A resolution filed in the House of Representatives calls for a congressional probe into Philsaga Mining Corporation for allegedly denying and violating the rights of indigenous peoples (IP) to their ancestral lands in Consuelo and San Andres in Bunawan, Agusan del Sur.
House Deputy Majority Leader and ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo — along with his colleagues from the ACT-CIS party-list Reps. Edvic Yap and Jocelyn Tulfo, Benguet Rep. Eric Yap, and Quezon City 2nd District Rep. Ralph Tulfo — filed House Resolution 2050.
They urged the House Committee on Indigenous Cultural Communities and Indigenous Peoples and the Committee on Natural Resources to conduct a joint inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the strengthening of Republic Act 8371 (Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act) in relation to Republic Act 7942 (Philippine Mining Act).
Tulfo was prompted to file the resolution after his office received a complaint from Manobo tribe natives Mary Jane Rodrigo-Hallasgo and Amatorio Rodrigo.
“They complained the said mine robbed them of their land. They also did not receive any amount for their community,” Tulfo said in Filipino.
In their resolution, the lawmakers insisted that the Philippines recognizes and protects the rights of indigenous cultural communities to their ancestral lands and mandates the state to apply principles of agrarian reform and stewardship in the disposition of natural resources, subject to the prior rights of indigenous communities.
“They (IPs) were denied their rights over their ancestral land, its natural resources, and royalty shares from the mining operation conducted in their land,” the resolution read.
