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Philippine Indigenous Communities Reflection Paper

This document summarizes a reflection paper on indigenous land rights in the Philippines. It discusses the struggle of the Matigsalug and Lambangian tribes to protect their ancestral domains from outsiders trying to buy and develop the land. While there are laws in place to protect indigenous land rights, corruption and a lack of resources mean the laws are not properly enforced. A tribal leader named Maria has advocated for indigenous rights and formed a cooperative combining tribal representatives and the government to preserve indigenous lands and cultures. The conclusion states that indigenous groups need to unite and take action themselves to defend their ancestral domains, as the government has failed to properly punish violations of indigenous rights.

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Leah Boadilla
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322 views1 page

Philippine Indigenous Communities Reflection Paper

This document summarizes a reflection paper on indigenous land rights in the Philippines. It discusses the struggle of the Matigsalug and Lambangian tribes to protect their ancestral domains from outsiders trying to buy and develop the land. While there are laws in place to protect indigenous land rights, corruption and a lack of resources mean the laws are not properly enforced. A tribal leader named Maria has advocated for indigenous rights and formed a cooperative combining tribal representatives and the government to preserve indigenous lands and cultures. The conclusion states that indigenous groups need to unite and take action themselves to defend their ancestral domains, as the government has failed to properly punish violations of indigenous rights.

Uploaded by

Leah Boadilla
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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NAME: Lea R.

Zafra COURSE: BA Communication

TITLE OF THE STUDY: Philippine Indigenous Communities

REFERENCE: https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/land-and-life-indigenous-filipinos-ancestral-
domain-rights
REFLECTION PAPER

Land and Life: Indigenous Filipinos’ Ancestral Domain Rights

Introduction

“I was raised there. I am fighting alongside my family. Even if you buy it, it will never be
yours. Ancestral land will always be the property of the tribe.” “We will remain standing on our
land,” These lines are from Maria, a prominent activist for the rights of Indigenous Filipinos and
a member of the Matigsalug tribe.

“Our ancestral domain is an extension of our life,”. “The land is our source of food,
medicine, and materials to build our homes. We have a very close relationship with the land in
conducting our rituals. It is important for us to protect our land and its environment.” These lines
are from Timuay Cio of the Lambangian tribe. This domain tackles the battle of an indigenous
group over their land in Bukidnon, Maguindanao Province.

Body

Even though there are many attempts on the lives of the indigenous groups, they fight
hard and do not let those who want to buy and conquer their ancestral domains lose. For the
tribes to protect their ancestral domains they took steps and approached the authorities, but
they disregarded them because they are lack of power and money even though there is an
Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) to legally protect ancestral domains for Philippine tribes.
“The laws in place are not always properly implemented. Corruption and fraudulent activity are
often cited in the legal processes. Perpetrators can evade legal repercussions due to
Indigenous communities being unaware of their rights and not having proper legislation in place
to support them. It takes a lot of financial and human capital to fight these battles, which these
communities often do not have.” But then Maria organized outreach and advocacy for
Indigenous people throughout the Philippines. She has formed a cooperative for tribes
nationwide by combining Indigenous People Mandatory Representatives (IPMRs), tribal leaders
responsible for representing Indigenous populations, and the government. The goal of this
advocacy is to Defend their ancestral and Prioritize the preservation of Indigenous communities.
She keeps fighting to preserve their land and culture for her tribes because for her “Welfare is
just on paper.”

Conclusion

The government should make cases of exemplary punishment of those who violate the
rights of Indigenous people, but they do not. Instead, they act with impunity.” In this case, don’t
just depend on the authorities action but instead, do it yourself with your tribe members and
make approached with the other Indigenous groups around your ancestral make your groups
united because it is easier to win battles and solve difficult problems when you are together.

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