2. Once upon a time there was an old woman. A lot of
people seek her wisdom. One day, a young boy tried to
test the woman’s wisdom. He held in his hand a small
bird, holding it behind his back so it cannot be seen.
He planned to ask the wise woman if the bird he was
holding was alive or dead.
If the wise woman answered that it is alive, he would
squeeze and kill it to prove that she was wrong. If the
wise woman says otherwise, he would release it to
show that it is alive.
He then asked, “Is the bird in my hand alive or dead?
The wise woman replied, “The bird in your hand? Only
you can determine if it is alive or dead.”
3. What is the relation of the short story to human
rights?
You have in your hands the decision whether to
promote or violate human rights.
5. The Urban Poor
• They constitute a sector in our
society whose basic human
rights are violated:
• right to life,liberty, and property
• right to due process of law
• right to adequate standard of
living
• right to health
• right to security in their homes
against unreasonable search and
seizure
• right to participate in programs
that affect them
6. The Indigenous People
• They constitute tribal people and
ethnic minorities
• They practice the misunderstood
shifting method of cultivation called
kaingin.
• Their life is widely interwoven with
the forest where they carry out their
means of subsistence
• They have become more
marginalized because of the
encroachment of their ancestral
lands by loggers, ranchers, miners,
lowland migrants, and government
corporations
7. The Indigenous People
• Their rights were violated:
• right to self-determination
• right to ancestral domain
• right to customary law
8. The Fisherfolk Sector
• No substantial improvement
happened in the lives of millions
of subsistent fisherfolks
• Injustice at sea and among the
subsistence fisherfolks became
more apparent with the
exploitation done by big-scale
commercial fishers
• PD 704 - allowed the
exploitation of national
resources by encouraging
investments
9. The Fisherfolk Sector
• Subsistence rights: ensuring that
the people securely possess
enough food, shelter, clean
water, medical care, and
unpolluted surroundings to lead
a decent life.
10. Small Farmers
• They are the major supplier of
the country’s basic staple food
• They support the economy that
the whole nation depends on
• Millions of farmers suffer from
poverty and their hard work is
scarcely compensated
• They have the right to receive a
just share of their fruits and
production and to live decent
lives
11. • Are human rights violations manifestations of a socially unjust
society? Why?
• What can you do to help protect the rights of the grassroots sector?
12. Legal Bases for Safeguarding the
Human Rights of the Urban Poor
13. Part III of the International Covenant on
Economic, Social,and Cultural Rights
• It recognizes the right of everyone to adequate food,
clothing, and housing, and to continuous
improvement of living conditions
14. Article II, Sec. 9 of the Phil. Constitution
• The State shall promote a just and dynamic social
order that will ensure prosperity and independence of
the nation and the free people from poverty through
policies that provide adequate social services,
promote full employment, a rising standard of living,
and an improved quality of life for all.
15. Article XIII, Sec. 9 of the Phil. Constitution
• The State shall by law, and for the common good,
undertake a continuing program for urban land reform
and housing and basic services to the underprivileged
and homeless citizens
16. Article XIII, Sec. 10 of the Phil. Constitution
• Urban and rural poor dwellers shall not be evicted not
their dwellings be demolished except in accordance
with the law and in a just and humane manner
17. RA 7279: Urban and Development Housing Act of
1992
• This is a law passed to respond to the needs and
concerns of the urban poor sector, particularly on the
security of tenure and adequate housing
• It is designed to uplift the conditions of the
underprivileged and homeless citizens by making
available, affordable, cost-decent housing, basic
services, and employment opportunities
18. Legal Bases for Safeguarding the
Human Rights of Indigenous
Cultural Communities
19. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Article I: All human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights. They are endowed with reasons
and conscience and should act toward one another in
the spirit of brotherhood
• Article VII: All are equal before the law and are
entitled without any discrimination in violation of this
Declaration and against any incitement to such
discrimination.
20. United Nation’s International Covenant on
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
• Article I: All people have the right to self-
determination. By virtue of that right, they freely
determine their political status and freely pursue their
economic, social, and cultural development
21. United Nation’s International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights
• Article 27: In those States in which ethnic, religious, or
linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such
minorities shall not be denied their right, in
community with other members of their group, to
enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their
own religion, or to use their own language.
22. Article II, Sec. 5 of the 1987 Phil. Constitution
• The State, subject to the provisions of this
Constitution and national development policies and
programs, shall protect the rights of indigenous
cultural minorities to their ancestral lands and to their
economic, social, and cultural well-being.
