ACTION PLANNING. Indigenous cultural communities and indigenous people’s leaders and government agencies gather at the Diamond Jubilee Hall in Iloilo City for the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)-led Visayas Regional Action Planning Workshop from December 16 to 18, 2019. The workshop is in line with the thrust of the present administration in ending the local communist armed conflict. (PNA photo by Gail Momblan)
ILOILO CITY -- The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) heard the issues and concerns of indigenous cultural communities and their leaders during the three-day Visayas Regional Action Planning Workshop held at Diamond Jubilee Hall in this city.
Line agencies of the government were gathered to help address the issues of the indigenous peoples, in support of the Executive Order 70 or the whole-of-nation approach in ending the local communist armed conflict (ELCAC).
“This program is in line with the thrust of our beloved President (Duterte) to help our IP siblings because the president said you (IPs) have your own land, and what you need to do is to develop that based on your culture and tradition,” said Jeorge Largado, NCIP commissioner in the island groups and rest of Visayas, in an interview Wednesday.
The ELCAC clusters and IP leaders presented their issues and concerns to the panel consist of officials from the Philippine Army, the Philippine National Police, the Department of Labor and Employment, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Department of Foreign Affairs, among others.
The issues and concerns particularly revolved on the four bundles of rights, namely: rights to ancestral domain; self-governance and empowerment; social justice and human rights; and cultural integrity.
The common issues that arose during the panel discussion is the lack of knowledge of the IPs regarding the process of acquiring land titles for their ancestral domains, lack of will of some local government units to have Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR), lack of knowledge of the young generation of the IP’s tradition and culture, among others.
“They have voiced their concerns and issues that can be addressed by different line agencies for us to at least harmonize the issues in the country,” Largado said.
He said the workshop will be one of the steps for the IPs to know that the government looks after their welfare.
“We need to address the issues of the IP. We do not focus on only one, but all of their needs,” he said.
Largado emphasized to the IP participants to be proud of themselves because IPs in the Visayas are now already recognized, respected, and protected.
The workshop in the Visayas is the 13th and final leg of the NCIP-led program. Largado said all the outputs in the country will be gathered and be presented to President Rodrigo Duterte.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1089056
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