11.1. The development of the Guidelines in the National Monitoring of Human Rights Compliance in the Mining Industry – The Commission spearheaded the drafting of the guidelines for the national monitoring of human rights compliance in the mining industry after the Memorandum of the Executive Secretary dated July 06, 2012 (addressed to the Cabinet Cluster on Human Development and Poverty Reduction) was issued to implement and operationalize the mining policies of the past Aquino Administration as per Executive Order No. 79 (s. 2012). It initially identified CHRP, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Mines and Geosciences Bureau (DENR-MGB), the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and Department of Justice (DOJ) as implementing agencies to: a. Provide mechanisms and clear guidelines to monitor human rights and labor rights violations; b. Develop operational linkages with concerned government agencies, particularly CHRP and the DOLE, inter alia, to assist victims and take appropriate action against violators. The guidelines expressly recognized among others that environmental concerns are human rights concerns and called on the government to apply a human rights-based approach to protect the environment. More so, the guidelines clarified that adverse impacts of mining activities to the environment in the form of pollution and disturbance to the livelihood and welfare of individuals or communities, among others, if finally supported by at least substantial evidence, shall be regarded as human rights abuses and violations. Said guidelines are still pending with the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC). In particular, UNDRIP is categorically mentioned in the Guidelines as one of the references that provide standards for monitoring. It has been observed that many of the communities mostly affected by the mining industry are in ancestral domains of indigenous peoples, which thereby highlights the obligation of the State to recognize and promote the rights of indigenous peoples/indigenous cultural communities (IPs/ICCs) within the framework of national unity and development. 11.2. The current efforts to pass the ICCA Bill into law – House Bill No. 115, with the short title “Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Conserved Areas and Territories (ICCA) Act of 2016,12 which is said to implement the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the UNDRIP, aims to fully realize cultural rights of the indigenous peoples in the Philippines. The bill provides that it shall be the policy of the state to recognize, promote and support the initiatives of local communities in establishing and maintaining ICCAs in key biodiversity areas (KBAs) within forestlands. It requires a system of recognition, registration, protection and promotion of covered lands, providing penalties to any act of desecration for such areas. The bill clarifies the mandates of the different government agencies, such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), among others, in the implementation of the bill's objectives. One of the catalysts that pursues the ICCA Bill is the international recognition of Ifugao's muyong, viewed from different perspectives, either as a forest conservation strategy, a watershed rehabilitation technique, a farming system or an assisted natural regeneration (ANR) strategy.13Through the muyong system, the Ifugaos have aptly shown that ANR can be used effectively to transform woodlots into multiple-use centers without disturbing the pristine condition of the natural forest. It is expected that discrimination against indigenous knowledge of preserving natural resources would be diminished. As such, CHRP supports the passage of this law. 12. In addition, as per information obtained by the CHRP's ESCR Center, the following issues confront the IPs, which are deemed relevant in developing the approach for a national inquiry that CHRP will launch in 2017, to wit: 12 Text of the bill is found via http://www.congress.gov.ph/legisdocs/basic_17/HB00115.pdf (accessed Oct. 28, 2016) 13 Butic, M. & Ngidlo, R. (2003) Muyong forest of Ifugao: Assisted natural regeneration in traditional forest management http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/AD466E/ad466e06.htm (accessed October 28, 2016)