FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC ) OF THE PHILIPPINES , First Regular Session ~~r 1 ,-, __,.‘ 1 Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago ~ 1 2 3 4 AN ACT PROVIDING ACCESS TO INDIGENOUS CULTURAL COMMUNITIES/INDIGENOUSPEOPLES TO VARIOUS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY 5 6 Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives ofthe Philippines in Congress assembled: 7 8 9 SECTION 1. Short Title. -This Act shall be h o w n as the “Indigenous Peoples Connectivity Act of 2007.” SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. - It is the declared policy of the State to 10 recognize and promote the rights of indigenous cultural communities within the 11 framework of national unity and development; and to recognize the vital role of 12 communication and information in nation-building. 13 SECTION 3. Purposes. -The purposes of this Act are to - 14 (A) 15 16 Promote affordable and universal access among ICC/IP to telecommunications and information technology in their localized area; (B) Encourage and promote indigenous economic development, self-sufficiency, 17 , and strong indigenous governments; 18 19 (C) Enhance the health of ICC/IP through the availability and use of telemedicine and telehealth; 20 (D) Improve the quality of kindergarten, primary, secondary, postsecondary, and 21 job-related training of ICC/IP, through enhanced and sustained information technology 22 infrastructure; and 23 24 (E) Assist in the retention and preservation of native languages and cultural traditions. 1

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