Lawmaker decries ‘deportation’ of Badjaos seen on Iloilo streets

AHOUSE deputy speaker on Thursday questioned the reported “deportation” of Badjaos from Iloilo City, and called on the national government to provide long-term solutions to the mendicancy problem afflicting indigenous peoples (IP).

In a news statement, Deputy Speaker Mujiv Hataman reminded the Iloilo City government that the 1987 Constitution grants every Filipino citizen the liberty of movement within any part of the country.

“This is a basic human rights that knows no gender, ethnicity or even social standing,” he said.

“There have been reports that Iloilo City has been ‘deporting’ Badjaos to their home province of Sulu. Strictly speaking, you cannot deport Filipinos from one part of the country to another. Perhaps they mean to apply the long-standing ‘Balik-Probinsya’ program of the government,” Hataman added.

According to Hataman, deportation

is only for foreigners, usually those who have violated the country’s laws.

“The Balik Probinsya program is not mandatory, but voluntary on the part of those who are encouraged to return to their provinces,” he said.

Also, Hataman urged the Iloilo City government to act with caution and care when dealing with the Badjaos.

He said the city should ensure that the rights and welfare of our citizens are protected and preserve.

“Why send them back in a manner that strips them of their dignities? And simply sending mendicants away from its area of jurisdiction does not address the underlying problems that brought these Badjao people to Iloilo City—and other urban centers for that matter—in the first place,” he added.

“And it should be voluntary; the Badjaos should agree to go back to Sulu, or to relocate anywhere they are taken to. Proper coordination between Iloilo City, and the receiving local government should be maintained to ensure that they arrive safe and secure,” said the lawmaker.

Also called sea gypsies, many Badjaos were displaced by decades of conflict in Mindanao. As indigenous people whose lives are tied very closely to the seas on the Sulu coast, the Badjaos live on coastal areas and make their livelihoods from the Sulu sea.

Hataman said most of them don’t have access to health care, government social services or education, and this makes them extremely vulnerable to exploitation from syndicates seeking to make beggars of them in the cities.

“The saying goes that beggars can’t be choosers. These Badjao, like other IPs who are exploited into mendicancy, do not choose to beg. They are made into beggars by unscrupulous groups that prey on them. They need the protection of our laws through proper enforcement and dismantling the syndicates that prey on them,” he said.

“These Badjaos, and other indigenous peoples like the Aetas, have been victimized by people who strip them of their dignity by forcing them onto the streets of our cities to beg. This has been reported in media for many years now, yet it is the IPs who are rounded up and sent back to their ancestral areas in rescue operations,” said Hataman. Concerted effort MEANWHILE, Hataman called on local government units, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine National Police, and other national government agencies to provide these IPs like the Badjaos with long-term solutions that protect their dignity and their rights as human beings who are citizens of the Republic of the Philippines.

Hataman said the government needs to act with compassion, understanding, efficiency and integrity to stop their exploitation.

“Our government often stops there but that’s a different issue that requires a concerted effort from everyone. These are problems that must be addressed in a way that protects these tribal people’s rights and delivers vital government services to them. To do less is not an option,” he said.

“Mendicancy is a national problem and we can always find a solution that does not violate human rights and reduces human dignity to almost nothing,” he added.