65 Abbi Buxton
Photo: Andy Whitmore, PIPLinks
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Barricade set up to protest against the Didipio Mine, northern Luzan, the Philippines.
national laws (others include Australia and
Bolivia). FPIC is regarded as ‘essentially the
heart and soul’ (ESSC, 1999) of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) 1997,
which requires consent to be determined by
‘the consensus of all members of the Indigenous Cultural Communities/ Indigenous
Peoples… in accordance with their respective laws and practices’ (Section 3g).
The body charged with implementing
the IPRA is the National Commission on
Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). The NCIP’s
implementing rules and regulations make
clear the process for achieving FPIC, including who should be present, the period in
which elders/ leaders should hold consultative meetings with the members (a 15-day
period), and how decisions should be
arrived at. Further to that, it states that
these practices should reflect the customary practices of indigenous communities.
FPIC in practice
The NCIP is not independent from political
processes: commissioners are selected by
the President’s office rather than the
communities themselves. This has resulted
in widespread reports of the NCIP having
bribed village leaders, created new ‘leaders’
where consent from the true leaders was not
forthcoming, purposefully misled communities and falsified documents (Colchester
and Ferrari, 2007).
The requirement to ensure FPIC is
achieved in accordance with customary
systems is arguably the most progressive
part of the IPRA. However, it is often seen
as ‘a technical obstacle to be overcome as
quickly as possible’ (UNHCR, 2008). Meetings are not organised on the basis of the
traditional customs of indigenous communities, rarely follow community procedures
to reach consensus, and the timeframe
allowed (a total of 55 days for the whole
process) does not usually give sufficient time
to complete traditional decision-making
processes.
Guidelines issued in 2006 weakened the
right to FPIC as the government wanted to
further streamline the consultation
processes. The guidelines are regarded as
hurried and mechanical. They provide
limited information to communities, with
local communities in one case being told