Indigenous Land Rights and Legal Pluralism among Philippine Highlanders’, Law Society Review 28, no. 3 (1994): 687–98.

95 Rowena Reyes-Boquiren, ‘Decentering the State: Securing Tenure for Kankanay and Bago of Bakun, Benguet’, in Negotiating Autonomy Case Studies on Philippines Indigenous Peoples’ Land Rights, ed. Augusto B. Gatmaytan (Quezon City and Copenhagen: IWGIA, LRC- KsK/ FOE- Phils, 2007), 69–89; Augusto B. Gatmaytan, ‘Political Implications of Banwaon Indigenous Law’, Philippines Natural Resources Law Journal 12, no. 1 (2004): 15–42; and Penelope Sanz, ‘The Politics of Consent: The State, Multinational Capital and the Subanon of Canatuan’, in Negotiating Autonomy Case Studies on Philippines Indigenous Peoples’ Land Rights, ed. Augusto B. Gatmaytan (Quezon City and Copenhagen: IWGIA, LRC- KsK/ FOE- Phils, 2007), 109–35.

96 Cathal Doyle, ‘Business Corporations and Indigenous Rights: The Experience of the Subanon in the Philippines’, in A Living Instrument: 50 Years of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 1965, ed. Keane D. and A. Waughray (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2017), 182–206; and Leonen, ‘Seeking the Norm’.

97 Doyle, ‘Business Corporations and Indigenous Rights’. The author assisted in the development of the 2009 Philippines indigenous peoples’ CERD shadow report.

98 Cathal Doyle and Jill Cariño, Making Free, Prior & Informed Consent a Reality: Indigenous Peoples and the Extractive Sector (London: Indigenous Peoples Links, Middlesex University, 2013); and Cathal Doyle, Andrew Whitmore, and Helen Tugendhat, eds., Free Prior Informed Protocols as Instruments of Autonomy: Laying Foundations for Rights based Engagement (Berlin, London: Infoe, Forest Peoples Programme, Middlesex University, 2019). Different spellings ‘Subanen’ and ‘Subanon’ are used on the Zambonga Peninsula.

99 IPRA, § 38.

100 International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination GA Res 2106 (XX) of 21 December 1965.

101 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Concluding Observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the Combined Fifth and Sixth Periodic Reports of the Philippines UN Doc E/C.12/PHL/CO/5-6 (Geneva: OHCHR, 26 October 2016).

102 UN OHCHR, Report of the Special Rapporteur; and Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination.

103 Philippines Constitutional Commission, 4 Records of the Constitutional Commission 37.

104 Bennagen, ‘“Amending” IPRA, Negotiating Autonomy’, 190–3.

105 Santos v Northwest Orient Airlines 210 SCRA 256 (1992).

106 Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, Individual Direct Request Concerning Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) Philippines (ratification: 1960) Submitted: 2009 (Geneva: ILO, 2009).

107 Doyle, Indigenous Peoples, Title to Territory, Rights and Resources, 91–8.

108 Cathal Doyle and Andrew Whitmore, Indigenous Peoples and the Extractive Sector: Towards a Rights Respecting Engagement (Manila, London: Tebtebba, Middlesex University, 2014).

109 Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Case of the Saramaka People v. Suriname Judgment of November 28, 2007, paras 64, 93.

110 Doyle, Indigenous Peoples, Title to Territory, Rights and Resources.

111 Cathal Doyle and Jermey Gilbert, ‘Indigenous Peoples and Globalization: From “Development Aggression” to “Self-Determined Development”’, in European Yearbook of Minority Issues, 8 (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2009), 219–62.

112 Russell L. Barsh, ‘An Advocate’s Guide to the Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples’, Oklahoma. City University. Law Review 15 (1990), 211.