SENATOR Robinhood “Robin” C. Padilla sought action from various government agencies to protect the rights of Muslims and Indigenous People (IPs), along with the swift passage of bills that would empower them.

Padilla on Thursday chaired a Senate hearing that tackled at least ten bills seeking to establish resource centers for IPs, indigenous community conserved territories and areas, traditional property rights of IPs, and the declaration of Sheikh Karim’ul Makdhum Day.

“Ang ating mga katutubo, kapag hindi natin naibigay sa kanila ang ‘kalayaan’ na sinasabi natin at pinagmamalaki at katatapos pa lang natin ipagdiwang noong June 12, balewala ang kalayaan na yan. Parang ang kalayaang yan hindi totoo (Our IPs, if not given the ‘freedom’ we are proud of, would render our independence useless because the freedom would be empty),” he said at the hearing of the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities and Muslim Affairs.

“Yung pagbibigay natin ng anong karapat-dapat sa kanila wala silang hinihingi na sobra. Hinihingi nila ang kanila lang. ‘Pag yan ibinigay natin, totoo na ang kalayaan na sinasabi natin kasi napakapangit na tayong mga mestizo, malaya pero ang tunay na may-ari ng lupang ito ‘di malaya. Anong klase yan? Tayo pumalit sa mga colonizer, which is I think very wrong. Dapat tayo nagbibigay sa kanila ng kung ano ang para sa kanila. Wala silang hinihinging sobra (We need to give IPs what is due them because they don’t ask for too much. If we grant them what is due them, then our freedom becomes real. Otherwise, we are no different from the colonizers of our country, which I think is very wrong),” he added.

Padilla particularly sought more powers for the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), which he said should be the lead agency in upholding the rights of IPs.

At the hearing, Padilla noted there are now at least 110 indigenous people’s groups consisting of 14 to 17 million Filipinos. Of these, 61% are in Mindanao, while 33% are in Northern Luzon.

He lamented that IPs are among the “poorest” in the Philippines and in the whole world. Citing figures from the World Bank (WB), he said IPs account for 6% of the global population but represent 20% of the world’s extreme poor.

On the other hand, Padilla asked government agencies to take action on immediate concerns of the IPs, including fake weaving products reportedly coming from China.

He also urged the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to facilitate the registration of IPs so they can avail of government services, including social welfare aid.

Elma Jabonillo, Registration Officer III of the PSA’s Civil Register Management Division, noted that while they aim to register two million birth certificates of marginalized sectors, including IPs and Muslim Filipinos, they have so far registered 1.34 million.

Among the bills tackled at Thursday’s hearing were:

* Resource centers for IPs (Senate Bills [SBs] 1167, 838, and 688)

* Indigenous community conserved territories and areas act (SB 1399, 831, and 510)

* Traditional property rights of IPs (SB 1716 and 839)

* Community intellectual rights of indigenous cultural communities (SB 862)

* Sheikh Karim’ul Makhdum Day (SB 1616)

SB 1616 aims to generate national consciousness about the contribution of Islam to the Philippines, as well as the significant social impact of Muslim Filipinos in the country. It aims to declare Sheikh Karim’ul Makhdum Day on Nov. 7, marking the establishment of the first Philippine Mosque by Sheikh Makhdum that helped spread Islam in the Philippines.