Campaigning for the Atis?

When I asked Bacada about how Oxfam could help organize the indigenous people of the Philippines to claim their ancestral domain, she told me that local NGOs first had to work with indigenous people "to explain what their rights are, help them build capacity and help them lobby. [Those groups] have to support them to do that first."

Only after there are a number of strong local NGOs working with indigenous people on the cause of ancestral domain, can Oxfam get involved . Oxfam needs to wait for this grassroots groundswell before it can help groups organize and campaign on a national level.

"But there is a law, already, that they can make use of," said Bacada, knowledgeably.