Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Assistant Secretary
(ASec) for Legal Affairs Ana Marie Banaag on Thursday said President Rodrigo
Duterte has high regards for Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and Lumad concerns,
giving emphasis on their clamor for recognition and desire for
self-determination under a federal form of government.
Banaag, in a press conference, said the President recognizes
the clamor of the IPs and Lumads to freely exercise their rights over their
domain and resources.
Banaag, a lawyer and the former Municipal Mayor of Natonin, Mountain Province
Banaag said the President feels that both regions were
neglected by previous administrations, in terms of development.
The President will make sure that both regions will be
treated as separate federal states once the shift from the present presidential
form to federal form of government will be achieved in the future, Banaag
added.
Banaag accompanied Assistant Secretary Ramon Cualoping who
represented PCO Secretary Martin Andanar in the 107th Baguio Charter
Anniversary program at the Baguio
Convention Center
“We support the Abueva (Dr. Jose Abueva) version of dividing
the country into federal states because it includes separate federal states for
the Cordillera and the Bangsamoro in recognition of the struggle of the IPs and
Lumads for self-determination after being neglected by the government over the
past several decades,” she said.
Banaag added, “there is nothing wrong if the Cordillera
Region will continue to enhance its advocacy on autonomy vis-à-vis the shift to
federal form of government by the Duterte administration.”
Banaaag encouraged the leaders of the Cordillera Region to
continue the enhanced clamor for regional autonomy in order to gain attention
from the advocates of federalism on the need to treat the region as a separate
independent state.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=919598
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