Examining cultural integrity challenges among the ATI residents of Iloilo city, Philippines

Abstract

The movement of Indigenous Peoples to urban areas is a growing reality, and so are the challenges in urban settings that they live in. The urban pressure could be a challenging, alienating, and frightening experience for them. This study examined the challenges experienced by the Ati, an indigenous group of Panay Island, Philippines, who settled in Lanit Village, Iloilo City. Despite their ability to adapt to an urban environment, the Ati were confronted with challenges that threatened their cultural identity. The concept of cultural integrity is a nascent development in human rights discourse. In fact, it is treated as a distinct bundle of rights of Indigenous Peoples (IPs) through a national legislation, the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997. In describing and examining the challenges experienced by the Ati residents, the critical quasi-ethnographic approach was employed to make sense of the primary and publicly available secondary data sources. In-depth interviews were conducted with four (4) informants, identified through purposive and chain-referral samplings. Abiding by ethical considerations, interviews were recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed. This research was able to examine the two main challenges which the participants experienced. First was the unviability and unsustainability of the Village and the other was their disempowered self-concept. Recognizing that “all the rights of indigenous peoples are cultural rights”, the state vis-a-vis the local government of Iloilo City is duty-bound to respect, protect, and fulfill the Ati’s right to cultural integrity. Contrary to the traditional notion that ties cultural integrity to ancestral domain/land claims, this study advances a more accommodating conception and understanding of cultural integrity. The researcher argues that through the elements of identity preservation, cultural heritage protection, and active participation, the IP’s cultural integrity can be best understood. IMPLICATION OF THESIS. This study hopes to introduce a functional perspective on the cultural rights of the Ati. Such innovation may warrant the local government to adopt development policy reforms in the context of cultural identity and integrity of the Ati in an urban environment.