The following grievances highlight ongoing and potential abuses in the future. 1. Endangering IPs’ ancestral lands from impacts of mining and deforestation In a statement released in September 2016 for the 59th Session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the Tebtebba Foundation underscored the continuing problems faced by indigenous peoples of the Philippines in mining and the abuse of their rights to land. Despite the presence of FPIC, medium and large-scale mining corporations are manipulating these processes in their favor. The presence of military personnel protecting corporation claims limits the freedom of the IPs to work on their lands. Instead, they experience harassment and killings. Documented cases include 76 killings of indigenous human rights defenders from 2010 to 2016 (Tebtebba, 2016). Mining operations have caused deterioration of the environment, resulting to worsened health condition, livelihood, water quality, and decreased agricultural production and fish catch. 2. Transgressing land rights of agricultural farmers As part of its initiative to monitor land reform in the country, the Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform Box 3: The Agumil Case: The Aborlan Coco Farmers F illed with hopes of much better income, the small coconut farmers in Aborlan, Palawan entered into contracts with an oil palm company, cleared 200 hectares of their farms for the entry of oil palm, and accessed PhP 13 million loans from Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) for farm development. However, after almost 10 years of waiting, the farmers have not earned a single centavo and their loans have more than tripled. While oil palm may have provided fulfilled dreams in other countries and regions, the opposite happened in Aborlan. A recent study by the Institute of Land Governance (ILG) revealed the following: • Increasing farmers’ indebtedness, e.g., from PhP 13 million to PhP 43 million pesos for one cooperative alone; • Unfair contracts that have put the palm oil company in control of technology, production, project, and loan funds, thereby allowing the company to earn more from the cooperative; • Displacements of farmers from controlling their lands, loss of incomes, livelihoods, and sources of foods for 10 years; • Low capacity of the farmers’ cooperative to engage investors and the lack of local groups assisting in the formulation of land deals, thereby leading to unfair contracts; • Encroachment of mono-crop oil palm in forestlands since only 33 percent of the lands are alienable and disposable (A&D); and, • Insufficient government support to grievances to address the farmers’ concerns. Source: These issues need to be addressed through the following recommendations: • The government should review the contracts for possible termination or amendments, and look closely at the financial records of the palm oil company; • LBP should take a second look at the current status of farmers’ loans, which may have already reached hundreds of million pesos; • The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) should look at status of coco farmers who have lost income for the past 10 years; • The Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) should review the management take-over of farmers’ lands by the palm oil company; • The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) should act on the encroachment of oil palm plantation into forest zones; and, • A grievance mechanism should be established with an effective penalty clause that is accessible to the farmers. To ensure sustainable safeguards of farmers interests into the future, the following are also proposed: • Establish a mechanism, led by a third independent party, to review land deals for fair partnerships; • Build capacities of local CSOs on responsible land investments to become local land deal advocates; • Build capacities of communities on the engagement of investors; and, • Conduct serious studies to develop oil palm production technologies that are not based on mono-cropping. n Salcedo, R. G. (November 2016). The Palawan oil palm: The Aborlan Coco Farmers- Agumil Case. Xavier Science FoundationInstitute of Land Governance (XSF-ILG). [Unpublished]. 8