"We shall uphold the Bangsamoro cultural rights and way of life as well as the right to socio-economic development and ancestral domain," Arroyo said

Rexcel Sorza, IOL Correspondent

ILOILO CITY, Philippines, September 10 (IslamOnline.net) – The Philippine government announced Wednesday, September 10, it was "redoubling" efforts in addressing the ancestral domain issues raised by Muslim Filipinos, apparently in reaction to the statement of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that the issue could be a "stumbling block" to the peace process.

The National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), which is under the Office of the President, announced Wednesday it "is redoubling efforts to address the clamor of indigenous people for their ancestral domain rights."

The ancestral domain issue is considered a major item in peace talks between the government and the MILF.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said Tuesday, September 9, the issue on ancestral domain is "the most ticklish issue" in their preliminary peace talks with the Philippine government and may become a "stumbling block" to the realization of peace.

Saying it goes beyond the issues of land area and would touch on the historical background of the areas which are claimed by the Bangsamoro people, Kabalu said their panel which is talking with the Philippine government would likely confine the issue on areas to be covered on areas where Muslims live.

Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles, lead convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Council (NAPC), who supervises the NCIP, reported that since last year the Commission has been coordinating with the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which is legally empowered to handle ancestral domain issues.

On August 15, the ARMM regional legislative assembly approved the measure adopting the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 as the legal framework to recognize the rights of indigenous peoples in the autonomous region.

The NCIP-ARMM discussions were instrumental in the recent passage of Resolution No. 269.

NCIP has made major achievements in pursuit of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s target to distribute 100,000 hectares of ancestral domains every year.

From July 2001 to August this year, the NCIP has distributed 11 certificates of ancestral domain titles (CADTs) covering 367,440 hectares.

"The directive now has added impetus in the peace talks resuming in Kuala Lumpur next month," NCIP said in a statement released Wednesday, a copy of which sent to IslamOnline.net.

"There is nothing greater that I wish for than a complete and lasting peace for Mindanao," Arroyo told a recent conference of sultanates in Manila, adding that this peace should respect the rights and traditions of the country’s diverse ethnic communities.

"We shall uphold the Bangsamoro cultural rights and way of life as well as the right to socio-economic development and ancestral domain," she said.

Among the 11 CADTs distributed are two in Mindanao’s Special Zone of Peace and Development (SZOPAD); 5,680 hectares in Cotabato and 8,213 has. in Zamboanga del Norte.

Further distribution in SZOPAD is planned for the provinces of Zamboanga del Sur, Cotabato, Davao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Oriental and Sultan Kudarat.

The MILF has been fighting for an independent Islamic state for the Bangsamoro people in the Philippines’ southern island of Mindanao since the 1970s.

It is entering into a peace negotiation with the Philippine government, which is being facilitated by the Malaysian government.

The formal peace talks may resume next month in Kuala Lumpur, as both parties expressed confidence they would be able to come up with a solution to the Mindanao peace problem.

A report entitled "Human Rights Treatise on Ancestral Domain", published by Ateneo Human Rights Center in 1996 with support from Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), stressed: "After decades of encroachment of their ancestral lands by loggers, ranchers, miners, lowland migrants, and multinational and government corporations, the tribal Filipinos have found themselves more and more marginalized.

"Dire poverty has eventually driven many tribal Filipinos to work as underpaid miners, plantation workers, and logging concession laborers of giant corporations which have taken over their ancestral lands.

"This marginalization of the tribal Filipinos is easily traced to the gradual loss of their economic base, their ancestral lands and domains, to those who can invoke the national laws on land ownership and utilization."