The Rights of IPs in Bukidnon and IPRA

There are an estimated 12 to 15 million indigenous peoples (IPs) in the Philippines, which make up around 10 to 15 percent of the Philippine population in 2009. Philippine IPs are distributed among 110 ethno-linguistic groups and occupy 65 of the country’s 78 provinces. The minority of IPs (61 percent) reside in Mindanao.

Every corner and ecosystem in the Philippines has had IP occupants for millennia. Their occupations have predated the colonizers and stewardship has been passed from their ancestors to succeeding generations, thus the term “ancestral” lands.

However, even if IPs consider themselves as designated stewards of their lands, most communities do not have legal recognition over their ancestral domains. This issue brief highlights the battles and struggles of the Manobo and Talaandig tribes to reclaim their ancestral lands in Mt. Kalatungan and Mt. Kitanglad, Bukidnon.