Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 1460

“Introduced by Reps. TEODORO A. CASINO and NERI JAVIER COLMENARES

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Section 21 (Equal Protection and Non-discrimination of ICCs /IPs) of the Republic Act 8371, otherwise
known as the “Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997 or IPRA states that “the State shal, with due recognition
of their distinct characteristics and identity, accord to the members of the ICCs/ IPs the rights, protections and privileges
enjoyed by the rest of the citizenry. It shall extend to them the same employment rights, opportunites, basic services,
educational and other rights and privileges available to every member of the society” . Section 25 (Basic Services) further
attests that “The ICC/IP have the right to special measures for the immediate effective and continuing improvement of their
economic and social conditions, including in the areas of employment, vocational training and retraining, bousing, sanitation,
health and social security.”

However, the above-mentioned provisions of the law are not fully realized because of a yawning lack of
disaggregated data on the indigenous population (IP) in the country. National statistics fail to reflect the
situation of the indigenous peoples because data on indigenous peoples are hidden in national averages.
Even to date, an accurate count of the indigenous peoples population in the country is not available.

“This state of deficient disaggregated data on indigenous peoples in the country has a significant implication
on the government's planning and decision-making. Itis therefore deemed that for government's policies,
programs and projects to become sensitive and responsive to the needs of the country’s indigenous people,
there should be a timely, accurate and useful statistics on the IP population.

This proposed legislation aims for the inclusion of data items related to indigenous peoples to wit, ethnicity
by descent/consanguinity /blood line and language, in all national censuses starting 2010. ‘The inclusion of
the ethnicity indicator will generate disaggregated demographic data on the indigenous peoples, while the
language indicator will produce data relevant to the ethno-linguistic groups in the country. These are
indispensable in knowing the real state of the country’s indigenous peoples as basis for national planning
and decision-making.

Immediate approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

Approved,

7 one
‘TEODORO A. CASINO

Bayan Muna Party-List



Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 1460

Introduced by Reps. TEODORO A. CASINO and NERI JAVIER COLMENARES

AN ACT
TO INCLUDE ETHNIC ORIGIN IN THE NATIONAL SURVEY CONDUCTED BY THE
NATIONAL STATISTICS OFFICE (NSO)

Section 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as "Ethnic Origin Act of 2010."

Section 2, Declaration of Policy. - \tis the policy of the State to recognize and promote the rights of,
indigenous cultural communities within the framework of national unity and development. The State shall
give the highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of all the people
co humandignity; reduce social, economic and political inequalities; and remove cultural inequities.

Section 3, Definition of Terms.- As used in this Act, the following terms shall mean the following:
(a) "Ethnic origin” includes race, national origin and ethno-linguistics origin.

(b) "Indigenous peoples" shall, as provided under Section 3(a), Chapter IT of Republic Act No. 8371 or
the "Indigenous People's Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997", refers to a group of people who are regarded as
indigenous on account of their descent from the populations which inhabited the country, at the time of
conquest or colonization, ot at the time of inroads of non-indigenous religions and cultures, or the
establishment of present state boundaries, who retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural
and political institutions but who may have been displaced from their traditional domains or who may have
resettled outside their ancestral domains.

Section 4. Duty of the National Statistics Office (NSO). - \t shall be the duty of the National Statistics
Office (NSO), in coordination with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to ensure the

inclusion of Ethnic Origin in its national survey starting the year 2010.

Section 5. Separability Clause.- If any portion ot provision of the Act is declared void or
unconstitutional, the remaining portions or provisions hereof shall not be affected by such declaration.

Section 6. Repealing Clause. - Any provision of law or regulations inconsistent herewith is hereby
repealed, revoked or modified accordingly:

Section 7. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect (15) days after its publication in two (2) newspapers of
general circulation

Approved,