Consent, Citizenship and the Indigenous Peoples

Democracies are founded on the ‘consent of the governed,’ which is actively and explicitly given by the citizens to the state through acts of political participation. One contemporary form of giving consent is the Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC), a right given to indigenous peoples as part of their broader right to self-determination. In the Philippines, this right has been incorporated in national laws such as the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) enacted in 1997. This paper proceeds with a discussion of FPIC as embodied not only in national (Philippine) laws but also in international laws and norms. A textual reading of these laws along with a review of NCIP annual reports and existing empirical studies on FPIC implementation in the Philippines is conducted. This is to emphasize FPIC’s critical role in indigenous peoples’ self-determination. A critical discussion of FPIC as ‘Middle Ground’ between the state and the indigenous peoples is also presented with the aim of drawing attention to the factors that shape the contours of this negotiated space. The paper argues that the FPIC process in the Philippines should be aptly seen as a form of ‘Middle Ground’ between two otherwise contending actors, the state as the governing body and the indigenous peoples as the governed. While FPIC is an instrument for indigenous peoples’ assertion of self-determination, it functions at the same time to cultivate, if not strengthen, the indigenous peoples’ sense of citizenship and duty to the state.