4 U.P. Newsletter
October 2012
5th State of the Indigenous Peoples Address held in UP October 12, 2012 proved to be significant for the indigenous peoples (IPs) of the Philippines. The year 2012 marks the 15th year of the signing of Republic Act (RA) No. 8371 (Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997). October is designated National Indigenous Peoples Month. Finally, October 12 marks the 10th anniversary of the Dapitan Initiative—a gathering of anti-mining advocates seeking the scrapping of RA 7942 (Mining Act of 1995) and the formulation of an alternative “People’s Mining Act”—as well as the fifth anniversary of the State of the Indigenous Peoples Address (SIPA). On this occasion, representatives and community leaders from various indigenous peoples’ tribes from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, as well as IP rights advocates, gathered together at the Bulwagang Recto, UP Diliman Faculty Center, to formally open the 5th SIPA and 10th anniversary celebration of the Dapitan Initiative-Enact Alternative Minerals Management Bill. The activity ran from October 12 to 14 and featured intensive discussions among the delegates of the IP communities; dialogues with representatives of the National Commission on Indigenous People, Commission on Human Rights and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; and story-telling and reflections on the experiences of the various IP communities and the progress they had made and challenges they continue to face with regard to the continued
Photo by Jun Madrid
Celeste Ann Castillo Llaneta
IP delegates anticipate the start of the conference.
intrusions of mining companies into their ancestral domains, the implementation of the IPRA and other issues. In addition, an exhibit was held at the Palma Hall Lobby from October 10 to 12. As in the previous years, this year’s SIPA and Dapitan Initiative commemoration
were organized by the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, Inc.-Kasama sa Kalikasan/Friends of the Earth-Philippines (LRC-KsK/FoE-Phils.), a non-government organization focusing on policy, legal research and advocacy that aims to work for the empowerment of marginalized indigenous peoples and sustainable use of
WINFISH, UPV-GDP & BFAR hold 6th national conference in Tacloban City Anna Razel L. Ramirez
The National Network on Women in Fisheries in the Philippines, Inc. (WINFISH) and the UP Visayas Gender and Development Program Office (UPVGDP), in cooperation with the Bureau of
Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (BFAR) held the 6th National Research Conference on Gender and Fisheries with the theme “Women Fishers in a Changing Global Seascape and Landscape” last September 19
BOR strengthens academic affairs programs Continued from page 2
plans of all academic units and should be requested in advance. International Publications Award
Previous revisions to the IPA for journal articles included awarding not only UPemployed authors but UP-affiliated authors as well such as students and researchers hired for the research projects. Each UPaffiliated author will now receive a prorated share of the IPA divided by the total number of authors. Effective for papers published beginning October 1, 2012, the IPA will now be “refined and tiered to provide greater recognition to the authors who publish in more prestigious and academically renowned journals based on Impact Factor (IF).” IF is a measure reflecting the average number of citations, devised by Eugene Garfield, founder of ISI which is now part of Thomson Reuters. IFs are calculated yearly. For articles published in ISI-listed journals with no IF, the award remains at P55,000. For articles published in journals indexed via Science Citation Index (SCI), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) or Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) with an IF below 2.0000, the maximum award is P65,000. Those with an IF of 2.0000 and above, the maximum
award is raised to P80,000. The award for the UP-affiliated authors, in addition to their pro-rated share of the IPA, is P3,000 for articles in ISI-listed journals, P4,000 for articles in SCI-, SSCIand AHCI-indexed journals with an IF below 2.000, or P5,500 if the IF is 2.000 or above. Adjunct Professors
Adjunct professors may now be provided support under the VPP for periods spent in UP. They would therefore be subject to the same terms of engagement as visiting professors. Previously, adjunct professors were not given remuneration. Research Dissemination Grant
Non-faculty researchers or REPS will now qualify for RDG. The paper for oral or poster presentation should be in the field where they have established a record of expertise (for example, publications in ISI-listed journals). According to OVPAA, UP has researchers who produce high-quality output deserving to be presented in prestigious international conferences. They should have the opportunity to listen to the lectures of international leaders in their areas of specialization and interact with their counterparts.
to 21 at Hotel Alejandro, Tacloban City. Lawyer Asis Perez, BFAR director and keynote speaker for the event, said BFAR has developed “gender and development (GAD) checklists for fisheries on coastal resource management; and conducts research, training, and livelihood and field visits of project sites of women’s groups/ fisherfolk organizations.” Through these activities, BFAR aims “to conduct participatory resource assessment, consultations with clients and gathering of relevant information/data as inputs to the checklists and ultimately, publication of the checklists and the GAD handbook,” he added. Perez also mentioned the agency’s plan to conduct a socio-economic survey and social research to look into the conditions and contributions of women in the smallscale and artisanal fisheries and fishing communities. BFAR also plans to revise the fisherfolk registration form to include socioeconomic indicators including women’s and men’s roles and interest in the value chain of the sector; and to organize fisherfolk women organizations; and to pilot womenmanaged fishing areas. Philip Jude Acidre, deputy director of An Waray Party List, also addressed the conference participants and stressed that, “While it may be true that majority of actual fishers are men, many of those working in the processing and marketing of fish products are actually women… as fish dryers, fish product processors, the fish vendors and fish peddlers. But much of the work that women contribute towards the fishery sector is often ignored and not recognized.” Continued on page 11
natural resources. The LRC-KsK/FoEPhils, which is also celebrating its 25 th anniversary this year, was co-founded by several UP faculty and alumni, including former UP College of Law dean and current chief of the government peace panel Atty. Marvic MVF Leonen. According to LRC-KsK/FoE-Phils Executive Director Atty. Grace Villanueva and SIPA Coordinator Carl Cesar Rebuta, the LRC-KsK/FoE-Phils. organized the first meeting of around 23 anti-mining advocates from the nearby cities and provinces in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte, hence the name “The Dapitan Initiative.” “Sine-celebrate natin ang initiative na iyon ngayon. Nagre-reflect tayo, nagkakaroon ng pagkakataon upang ipakita kung saan inabot ang initiative na ito na pag-kwestyunin ang isang batas na di makatarungan, ang Philippine Mining Act,” Villanueva said. The SIPA, on the other hand, was first held in 2008 when around 80 members of various indigenous tribes in Mindanao gathered in Davao City for a threeday event that featured discussions and dialogues focusing on the issues, problems and challenges confronting the IPs of the Philippines. “[As in the past four years,] the SIPA is a venue or space kung saan tayo mag-uusap-usap [at kung saan] ilalatag natin kung ano ang agenda for the IPs, particularly sa gobyerno natin,” said Rebuta, addressing the IP participants. During the ceremony, delegates from IP tribes from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao spoke about the challenges their tribes and communities are facing, such as the issue of leadership in the National Commission of Indigenous People (NCIP); the continued intrusions, harassment, oppression and manipulations of mining companies to secure the IP’s ancestral domains for their own; the degradation of the rivers and forests in the IPs’ ancestral domains due to the activities of mining companies; the anomalous operations of NCIP agents at the local levels and slow responses of other government agencies; and the threat to the lives of IP community leaders and environmental advocates. In addition, Rep. Teddy Casino, one of the original delegates in the first Dapitan Initiative, delivered a video-recorded inspirational message.