The second issue of Chamchamag is out! Covered here are the different engagements and activities we had in 2023 with support from various donors as we continue advocating for Indigenous Peoples' rights and their sustainable self-determined development.

During the series of focused group discussions (FGDs) and interviews conducted among the Pidlisan people in Sagada, Mountain Province, Philippines on 29 March to 2 April 2023 with support from SwedBio, indigenous knowledge systems and practices (IKSP) discussion centered on the Dap-ay system, both the political and physical structure of the Kankanaey^[1] people of Mountain Province and Benguet, highlighting the previous formation within the system in relation to the different thematic areas: agriculture, forest management, and saguday (common/communal properties). 

^[1] The Kankanaey people populate the southwestern part of Mountain Province and northeastern part of Benguet.

Presenting the first issue of Chamchamag, Tebtebba's yearly bulletin. This bulletin serves as a collection of Tebtebba's publications and articles developed in 2022 as we continue to amplify the vital necessity of acknowledging, protecting, and promoting the rights of indigenous peoples all over the world. Covered in this issue are some of the initiatives, events, and meetings that we organized, facilitated, and attended with support from our different partners and donors in relation to the continuous advocacy for indigenous peoples' sustainable self-determined development (IPSSDD), the main framework that guides Tebtebba's overall work.

Each family has a fascinating and unique story. Each tribe has a cherished culture and history. What’s yours? We remember our heritage through oral histories, photos or items about loved ones, clan records and family stories. Whether you are of your clan’s first or 13th known generation, connect yesterday, today and tomorrow. 

Let us travel through time with the i-Licoy (Licoy people) to uncover their clan and family histories and their beautiful, nostalgic stories that shaped Licoy ancestral history.

The sulagad system is an indigenous practice that helps sustain high biodiversity in the land as it does not decimate the nutritional content of the soil but, in truth, enriches it further by fostering the use of natural fertilizers (i.e., animal manure, composting, etc.) and pesticides (i.e., cultivating herbs that act as pest deterrents). The said system does away with the mainstream practice of vast monocropping, mass harvesting, and haphazard use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides that gradually poison the soil and remove its vital nutrients, among others.

It was a bright and humid day when we reached the idyllic town of Paracelis, Mountain Province, Philippines at around six o’clock in the morning. The Strategic Communications and Knowledge Management Department (SCKMD) of Tebtebba joined the Philippine Program on their trip to share, to learn and to engage with the Licoy Indigenous community.

We were already expecting to find the place to be somewhat different from the usual bustling Baguio-Benguet area, a thriving metropolis in the northern part of the Philippines where almost all the comforts—and discomforts—of city living were at one’s ready disposal, where Tebtebba’s office is based. We haven’t, however, anticipated to arrive in a town that was totally unusual in so many ways that the week allotted for the activity would turn out to be a blessed adventure on its own.

Founded in 2015, IFOI was established through the guidance of the Diocese Social Action Council of the Vicariate of Bontoc-Lagawe, Northern Philippines that, then, linked the peoples’ organization with National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA)/Caritas Foundation Philippines, the advocacy, development, and humanitarian initiative of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in the country. Aimed at promoting community empowerment through sustainable agriculture, climate change mitigation and adaptation, community-based risk reduction, and agriculture-based livelihood development, muscovado production at Sitio Licoy started. With its vision to attain a sustainable livelihood while transferring Indigenous knowledge to the community’s future leaders, IFOI commenced the construction of its muscovado processing center in 2020 and plans to realize the said building’s completion as soon as additional resources become available.

The IFOI Muscovado Processing Center is an initiative done with support from the local government unit of the said barangay, NASSA/Caritas Foundation Philippines through Farm First and SwedBio through Tebtebba.

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“[Despite the pandemic], 2021 has been a good year for us. With the support of Tebtebba, we facilitated IPSSDD trainings both at the local and national level, livelihood initiatives, tailoring workshops, COVID relief drives, and community cocoa farming.”

Bouba Njobdi of the Lelewal Foundation in Cameroon shared how they incorporate the Indigenous Peoples Sustainable Self Determined Development (IPSSDD framework) in their work during the two-day Elatia start-of-the-year meeting on 31 January and 7 February 2022 facilitated by Tebtebba with support from Brut fur die Welt. Elatia partners shared their various initiatives in 2021, including the challenges they faced as well as the lessons learned from and recommendations on these projects.

“Indigenous peoples’ symbiotic and interdependent relationship with their environment and ecosystems is central to their collective survival.”

