MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday called for a five- to 10-year government plan with measurable targets for indigenous peoples (IPs), questioning whether they receive an adequate share of public spending on health care, education and infrastructure.
During a hearing of the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities and Muslim Affairs, Cayetano said the proposed framework would allow lawmakers and indigenous communities to monitor government commitments, assess results and hold officials accountable for ensuring that funding reaches intended beneficiaries.
Cayetano estimated that indigenous peoples account for about 9 percent of the Philippine population and questioned whether their share of government spending reflects their needs.
“I wonder if at least 9 percent of the health budget goes to them. I wonder if 9 percent of the infrastructure budget goes to them,” he said.
He suggested that Congress adopt a resolution supporting long-term goals and use annual assessments to determine whether agencies had provided the necessary funding and delivered promised programs.
“If we have a five- or 10-year plan, or a five-, 10- or 20-year plan, then our indigenous brothers and sisters would also have a basis for choosing their national leaders,” Cayetano said.
“They can say, ‘There’s already a plan. Did you follow it or not? Did you provide funding for it or not?’” he added.
National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Commissioner for Region III Rhodex Valenciano said the agency had recently completed an overarching Indigenous Peoples Master Plan. Each community also has an Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development Plan, he said.
Cayetano welcomed the opportunity to review the master plan, saying it could provide a foundation for setting specific targets and tracking progress over several years.
He cautioned against measuring government support solely by the size of a province’s budget, saying aggregate spending in a locality does not necessarily mean indigenous communities or ancestral domains directly benefit.
“If we’re going to look at it geographically, it’s like saying Taguig has a big budget. Yes, but how much of that goes to Maharlika?” he said.
Cayetano also called for a closer look at how indigenous peoples are represented in the education system, arguing that lessons on inclusion and discrimination should go beyond brief discussions in textbooks.
“Maybe it’s just one line or a few pages in a book saying that we are all Filipinos and there should be no discrimination,” he said.
“But reading about it and going to the community are different. Having an indigenous classmate who tells you about their life is not the same as just reading one page about them in a Department of Education textbook,” he added.
