Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday pushed for a generational development plan for Indigenous Peoples, with five-year targets that can serve as benchmarks for measuring progress in health, infrastructure, education, and other basic services.
“We need a generational plan with five-year targets,” Cayetano urged the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) during a public hearing of the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities and Muslim Affairs.
The veteran legislator explained that establishing five- and even 10-year targets would allow government agencies, lawmakers, and the IP communities themselves to regularly measure actual spending and outcomes against the communities’ goals and aspirations.
“IPs make up around nine percent of the country’s population and therefore deserve adequate government attention.”
The seasoned lawmaker emphasized that IPs make up around nine percent of the country’s population and therefore deserve adequate government attention, especially in key sectors.
“I wonder if at least 9 percent ng health budget ay napupunta sa kanila. I wonder if 9 percent of infrastructure budget ay napupunta sa kanila,” the senator said.
He stressed that large allocations for provinces with significant indigenous populations do not necessarily mean that the funds directly benefit IP communities or ancestral domains.
“Let’s say sa isang lugar, malaki ang budget ng infra, ng national. But I wonder, sa IP at ancestral domain mismo, and for the IPs, doon ba nailalagay ‘yun?” Cayetano asked.
He added that a long-term plan should also cover education and how indigenous communities are represented in the curriculum, warning that broad anti-discrimination lessons may not be enough to build genuine understanding.
“Dapat walang discrimination.”
“Lahat tayo ay Pilipino… Baka naman pwedeng ilang page lang sa libro [ay represented sila]. Dapat walang discrimination,” Cayetano said.
In response, the NCIP told the committee that it had recently completed an IP Master Plan, alongside Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plans for individual communities.
Cayetano welcomed this and expressed willingness to review it to determine whether it could serve as the basis for clearer national targets.
He added that once the NCIP has come up with the actual generational plan, the Senate can draft a resolution supporting it.
