PANAMIN, also Panamin or Panamin Foundation, was the nonstock, nonprofit organization created to protect the interests of Philippine cultural minorities. Headed and mainly funded by Manuel Elizalde, Jr., eldest son of a Filipino millionaire, but sometimes funded by the Philippine government under President Ferdinand Marcos, PANAMIN means Presidential Assistant on National Minorities.[1] Established in 1968, the organization dissolved in 1983 when Elizalde fled the Philippines. Elizalde is considered a crony of Marcos.[2][3]
PANAMIN has been accused of representing the interest of economic enterprises that aimed to exploit natural resources on ancestral lands.[4] The organization forced thousands of indigenous peoples into "strategic hamlets," supposedly to protect them from armed conflict. A report by Human Rights Watch, however, said that the displacement was intended to allow Elizalde to conduct logging and mining operations.[3] PANAMIN also recruited indigenous peoples to join paramilitary groups to divide and harass indigenous communities.[5]
Notably, Charles Lindbergh served on PANAMIN's board of directors and visited many of the Philippines' indigenous peoples with Elizalde.[citation needed]
