Republic of the Philippines

UNIVERSITY OF RIZAL SYSTEM

Pililla, Rizal

COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

WEEKLY LEARNING PACK No. 2

SUBJECT: PHILIPPINE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

TOPIC: Definition of Indigenous Peoples
PERIOD: PRELIMINARY 
TIME & SCHEDULE: MW 7:30 AM – 9:00 AM

LEARNING OUTCOME:
At the end of the discussion, you should be able to:
• identify indigenous peoples;
• explain the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997; and
• Attain a well-founded definition of indigenous people and identify who are IPs.

LEARNING CONTENT:
Prior Questions
▣ What is the first thing that comes into your mind when you hear the word
katutubo?
▣ Can you enumerate the name/s of the groups of people in the Philippines that
you consider to belong to the classification as katutubo? What are their
characteristics?

DEFINING THE IDENTITY OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

“The truth is nobody can own anything. That was an unheard-of concept among
indigenous people. We invented that.”
What is Indigenous people?
▣ The Asian Development Bank (ADB), in its Policy on Indigenous Peoples, notes
the key concepts:
▣ self-identification;
▣ linguistic identity;
▣ distinct social, cultural, economic, and political systems; and
▣ unique ties to ancestral territories.

What is Indigenous people?

▣ descent from population groups present in a given area, most often before
modern states or territories were created and before modern borders were
defined; and
▣ maintenance of cultural identities; and social, economic, cultural, and political
institutions separate from mainstream or dominant societies and cultures.
▣ In some cases, over recent centuries, tribal groups or cultural minorities have
migrated into areas to which they are not indigenous, but have established a
presence and continue to maintain a definite and separate social and cultural
identity and related social institutions.
▣ In such cases, the second identifying characteristic would carry a greater weight.

According to Asia Development Bank (ADB):

“Indigenous peoples should be regarded as those with a social or cultural identity
distinct from the dominant or mainstream society, which makes them vulnerable to
being disadvantaged in the processes of development.”

According to The World Bank:

“Indigenous Peoples are culturally distinct societies and communities. Although they
make up 5% of the global population, they account for about 15% of the extreme poor.”
▣ According to The World Bank, indigenous people “are distinct social and cultural
groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources
where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced.”

The Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997

The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), enacted in 1997, defines indigenous
peoples as follows:
What is the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997?
▣ A group of people or homogeneous societies identified by self-ascription and
ascription by others, who have continuously lived as organized community on
communally bounded and defined territory, and who have, under claims of
ownership since time immemorial, occupied, possessed and utilized such
territories, sharing common bonds of language, customs, traditions and other
distinctive cultural traits, or who have, through resistance to political, social and
cultural inroads of colonization, non-indigenous religions and cultures, become
historically differentiated from the majority of Filipinos.
▣ Inherent in this definition are factors such as historical continuity, self-
identification, and group membership.
▣ Historical continuity is characterized by occupation of ancestral lands/domains, or
at least part of them; common ancestry with the original occupants of these
lands; culture in general or specific manifestations of it; and language and
residence, whether in their lands of origin or evicted from it.
▣ The concept of self-identification is inextricably related to group membership,
identity, and history.
▣ The thread that weaves these factors together is the indigenous peoples’
attachment to land and territory.

What is Indigenous people?

▣ According to the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, there are 135 recognized local
indigenous Austronesian languages in the Philippines, of which one (Tagalog)
is vernacular and each of the remaining 134 is vernacular.
▣ There are 134 ethnic groups in the Philippines, the majority of which are
indigenous, though much of the overall Philippine population is constituted by
only 8-10 lowland ethnic groups.

SUMMARY
What is Indigenous people?
In summary, the existing definition of IPs based on the frameworks of the different
international organizations that aim to advance their rights and interests highlights the
following elements:
▣ Self-identification – an individual belongs to an IP group once he or she is
accepted as belonging to the group;
▣ Ancestral Roots and Descent – they boast of a common ancestry and their
lineage can be traced back to the community or group of people that thrive within
a particular territory prior to colonization, or the establishment of modern state;
▣ Historical Continuity of Way of Life – the community or the groups’ distinct way of
life (e.g. religion, tribal system of governance, dress, means of livelihood,
lifestyle, etc.). This tradition-based culture is inherited from a group of people in a
particular territory prior to colonization or the establishment of a modern state;
▣ Ancestral Language Sustained – the language identifiable to them and their
ancestors has persisted and endured either as the only language, as mother
tongue or habitual means of communication at home or in the family; or is
considered as the main, preferred, habitual and general language.
 ▣ Ancestral Land Claim – continued occupation and claim to a particular portion of
land that IPs believed to be home to their ancestors, thus providing them with a
right of inheritance to this land;
▣ Distinct Way of Life and Non-Dominance – the sustained beliefs, customs and
traditions IPs inherited from their ancestors makes them consider themselves as
distinct from other sectors of society, particularly the dominant groups prevailing
in the territories or state they are placed under;
▣ Aspirations for Self-Preservation and Self-Determination – as a non-dominant
sector of society, which has continuously been influenced and assimilated by 19
dominant sectors of society, IPs have a strong determination to preserve,
develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories and their
ethnic identity.

GENERALIZATION
▣ What are indigenous peoples?
▣ Do you think that the Government securing and promulgating the indigenous
peoples’ rights? Support your claim.

EVALUATION (Google Form)

Write the letter T on the blank space if the statement is correct and F if not.

TASK
Do this on Google Document or MS Word
Identify one IP group in the Philippines you think matches the definition of IPs that you
think is most appropriate and acceptable. Find and paste a picture of this group.
▣ Provide an explanation why this group can be categorized under Indigenous
Cultural Communities or Indigenous People.
▣ What do you want to learn about them?

Prepared by:

AARON SIBAOT MUNAR

Part-time Instructor

Noted by:

(SGD) MARIA SALOME A. DESOLOC, Ph. D

Dean, College of Social Sciences