EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Indigenous Peoples, including the Moros and Non-Moro Indigenous Peoples, have been engaged in various forms of struggles over generations at different levels and intensities. This includes historical conflict over land territories, which can be traced as far back as Spanish and American colonization. The Moros, following the introduction of their Islamic faith from Borneo and Malaya in the 14th century, have existed on the fringes of Philippine society, facing pervasive prejudice and enduring national neglect.

The conflict between the Moro people and the ruling powers has a long history dating back centuries. Tensions heightened when the Philippine government encouraged Christian Filipinos to relocate to the South.

The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has been leading the struggle for Moro Autonomy since the 1960s. Peace talks were initiated between the government and the MNLF in 1972, during which the MNLF expressed its ideology in terms of nation, people, and a nation within a nation. The MNLF strategically framed their advocacy within the context of colonization, using this language to position the struggle as a nation within a nation – specifically, the Moro nation within the Philippine nation. This perspective formed the cornerstone of the MNLF’s discourse. However, eventually, the MNLF reached a peace agreement (Tripoli Peace Agreement of 1976) and the Government of the Philippines began negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Despite the peace negotiations, violence and conflicts continued to occur within ancestral domains, leading to the marginalization of the Lumad people.

In 2001, the Philippine government and the MILF resumed negotiations. The initial significant agreement was the GRP-MILF Tripoli Agreement on Peace (Tripoli Agreement 2001), which outlined fundamental principles and agenda items for the negotiation process, focusing on Security, Rehabilitation, and Ancestral Domain. Following the signing of the security and rehabilitation guidelines in 2001, there was a significant gap in official agreements between the government of the Philippines and the MILF until 2010. The Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain Aspect of the GRP-MILF Tripoli Agreement of Peace of 2001 (MOA-AD) was a significant attempt by both parties to reach an agreement regarding the third aspect/component mentioned in the 2001 agreement, which specifically focused on the ancestral domains. The MOA-AD envisioned a political entity, the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE), and defined a territory designated as the Bangsamoro homeland, asserting it as the ancestral domain and lands of all the Bangsamoro. This kind of appropriation of the ancestral domain language put the MILF, even before the negotiation, in direct conflict with other Indigenous Peoples who likewise have rights and are entitled to their ancestral domain claims within the territory of the Bangsamoro. This perceived privilege of the Bangsamoro ancestral domain claims over those who did not self-identify as Bangsamoro is one of the main reasons for the opposition against the MOA-AD at that time.

In 2008, the Philippine Supreme Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order enjoining the government of the Philippines from signing the MOA-AD, and subsequently, in the case of Province of North Cotabato et. al. v. the Government of the Republic of the Philippines declared the MOA-AD unconstitutional and invalid, citing violations of the Constitution’s provisions on territorial integrity, national sovereignty, separation of powers, lack of transparency, and public consultation in the peace process.

In October 2012, the government of the Philippines and the MILF signed the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB), which would pave the way for the establishment of the new autonomous political entity, the Bangsamoro, to replace the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Thereafter, on 27 March 2014, the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) was signed, concluding the 17 years of negotiations between the government of the Philippines and the MILF. The CAB also refrained from referencing the ownership of the homeland in the definition of the ancestral domain, which encompasses the vesting, occupation, and ownership of the Bangsamoro and their ancestors. On 27 July 2018, former President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act No. 11054 into law, otherwise known as the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL).

Article IV, Section 9 and Article IX, Section 3 of the BOL explicitly recognize the rights of Indigenous Peoples, promote the rights of Non-Moro Indigenous Peoples, and commit not to diminish the rights and privileges granted to Indigenous Peoples pursuant to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and other laws pertaining to Indigenous Peoples in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, specifically the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA). However, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and Indigenous Peoples advocacy groups have observed that the IPRA Law has not been fully implemented in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

As part of its commitment to monitor the situation of the Indigenous Peoples, ensuring the full realization of the Four Bundles of Rights, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), through its Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ESCR) Center and CHR Region XII, convened consultation meetings to:

1. Document the current condition of Non-Moro Indigenous Peoples (considering the continuous lack of recognition of the individual and collective rights of the Indigenous Peoples);
2. Identify government actions and responses; and
3. Determine points of collaboration among the stakeholders and ways forward.