Senator Robinhood "Robin" Padilla has filed a resolution to investigate the deaths of at least 24 members of the Teduray tribe following landslides brought about by severe tropical storm "Paeng."

Citing reports, the senator said that the Teduray tribe was forcibly relocated from Datu Odin Sinsuat town to a landslide-prone area at the foot of Mt. Minandar in Maguindanao del Norte.

He also said that earlier reports quoted Chieftain Timuay Alim Bandara of the Tribal Indigenous Group Community Teduray as saying the tribal community was forced out of their coastal homes to Sitio Tabunon, Barangay Kusiong, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte in 2020 despite their protests.

According to the senator, a "powerful person" was behind the forced relocation to convert the place into a resort.

"The right to stay in the territory and not to be removed therefrom is a guaranteed right pursuant to Section 7(c) of the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act," Padilla said.

"Where relocation is considered necessary as an exceptional measure, such relocation shall take place only with free and prior informed consent of the concerned Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples and whenever possible, they shall be guaranteed the right to return to their ancestral domains, as soon as the grounds cease to exist," he added.

In Senate Resolution 280, Padilla pushed for the probe to be handled by the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities and Muslim Affairs which he chairs.

"In view of the foregoing, there is a need to examine and review the IPRA as well as the mandate of the NCIP (National Commission on Indigenous Peoples) of protecting the rights and welfare of the IPs, with the end in view of amending the provisions of the IPRA or Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act," the resolution read.

He stressed the area where the tribe was relocated at the foot of Mt. Minandar was "prone to landslides."