23. RA 6657 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law
• Ancestral lands of each indigenous cultural
community shall include, but are not limited to, lands
in the actual, continuous, and open possession and
occupation of the community and its members,
provided that the Torrens System shall be respected
• A Torrens title is conclusive against third parties,
including the government. A holder of a Torrens title in
good faith is guaranteed that his/her title is indefeasible,
unassailable and imprescriptible.
24. Resolution 1803 of the UN General Assembly
• Violations of the rights of peoples and nations to
sovereignty over the natural wealth and resources is
contrary to the spirit and principles of the Charter of
the United Nations and hinders the development of
international cooperation and maintenance of peace
25. Article VII of the International Labor Organization
in Convention 107
• (a) In defining the rights and duties of the populations
concerned, regard shall be given to their own customs
and institutions where these are not incompatible
with the national legal system or the objectives of the
26. Article XII, Sec. 5 of the Phil. Constitution
• The Congress may provide for the applicability of
customary laws governing property rights or relations
in determining the ownership and extent of ancestral
domain
27. Legal Bases for Safeguarding the
Human Rights of Fisherfolks
28. National and Economic Patrimony of the Phil.
Constitution
• Article XII, Sec. 2: The Philippine Constitution
guarantees priority subsistence fishermen and
fisherworkers in the small scale utilization of natural
resources.
29. National Resource Reform under Social Justice and
Human Rights
• Article XIII, Sec. 7 mandates the State to protect the
rights of subsistence fishermen and local communities
to the preferential use of communal marine and
inland fishery resources
30. Article II, Sec. 19 of the Phil. Constitution
• The State will develop a self-reliant and independent
national economy effectively controlled by Filipinos
31. RA 8550 Fisheries Code of 1998
• The law provides a new perspective on the fishery
sector and fishing industry. It gives high regard to food
security, proper utilization, management,
development, conservation, and protection of
Philippine fishery resources.
32. RA 6657 Agrarian Reform Law
• The State shall protect the rights of subsistence
fishermen, especially of local communities, to the
preferential use of communal marine and fishing
resources, both inland and offshore. It shall provide
support through appropriate technology and research,
adequate financial, production, and marketing
assistance and other services.
33. Legal Bases for Safeguarding the
Human Rights of Small Farmers
34. RA 6657 Agrarian Reform Law
• Section 2: It is the policy of the State to pursue a
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). The
wellfare of the landless farmers and farm workers will
receive the highest consideration to promote social
justice and to move the nation toward sound rural
development and industrialization and the
establishment of owner cultivatorship of economic-
sized farms as the basis of Philippine agriculture
35. RA 6657 Agrarian Reform Law
•Farmers may invoke the following rights:
1. A more equitable distribution and ownership of
land with due regard to the rights of landowners
to just compensation and to the ecological needs
of the nation to enhance their dignity and improve
the quality of their lives through greater
productivity of agricultural lands.
36. RA 6657 Agrarian Reform Law
•Farmers may invoke the following rights:
2. Farmers and regular farm workers who are
landless have the right to own directly or collectively
the lands they till or to receive a share of the fruits
thereof
37. RA 6657 Agrarian Reform Law
•Farmers may invoke the following rights:
3. The State shall recognize the rights of farmers,
farm workers, and laborers, as well as cooperatives
and other independent farmer’s organization to
participate in the planning, organization, and
management of the program and shall provide
support to agriculture through technology, research,
and adequate financial, production, and other
support services
38. RA 6657 Agrarian Reform Law
•Farmers may invoke the following rights:
3. The State shall recognize the rights of farmers,
farm workers, and laborers, as well as cooperatives
and other independent farmer’s organization to
participate in the planning, organization, and
management of the program and shall provide
support to agriculture through technology, research,
and adequate financial, production, and other
support services
39. RA 6657 Agrarian Reform Law
•Farmers may invoke the following rights:
4. By means of incentives, the State shall encourage
the formation and maintenance of economic-sized
family farms to be constituted by individual
beneficiaries and small landowners.
40. RA 6657 Agrarian Reform Law
•Farmers may invoke the following rights:
5. The State may lease underveloped lands of the
public domain to qualified entities for the
development of capital-intensive farms and
traditional and pioneering crops, especially those for
exports subject to the poor rights of the beneficiaries
of this Act.