Kimaren ole Riamit, Executive Director of the Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners (ILEPA), discussed how “indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge systems and climate-resilient livelihood practices have contributed least to (harmful) emissions but immensely to nature conservation” in the context of the need for indigenous peoples to access climate finance.

Funded by the Climate Justice Resilience Fund (CJRF) and Both ENDS, the three-part webinar series is in line with Tebtebba’s capacity building program for second-generation indigenous youth leaders which aims to bring more indigenous peoples’ voices into GCF discussions and processes.

Walang wika, walang kultura, ang mababa ang classification kaysa sa iba (No language, no culture, is lower in classification as compared to others) … Let’s decolonize our mindset that there is a superior and inferior culture.”

Allan G. Farnazo, Department of Education (DepEd) Field Office (FO) XI Regional Director, emphasized the need to eradicate the general thought that some languages or cultures are better than the others during the Mandaya Working Orthography Virtual Roundtable Discussion on 21 August 2021.

The population of indigenous peoples in the Philippines has not been reliably established until now. With the inclusion of an ethnicity variable in the 15th Census on Population and Housing in September 2020, we hope to finally see a close estimate of the number of indigenous peoples in the country and where they are with the inclusion of an ethnicity variable. Indigenous peoples have not been adequately and properly reflected in any census because of the lack of the proper ethnicity variable in the census tool, the questionable conduct of the census, and the lack of study on how best to make the census, or any national survey for that matter. In other words, indigenous peoples have been left behind.

Baguio City, Philippines -- Glenn Ernie Cuthbert Dixon, an advisor and technical assistant to the Permanent Working Commissions of the parliamentary body of the South Caribbean Autonomous Government in Nicaragua, challenged his fellow participants during the closing program of the 3-month virtual training on policy advocacy in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that culminated in early August, this year.

“Despite the struggles already faced by indigenous women, there is still a long way to go, but we are strong and resilient. We will continue to fight for these issues.”

Lucy Mulenke of the International Indigenous Women’s Forum (FIMI) declared during the Asian Indigenous Women’s Network (AIWN) side event conducted on 27 April as part of the 20th United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) that took place on 19 to 30 April 2021.

The side event, entitled “Unheard and Unseen: Indigenous Women’s Path to Empowerment and Sustainable Development,” highlighted the plight and contributions of indigenous women in Asia in the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

“Upon learning about the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), I know that in the future, I can also be an instrument in stopping the discrimination [of women] in my own little ways. I can also, at the same time, give knowledge to other people about discrimination and gender equality.”

After the 4th session of the Dayalogo series with various national government line agencies, participants from the different indigenous peoples’ organizations all over the Philippines did a Dayalogo Series assessment activity wherein its results, gains, and accumulated lessons were shared, analyzed, and discussed.

“Naging mabunga ang ating mga Dayalogo (The Dayalogos had been productive),” Bapa Ponyong Kadlos of Buhi Hanunuo Mangyan Incorporated (BHAPI) enthused. “Nakapagbigay ang gobyerno ng kalinawan sa kanilang mga polisiya at alituntunin, pati na rin ng mungkahi sa pakikipag-ugnayan sa kanila (The government line agencies were able to provide clarifications on their policies and regulations as well as recommendations on how to engage their designated offices),” Kadlos added.

Due to the necessity of halting rapid COVID-19 transmission, various communities worldwide are adapting to a New Normal way of life. Nonetheless, various reports speak of the increasing inability of many, including indigenous peoples, to keep up with the new societal demands brought about by COVID-19 and its impacts.

Indigenous peoples are among the most vulnerable to COVID-19 due to a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, socioeconomic and cultural reasons. These include the lack of access to basic health amenities and other government services in many indigenous communities, the absence of disaggregated national data on indigenous peoples, and the lack of comprehensive information on the new disease, among others.

“That piece of paper is a morale booster for the community.”

Timuey Ronaldo ‘Jojo’ Ambangan of the Erunamen ne Menuvu Kamal pointed out the need for the immediate release of their Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT), a document that legally recognizes the ownership of indigenous peoples of their territories during the dialogue on Indigenous Peoples: Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, virtually conducted on 19 November 2020.

Output of the Philippine implementation of the Indigenous Navigator Initiative.

Published by: Tebtebba

With financial support from the European Union

“Indigenous Peoples have been collecting huge amount of data in implementing CBMIS. Unfortunately. However, many of these data end up in bookshelves, piled up and are usually not easy to access and managed when needed.”