Tribesmen’s access to justice better under revised rules
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by Jonathan Mayuga, Business Mirror
published February 24, 2015
TRIBESMEN will have better access to justice under the revised rules of procedure of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).
NCIP Chairman Leonor T. Quintayo made this statement during the launch of the 2014 Revised Rules of Procedure of the NCIP at the Department of the Interior and Local Government building in Quezon City on Monday.
Quintayo said the new rules of procedure clarify vague provisions under the old rules of procedure that was crafted in 2003.
She said that, after a decade since the 2003 rules took effect, many problems emerged, prompting the NCIP to conduct a thorough assessment, with the end view of coming up with a revision that would enhance tribal members’ access to justice.
“With the revised rules, issue on jurisdiction [of cases] becomes clear. Also, the revised rules give more importance to the beliefs, customs and traditions of the indigenous peoples,” she said.
The NCIP is the primary government agency that formulates and implements policies, plans and programs for the recognition and protection of the rights and welfare of indigenous cultural communities and individuals.
The crafting of the revised rules of procedure is supported by European Union (EU), through the EU-Philippine Justice Program.
Some of the emerging issues, which the revised rules of procedure aim to address, involve delay in the resolution of pending cases at the regional level. The revised rules, she added, promotes alternative dispute resolution of cases at the regional level.
Quintayo said some 70 percent of cases filed before the NCIP are related to land dispute, which includes encroachment of ancestral domain claims or rights of various tribal groups across the country.
In the NCIP’s commission en banc alone, she said, around 400 cases are pending resolution, and most of them involve land dispute.
The NCIP is responsible for the issuance of certificate of ancestral land or domain titles. It is also the primary government agency responsible for the issuance of certificate as a precondition for the use of lands covered by a certificate of ancestral domain title or territories being claimed by tribal groups.
There are over 14 million people belonging to different tribes in the Philippines.