E/CN.4/2003/90/Add.3 page 18 • In mining areas, “militarization, intimidation and abuse by military and mine security are reported from areas including Mankayan, Itogon, Mindoro, Panay, Zamboanga, Cotabato”. Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links. B. Poverty and insufficient provision of basic social services for indigenous peoples 39. Section 25 of IPRA provides that “the indigenous cultural communities/indigenous peoples have the right to special measures for the immediate, effective and continuing improvement of their economic and social conditions, including in the areas of employment, vocational training and retraining, housing, sanitation, health and social security. Particular attention should be paid to the rights and special needs of indigenous women, elderly, youth, children and differently-abled persons. Accordingly, the State shall guarantee the right of ICCs/IPs to government’s basic services which shall include, but not limited to, water and electric facilities, education, health, and infrastructure.” The Act provides a clear legal framework for the basic social services to which the Philippine indigenous peoples are entitled. 40. Numerous reports were presented to the Special Rapporteur by indigenous organizations claiming that they are not able to receive the benefits of social services. Various surveys and studies also report that indigenous peoples’ human development indicators are lower and poverty indicators are higher than those of the rest of society. While there are no systematic, disaggregated statistics to support these findings, there appears to be a valid correlation between lower human development indicators and the high density of indigenous populations in certain provinces. The income of indigenous peoples is still below average. For instance, in 1997 in the Caraga region, the average income of indigenous peoples was 42 per cent lower than the national average.23 Basic services such as health and education are more easily available in urban areas, leaving out the rural poor. In the Cordillera region poor families in urban areas account for 14 per cent as compared to 55 per cent in rural areas.24 41. In the Cordillera region, malnutrition is on the increase. Nine per cent of pre-school children were classified as either moderately or severely underweight in 1999 as compared to 5 per cent in 1998. Maternal care, as well as access to water and basic sanitation facilities, continue to be a problem for indigenous peoples in this region. Only 19 per cent in Kalinga and 34 per cent in Ifugao have facilities for sewage and garbage disposal. The spectre of tuberculosis continues to haunt the region.25 42. PASAKA, a regional confederation of Lumad organizations in Mindanao, expressed its concerns over an epidemic in Malabog in which 38 children died. This organization denounced the Government for building up the armed conflict instead of satisfying the indigenous peoples’ basic needs, particularly in the field of health. The indigenous peoples in San Luis composed of the Manobo, Banwaon and the Tala-andig are reported to be among the poorest in the country. Many of them suffer from the effects of poverty: periods of hunger, high morbidity and infant mortality rates, illiteracy, and a serious lack of basic social and other services.26 43. The Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links reports: Women who are dominant in the subsistence agricultural sector suffer particularly with the introduction of mining. Lost livelihoods for women are replaced by a few work opportunities, mainly for men. Women and