Are You the Favorite Color?

Graphics: Kent Harvey Jobo

I used to adore the rainbow because of how beautiful the colors come together. I even used it as a metaphor to appreciate the beauty of people uniting despite their differences in life. But often, I would only point to one color from the rainbow as my favorite – the red one. How about the orange, the violet, and the indigo? Some people may prefer them, but I don’t.

If the colors of the rainbow that were not chosen as "the favorite" had feelings, surely, they would feel like they were being othered.

As an indigenous person, growing up presented challenges, particularly in school. Overt discrimination was common in the past. Perhaps, it had an impact on why I became invested in my dream of becoming a lawyer so that I can stand up for the rights of my fellow indigenous people. It was as if society only valued one color from the rainbow. I felt disenfranchised, denied the right to excel in school, and left to rot in ignorance because “I was not the favorite color”.

When I was in Grade 5, our adviser after recess stood in front of the class with a stick in her right hand and with her left eyebrow raised, shouted, "nandito sa atin ang kawatan" (the thief is in our class). I did not know if fate was teasing me, but she delivered those words just when I was entering the classroom. All eyes were on me and couldn’t do anything but weep with the way they looked at me. The verdict was already decided – I had supposedly stolen the five-peso deficit from our classroom business manager, who had asked me to remit the proceeds to the canteen (as the canteen products were being sold inside the classroom rather than letting the pupils go to the canteen).

In my mind, I thought: “Dumateng pa sa aldaw matuda se panengteng niyo kanak” (One day, you will change the way you treat me and think of me).

On October 29, 1997, the Congress passed the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA). This law aims to strengthen the recognition and promotion of all the rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) in consonance with the framework laid by the 1987 Constitution. Two important terms that are mentioned in the law: Indigenous Cultural Communities and Ancestral Domain.

Under the IPRA, ICC is defined as “a group of people or homogenous societies identified by self-ascription and ascription by others, who have continuously lived as organized community on communally bounded and defined territory, and who have, under claims of ownership since time immemorial, occupied, possessed and utilized such territories, sharing common bonds of language, customs, traditions and other distinctive cultural traits, or who have, through resistance to political, social and cultural inroads of colonization, non-indigenous religions and cultures, became historically differentiated from the majority of Filipinos. ICCs/IPs shall likewise include peoples who are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent from the populations who inhabited the country, at the time of conquest or colonization, or at the time of inroads of non-indigenous religions and cultures, or the establishment of present state boundaries, who retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, but who may have been displaced from their traditional domains or who may have resettled outside their ancestral domains.”

Meanwhile, under the same law, Ancestral Domain refers to “all areas generally belonging to ICCs/IPs comprising lands, inland waters, coastal areas, and natural resources therein, held under a claim of ownership, occupied or possessed by ICCs/IPs, by themselves or through their ancestors, communally or individually since time immemorial, continuously to the present except when interrupted by war, force majeure or displacement by force, deceit, stealth or as a consequence of government projects or any other voluntary dealings entered into by government and private individuals/corporations, and which are necessary to ensure their economic, social and cultural welfare. It shall include ancestral lands, forests, pasture, residential, agricultural, and other lands individually owned whether alienable and disposable or otherwise, hunting grounds, burial grounds, worship areas, bodies of water, mineral and other natural resources, and lands which may no longer be exclusively occupied by ICCs/IPs but from which they traditionally had access to for their subsistence and traditional activities, particularly the home ranges of ICCs/ IPs who are still nomadic and/or shifting cultivators.” 

Why do I have to bring out all the definitions from the law? Beyond the discrimination we face based on our ethnicity, ICCs are grappling with numerous challenges in protecting their ancestral domain. After centuries of colonization, ICCs still continue to lose their lands under the guise of development and modernization. As an indigenous person, being removed from our ancestral land would also mean extinguishing our culture, traditions, and indigenous knowledge, systems, and practices (IKSP). The definition of development for us is not the construction of tall buildings.

Who ought to protect us? Who should help us? Can we still fight if we are not the favorite color? The future is uncertain for us. However, even if we cannot ride the trend of the modern world, can you still advocate for us?

Republic Act No. 10689 was passed on October 23, 2015, declaring August 9 of every year as the National Indigenous Peoples Day. Today, The Advocati, the official student publication of the Mindanao State University College of Law - General Santos Extension is one with the nation in celebration and solidarity with our indigenous people.

As a pursuit to eradicate 'othering', hopefully, we can recognize the beauty and value of all colors, even those we don't favor the most. Only by knowing them, we can create a community that truly champions and is sensitive to cultural diversity.

Happy National Indigenous Peoples' Day!