“LET the voice of the indigenous people be heard.”

This was stressed by NCIP (National Commission on Indigenous People) secretary Roque Agton and echoed by Doby Bansil, a Tibali professional, during the recent Provincial Tribal Summit in South Cotabato.

Bansil, who works at a mining company in a Tibali town in South Cotabato, said indigenous tribes are organizing in pursuit of a better life.

“It is important that we, indigenous people, be solidly organized so that our voice will be heard,” Bansil said.

The tribes, he added, have long been marginalized because of vicious exploitation by anti-mining NGOs who hire them for farm work allegedly at starvation pay of P200 a week or P800 a month, much lower than the salaries of household helpers who get from P3,500 to P5,000 monthly.

In a statement, Bansil also said tribal communities are aware of the vast mineral resources in the province but they don’t have the means to tap the wealth underground.  The Mining Act of 1995, ruled Constitutional by the Supreme Court, opened the floodgates of the mining industry to local and foreign investors with unlimited finances to unearth the resources.

“Historically, Filipinos are poor, not realizing that they are sitting on top of a vast fortune of mineral resources which, if properly tapped, can lift them from the quagmire of poverty,” said former President Fidel V. Ramos when he signed the Mining Act into law.

Poverty has been blamed by the government as the cause of hunger and unrest.  With the NCIP now under the Office of the President, the indigenous communities can look forward to a more direct attention from the government especially with the firm commitment of President Nonoy Aquino to augment their standard of living.