Groups to back GMA plan on ‘Cha-cha’ over tribal welfare

BAGUIO CITY --- A national alliance that advocates indigenous peoples’ rights issues said it would support President Macapagal Arroyo’s decision to pursue constitutional reforms.

But members of the Ang Katipunang ng mga Samahang Maharlika (Ang KasaMa) said Ms Macapagal must agree to sponsor constitutional guaruntees for the rights of animals and plants life. Ang KaSaMa’s associate organizations in Luzon drew up their alternative Philippine charter for 2005 0r 2006 in a convention here last week, in anticipation of a constitutional convention that would be convened by Ms macapagal Arroyo should she win a full six year term through elections.

Ms Macapagal earlier declared her intention to promote constitutional changes to convert the bureaucracy into a parliamentary form of government. Deo Palma, Ang KaSaMa national coordinator, said they were worried that a malacanang – led charter reform would water down or remove provisions guaranteeing indigenous Filipinos’ right to autonomy and their ancestral resources.

Feedback

Joel Belinan, president of Taga Cordillera Kami Inc. (TCKI), an affiliate of Ang KaSaMa, said Baguio Representative Mauricio Domogan aired these concerns based on feedbacks from a series of congressional consultations in 2001 and 2002.

Domogan is a member of the House committee on constitutional reform. He told the INQUIRER earlier that both interest groups have a business organizations have a stake in abolishing controversial laws like the Indigenous Peoples ights Act (IPRA) of 1997, which issues tighter regulations on investment projects located in ancestral lands.

Ang KaSaMa said it would not block constitutional reforms, Palma said. A provision protecting local flora and fauna is one such reinforcing guarantee of IP rights, oalma said, because it protects the ecosystem where indigenous Filipinos thrive.

Accountable

The group also wants to amend the Bill of Rights by making every elected fofficial accountable for the public’s basic needs such as food, shelter, health, clothing and education. “Every politician promises these basic requirements but we can’t sue them for failing. The Constitution should be able to make them pay,” Palma said.

Palma, who joined environmental efforts in South America and Africa between 1990 and 1994, said there is a growing trend among communities world wide to dvelop laws that protect the environment in defiance their respective of their respective governments’ bias for industrialization.

He cited Baguio’s ordinace that penalizes people who nail or staple billboards on pine trees. He said the Constitution should reinforce for Animal Welfare Act, which asserts some protection over Philippine fauna.

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Reported by Vincent Cabreza, PDI Northern Luzon Bureau

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