Twenty-eight years have passed since the enactment of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), a landmark law meant to uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their ancestral lands, self-governance, and cultural integrity. Yet today, many Indigenous communities continue to face displacement, threats, and violence, showing how the promise of IPRA remains unfulfilled.
The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) joins Indigenous communities across the country in marking this anniversary with a renewed call for justice, accountability, and protection. We amplify our demand to safeguard the rights of Non-Moro Indigenous Peoples (NMIP) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), who continue to experience exclusion, discrimination, and harassment amid unresolved conflicts over territory and governance.
The continuing violence against NMIPs in BARMM highlights the urgent need for genuine recognition of their identities and rights. It is not enough for laws to exist on paper; they must translate into real protection, inclusive policies, and meaningful participation in decision-making processes. Indigenous communities must not be treated as outsiders within their own ancestral domains.
PAHRA also stands firmly with the Manobo Pulangiyon tribe of Quezon, Bukidnon, who persist in their long struggle to reclaim their ancestral lands from encroachment and occupation. Their continuing displacement, despite clear legal recognition of their rights, reflects the systemic failure to uphold the principles of IPRA and the broader human rights framework it represents.
The struggle of Indigenous Peoples is a struggle for human rights, justice, and dignity. Their fight to protect their land, culture, and life ways is also a fight for the environment, peace, and people’s rights everywhere.
On this 28th year of IPRA, PAHRA calls on the government, local authorities, and the public to move beyond symbolic recognition and take concrete steps to end the violence, uphold Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and ensure that the spirit of IPRA lives not just in law, but in practice and in the daily lives of Indigenous communities.
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