This was originally posted by the author on Facebook.

I was flabbergasted and completely knocked down at yesterday's House Ad Hoc Committee Hearing in Upi, Maguindanao, asking myself whether I was hearing it right when the Office of the Southern Cultural Affairs (OSCC) director said the IPRA or the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act is implemented in the ARMM and that the Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA) passed a resolution implementing the said ACT. What was NOT implemented according to her was the devolution of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

Is this plain ignorance or simple stupidity?

This type of IGNORANCE or STUPIDITY tells it all why the OSCC has NOT done anything on the four bundles of rights contained in the IPRA. They do NOT know IPRA and I doubt if anyone in the said Office has understood the IPRA.

The RLA resolution on the Indigenous Peoples is BUT a resolution. It does NOT enshrine the four bundles of rights that make and shape the soul and flesh of IPRA. Such IGNORANCE and STUPIDITY alone would be enough to abolish such OFFICE and BOOT all the people in said Office!

In 1997, the Philippine Congress enacted Republic Act No. 8371, or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA). The IPRA recognizes the four (4) bundles of IPs’ rights, namely: a) Right to Ancestral Domains and Lands; b) Right to Self-Governance and Empowerment; c) Social Justice and Human Rights; and d) Cultural Integrity.

Asking the Regional Governor, Mujiv Hataman, to require everyone in the said OSCC to MEMORIZE by heart and understand the meaning of these four bundles of rights, particularly the RIGHTS TO ANCESTRAL DOMAINS AND LANDS AND THE RIGHT TO SELF-GOVERNANCE AND EMPOWERMENT.

I would like to know if the OSCC has acted on the two most important bundles of rights of the IPs recognized and enshrined in the IPRA.

Truth to tell is the fact that IPRA has NOT been implemented in the ARMM! There is the legal myth that this national law does NOT apply in the ARMM since both RA 9054 says that ARMM shall legislate its own IPRA. It is a legal myth since the Regional Law, much so a simple RESOLUTION CANNOT take the place of the National Law.

Fr. Eliseo "Jun" Mercado, OMI is senior policy adviser at the Institute for Autonomy and Governance. Follow him on Twitter @junmeromi.