Marcos urged to speak on plight of IPs

Policy advocacy group Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center has urged President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to speak on the issues hounding indigenous communities.

- BY KEITH BACONGCO

In a statement, LRC said many indigenous communities are under siege but Marcos’ fourth State-of-the-Nation Address on Monday, July 28, was silent over their plight.

"Our latest research saw at least 1.7 million hectares of indigenous territories everywhere in the Philippines currently face conflicting land uses such as large-scale mines, forest tenements, and other environmentally critical projects. Despite this, the urgent concerns of indigenous peoples remain nowhere to be found in President Marcos’ SONA for the fourth year running," said lawyer Mai Taqueban, executive director of LRC.

Indigenous advocacy groups recently convened for the State-of-the-Indigenous People Address (SIPA), a nationwide gathering of indigenous peoples to present to the Filipino people the current situations of the IPs as well as the issues hounding tribes across the country.