A stop in cultural theft is being undertaken.
Baguio Representative Mauricio Domogan filed House Bill No. 5216. The bill seeks to establish legal protection for the Community Intellectual Rights (CIR) of the country’s Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs) and Indigenous Peoples (IPs), aiming to end the exploitation of traditional crafts and knowledge.
Domogan said “The bill thus seeks to prevent further abuses and exploitation and provide the needed legal protection that the present IPRA has not been able to deliver to members of the ICCs/IPs as regards their indigenous knowledge or creative activity and their manifestations.”
HB 5216 addresses these intellectual property gaps and proposes a comprehensive system that recognizes the ICCs/IPs’ full ownership, control, and protection from misappropriation, misuse, and false designation of origin of their traditional knowledge (TK) and traditional cultural expressions (TCEs).
The lawmaker added that when counterfeit Cordillera-woven blankets, garments, and cloth associated with ICCs of some ethno-linguistic groups in the Cordillera Administrative Region flooded the local markets, local weavers, despite their protests, were helpless due to the absence of a law protecting their community intellectual rights.
The HB aims to encompass ancestral ceremonies and medicinal plants to their unique textile arts and mandates the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to establish and maintain a public registry for these rights, offering a clear legal defense for communities whose heritage is commercialized without their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).
The proposed legislation includes economic safeguards and penalties, stipulating when CIRs are used commercially, the concerned ICCs/IPs are entitled to royalties that must be no less than five percent (5%) of the gross proceeds of the sale.
Violations, such as unauthorized use or false labeling, can result in administrative fines and, for criminal actions, imprisonment for up to nine years and a fine of up to P500,000.
The bill recognizes indigenous heritage is not a commodity for public domain but a valuable, living intellectual property belonging to its rightful creators.
Domogan sits as the Chairperson of the Committee on Indigenous Cultural Communities and Indigenous Peoples. By Maria Elena Catajan
