MANILA – The Ayta Indigenous Peoples in Capas, Tarlac have set up a barricade since April 18 to demand fair compensation in Mt. Pinatubo’s tourism industry.

Indigenous group Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (Katribu) expressed solidarity with the Ayta communities, supporting their collective right to ancestral lands.

“For years, various tour operators have built a flourishing tourism industry on Ayta ancestral land, generating profit while the very people who have safeguarded these lands for generations receive little to nothing in return,” Katribu said in a statement.

A concerned citizen also sent them a video, recording the arrest of some Aytas by elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on April 18. While they were freed on the same day, Katribu said that the circumstances of the arrest were illegal and a form of harassment.

“It is not a crime to assert their basic rights,” said Katribu in Filipino, calling on the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to immediately act on these human rights violations.

As of this writing, the NCIP has not yet released a statement despite the reports that surfaced since the Holy Week. 

“Tourism in Mt. Pinatubo continues to operate without genuine Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC); without cultural sensitivity; and most critically, without just compensation or benefits for the Ayta communities,” Katribu said.

FPIC recognizes the rights of the indigenous peoples to give or withhold their consent for actions that may affect their ancestral lands. It is enshrined both in the domestic law Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) and the international human rights law United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) which the Philippines adopted in September 2007. Despite these protections, violations of FPIC continue to be a core problem for indigenous communities in the Philippines as stated in a 2024 world report. 

Katribu said that the government must shift toward tourism that respects autonomy, upholds FPIC, and ensures that the benefits directly go to the communities.

“It is time to rethink tourism policies across the country and reject models that exploit Indigenous Peoples and lands under the guise of sustainability and economic growth… This is not green development but corporate land-grabbing,” Katribu said. (RTS, DAA)