Revised rules on free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) for projects in ancestral domains are drawing concern from Indigenous rights advocates, Nordis reported on Wednesday, October 14.
The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) approved the revised FPIC guidelines on May 1. The rules sort projects into four categories and set fixed timelines for community consultations and consent decisions, with the goal of speeding up development approvals.
What Is FPIC?
FPIC is the right of Indigenous peoples to be consulted, and to give or withhold consent, before a project affects their lands or resources. It is protected by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the 1997 Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA).
IPRA defines FPIC as “the consensus of all members of the ICCs/IPs to be determined in accordance with their respective customary laws and practices, free from any external manipulation, interference and coercion.”
What Changed
According to Nordis, the 2012 guidelines gave communities more room to reach consensus through their own customary practices. The new framework gives the NCIP a bigger role in scheduling assemblies and managing the process.
Under the revised rules:
- For smaller, localized Category B projects, communities have 10 working days to call assemblies and seven working days to decide.
- For major Category A projects, the timeline is 30 to 60 calendar days.
- Some approvals and Certificates of Non-Overlap may rely on land titles issued before IPRA took effect in 1997, which advocates say weakens safeguards for ancestral land claims.
“A Guideline Alone Is Never Enough”
Jose Molintas, a veteran human rights lawyer, former UN Indigenous mechanisms expert, Ibaloy, and member of the Baguio City Council, warned that tighter procedures could sideline communities that do not get enough government support.
“A guideline alone is never enough,” he said.
Molintas called for a government program that helps communities shape their own development plans before project proponents submit proposals. He urged authorities to notify communities early, as soon as an area is identified for development or resource extraction.
He also asked the NCIP and other agencies to help Indigenous communities write and update their Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plans, so they can set their own priorities before opening their lands to investors.
Molintas said projects are too often approved without properly integrating FPIC, which leads to conflicts that could have been avoided.
What Rights Groups Say
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC) had earlier raised alarms. HRW Southeast Asia researcher Lian Buan said shorter decision periods and weaker land safeguards “would severely undermine” the FPIC process, and noted that the revisions removed ways for communities to challenge permits and certificates.
LRC listed at least 14 concerns from its review of the latest official draft, including the shortened FPIC process.
In a March online petition, Indigenous peoples and advocates rejected the draft, saying the changes turn FPIC “into a bureaucratic mechanism designed to facilitate corporate and state interests.”
The Other Side
The NCIP has defended the revised rules as both pro-Indigenous and pro-development. It said the guidelines were developed through years of consultation and review.
Why It Matters
For Molintas, the real question is whether faster approvals will still respect self-determination. Cordillera and other Indigenous communities, he said, should help shape their future from the start, not just react to outside proposals under fixed deadlines.
