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Despite these global movements to put forward the concerns of Indigenous Peoples, the UN report on the State of the World's Indigenous Peoples cites that "there are over 370 million Indigenous Peoples in some 90 countries, living in all regions of the world. The situation of Indigenous Peoples in many parts of the world is critical today. Poverty rates are significantly higher among Indigenous Peoples compared to other groups. While they constitute 5 per cent of the world's population, they are 15 per cent of the world's poor."

In the Philippines, there are between 12 to 15 million Indigenous Peoples (as estimated by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples or NCIP) who are in similar situations of poverty, human rights violations, cultural degradation, and lacking equal access to basic social services, including education and healthcare. Those with recognized ancestral domains often face tremendous pressures in dealing with encroachments, access to resources and traditional livelihoods, and in being drawn in the various armed conflicts.

The UN report states that most indicators of well-being show that Indigenous Peoples suffer disproportionately compared with those in the mainstream cultures. Indigenous Peoples face systemic discrimination and exclusion from political and economic power and continue to be over-represented amongst the poorest, the illiterate, and the destitute. Wars and environmental disasters lead to their displacement and in more modern versions of market exploitation, Indigenous Peoples see their traditional knowledge and cultural expressions marketed and patented without their consent or participation.

However, there are also many ongoing initiatives and efforts from governments, assisting organizations, and international development agencies who do recognize these inequities and challenges and the critical need for broader society to respond.

The Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC) and the Apu Palamguwan Cultural Education Center (APC) are committed to pursue its work with cultures primarily through culture-based education, leadership formation of indigenous young adults, and resource management through their ancestral domains.

This is the focus of a presentation by Pedro Walpole, Executive Director of ESSC and APC, on 20 August 2011 for the National Conference of the Linguistics Society of the Philippines titled "First Languages First: Mother Tongues and National Development."

In sharing APC's experience in mother tongue culture-based education and its role in the upliftment of Indigenous Peoples' lives, we must recognize that communities are the basis by which many people are able to uplift their lives where the economy and government service have either an exploitative impact or limited reach.

When we sit in Manila and in other urban centers, we have little sense of the grinding weariness and draining impact of a culture of violence. We talk of peace and basic services as if they are understood, but at the margins, freedom from fear and a classroom where children can learn, embracing hope and opportunity, are not easy to establish. All the more, the confidence of being able to express ‘who I am' and of having an identity is a challenge. People cannot be defined from outside, least of all dismissively as: taga-bukid (from the rural areas or uplands), pobre (poor) or rebelde (armed rebel), without regard of the person.

Within the Pulangiyen community in Sitio Bendum in Bukidnon where APC and ESSC work, they have an identity that they can express with integrity and establish equity in engaging local government, especially the City of Malaybalay. The Pulangiyen are respected along with acknowledgement from the different offices of the Department of Education, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the NCIP. The Pulangiyen now have a platform for beginning to engage local development, which is not exploitative of Mindanao, respecting the people of the land and the environment and its sustainability. They are interested in what national development has to say about community natural resource management and ecological service payments for the forest they maintain in the Upper Pulangi.

Social transformation does not come from above but from respect and trust that takes time in knowing the cultures of people. Then from above and below, the transformation occurs. This is possible in Sitio Bendum because of the positive contributions of mother tongue education developed in the community that underlies their expression and action. Education, for community, is not simply the individual and excellence, but so that we all learn to live together and to respect and participate in a sustainable people and Philippines.