SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
Second Regular Session 
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SENATE 
S.B. No. 2426 
Prepared jointly by the Committees on Cultural Communities and Finance, 
with Senator Loren Legarda as author thereof 
AN ACT TO INCLUDE ETHNIC ORIGIN IN THE NATIONAL SURVEY 
CONDUCTED BY THE PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
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Section 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Ethnic Origin Act of2014." 
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Scc. 2. Declaration of Policy. - It is the policy of the State to recognize and promote 
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the rights of indigenous peoples or indigenous cultural communities within the framework of 
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national unity and development. The State shall give the highest priority to the enactment of 
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measures that protect and enhance the right of all the people to human dignity, reduce social, 
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economic and political inequalities, and remove cultural inequities. 
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Sec. 3. Definition of Terms. - As used in this Act, the following terms shall mean the 
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following: 
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(a) "Ethnic Origin or Ethnicity" includes nationality and ethno-linguistic origin. 
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(b) "Indigenous Peoples (IPs) or Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs)" shall, as 
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provided under Section 3 (h) of Chapter II of RA No. 8371 or the "Indigenous 
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People's Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997", refer to a group of people or homogenous 
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societies identified by self-ascription by others, who have continuously lived as an 
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organized community on communally-boundcd and defined territory, and who 
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have, under claims of ownership since time immemorial, occupied, possessed and 
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utilized such territories, sharing common bonds of language, customs, traditions, 
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and other distinctive cultural traits, or who have, through resistance to political, 
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social, and cultural inroads of colonization, non-indigenous religions and cultures, 
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became historically differentiated from the majority of Filipinos. ICCs and IPs 
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shall likewisc include peoples who are regarded as indigenous on account of their 
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descent from the populations which inhabited the country, at the time of conquest 
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or colonization, or at the time of inroads of non-indigenous religions and cultures, 
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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; 
Sec. 4. Duty of the Philippine Statistics Authority. - It shall be the duty of the 
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), in coordination with the National Commission on 
Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), to ensure the employment of enumerators, or the deployment of 
NCIP employees, who aTe knowledgeable of the different IPs and ICCs of the Philippines, 
and the language and appropriate manner of asking culturally-sensitive questions to IPs and 
ICCs, in gathering data on Ethnic Origin during the conduct of the national survey and 
national census. Furthermore, the PSA should ensure that all surveys and documents issued 
by their office should be culturally sensitive. 
Sec. 5. Duty of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples. - It shall be the 
duty of the NCIP to conduct the proper training of PSA enumerators, including the barangay 
indigenous guides, all over the country to ensure that they have adequate knowledge of the 
different IPs and ICCs in their area, their language, way of life, and culture, and the manner 
of asking them culturally-sensitive questions. 
An indigenous guide in each barangay, or any officer or member of the concerned 
Local Culture and Arts Council or Local Tourism Council, as the case may be, shall also be 
trained by the NCrp, who may assist the city or municipal government in the conduct of 
cultural mapping within a local government unit. 
Sec. 6. Appropriations. - The amount of one hundred million pesos (PIOO,OOO,OOO) 
that shall be given to PSA for the training of PSA enumerators shall be charged against any 
available appropriation in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of the year of its 
implementation. Thereafter, sucb sums as be necessary shall be included in the yearly 
General Appropriations Act. 
Sec. 7. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The PSA, with tbe assistance of the 
NCrp, shall promulgate the necessary implementing rules and regulations within 90 days 
from the effectivity of this Act. 
Sec. 8. Separability Clause. - If any portion or provision of the Act is declared void 
or unconstitutional, the remaining portions or provisions hereof shall not be affected by such 
declaration. 
Sec. 9. Repealing Clause. - Any provision of law or regulations inconsistent 
herewit.h is hereby repealed, revoked, or modified accordingly. 
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Sec. 10. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication 
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in two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
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Approved, 
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