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.
[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.
[5] Notably, Charles Lindbergh served on PANAMIN's board of directors and visited many of the Philippines' indigenous peoples with Elizalde.