Bancasi, Butuan City – Serious in its objective to promote empowerment among the Indigenous People (IP), the 402nd Infantry (Stingers) Brigade conducted awareness lecture on IP Culture Education last October 26, 2019 at its Headquarters in Brgy Bancasi, Butuan City.
Said lecture aims to promote awareness on the customs and traditions of different ethnic groups in Caraga Region. It was attended by the IP soldiers of this unit undergoing Alternative Learning System (ALS) Program. The attendees will be capacitated as resource focal persons of the unit who will advocate cultural sensitivity to non-IP personnel and in conducting various civilian-military engagements.
The initiative is in partnership with the Department of Education, Division of Butuan City and IP Leaders namely Datu Rico H. Maca, the Indigenous People Mandatory Representative (IPMR) of San Miguel, Surigao del Sur and Datu Engwan Ala, the Chairman of Surigao del Sur IP Crisis Committee (IPCC) and Municipal Chieftain of Carascal of the same province.
Ltc Julius Cesar C Paulo, the 402nd Brigades Executive Officer said, “During the lecture, customs and tradition of IP in Caraga Region were given emphasis so that our IP soldiers could effectively articulate on how to advocate cultural sensitivity to their peers and even to the civilian communities during stakeholder engagements. Likewise, the Republic Act 8371 also known as “The Indigenous People’s Rights Act of 1997” was also tackled in order to level-off understanding about the implementation of the law vis-à-vis the IP customary laws.”
In his statement, Col Maurito L Licudine, Commander of the 402nd Infantry (Stingers) Brigade said, “We deemed it necessary that all our personnel must learn to respect and be sensitive on the IP culture in the AOR. As part of professionalizing our ranks and in line with the Army Transformation Roadmap, our troops now are even more capable to effectively engage with the IP communities that are frequently visited by the Communist Terrorist Group and are most vulnerable to deceptive recruitment using issues concerning IP culture and its ancestral domain”.
“We sincerely thank Datu Rico Maca and Datu Engwan Ala, both active IP leaders of Surigao del Sur province for partnering with us in this endeavour. Their contribution is a testament that they are promoting peace and development opportunities for the welfare of their tribes. Unlike other groups, let us be wary of the Left-Leaning Organizations of the CPP-NPA-NDF that just wants to sow chaos and take advantage on prevailing issues so that they can recruit innocent victims to take up arms against the government”, Col Licudine ended.
Division Public Affairs Office 4th Infantry Division Philippine Army
Cpt Regie H Go
OIC DPAO 4ID
armydiamond@ymail.com
[Kalinaw News is the official online source of information on the pursuit for peace by the Philippine Army. It provides information on the activities of Army Units nationwide in the performance of their duty of Serving the People and Securing the Land. This website is a property of the Civil-Military Operations Regiment, Philippine Army located at Lawton Avenue, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.
Contact us: contact@kalinawnews.com]
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.