No more reason for IPs to join rebellion- Mayor Libayao

From the Philippine Information Agency (Oct 8, 2020): No more reason for IPs to join rebellion- Mayor Libayao (By Jan Vincent Leuterio) 

DAVAO DEL NORTE, 6 Oct (PIA) – The Indigenous Peoples (IP) communities in Talaingod no longer have any reason to go into rebellion after receiving an array of support from the government.

During the One Davao Presser on October 5, Talaingod Municipal Mayor Jonnie Libayao pointed this out in explaining the impact of government support to the lives of his indigenous people (IP) constituents.

“Unsa pamay pangita-on pa nila nga mag rebelde man sila, nga gihatag na sa ila tanan. Labi na sa livelihood, kaning sa TESDA, DOLE, DTI, DSWD, ug uban pang mga ahensya, gihatag na tanan para sa pag sustain sa ilang panginabuhian (What else are they going to reason to rebel when they have already been given everything. From TESDA, DOLE, DTI, DSWD, and other agencies, everything has been given to them so they can sustain their livelihood),” he said.

Libayao especially cited the farm-to-market road project given by the government as “the most important thing” to the communities’ livelihood because without the road, it was too difficult for people to move and get access.

As well, one of the many programs of the government for Talaingod is the housing project, which Libayao confidently believes will make the IPs in Haran come back to Talaingod.

“[Katong mga naa sa Haran] Syempre manguli gyud to sila kay naa naman gud silay puy-anan nga gwapo, ma ibog na sila sa ilang mga kauban nga gihatagan na silag desente nga puy-anan ([For those in Haran] Of course they will come back because they now have houses to live in, they will be envious of their fellows who have received their own decent house to live in),” he explained.

He explained that the reason why some of the IPs moved to Haran is because of their lack of homes.

“Ang mga IP nga kaigsuonan nato, bisag diin2 nalang sila mupuyo. Kay ilang balay dili concrete, sila man gud temporary lang jud pirmi ilang balay… Mao nang na abot sila sa Haran kay wala silay kapuy-an (Our IP brothers, they just go from place to place to live because they never had a concrete house to live in, they always just had temporary houses…That’s why they moved to Haran because they didn’t have a place to stay),” he said.

But now that there is the government’s housing project for the IPs, Libayao believes this will encourage the communities to stay in one place and work hard towards their livelihood.

“So karon nga gihatag sa gobyerno nga desente nga kapuy-anan nila, diha na gyud sila maningkamot nga mabuhi sa ilang panginabuhi-an (So now that the government gave them a decent housing, that’s where they will work hard towards their livelihood),” he said.

He added that these houses are a complete package, since there will be water system, and electricity for the housing sites.

“So unsa pamay katarongan nga musupak pa sila sa gobyerno nga gihatag naman ang tanan sa ilaha. Kompleto na siya, naay mga water system, karon naa a puy programa sa atong probinsyana nga pasak-an ug kuryente didto (So what reason do they have to rebel? They have the complete package, there is water system, there is a program by the province to bring electricity there),” Libayao added.

Ever since the establishment of roads in the areas, Libayao has started to see the progress in livelihood among the IPs

“Karon nakita na gyud nato ang pag asenso sa mga kaigsuonan nato tungod aning kalsada (Now we see that there is progression among our brothers because of these roads),” he pointed out.

Thus, the mayor assured that Talaingod is now at 99% in terms of peace and order, and that its tourism industry is seeing growth.

“Kining Talaingod sa peace and order, mga 99% na gyud nga peaceful na gyud. Kay Makita nimo kining tourism diri sa Talaingod naga kusog na gyud tungod kay peaceful na gyud. Daghan na kaayog tourism site nato nga gi identify na (In terms of Peace and order, Talaingod is at 99%. You can see our tourism here has grown because it really is peaceful now. We have so many tourism sites identified,” Libayao concluded. (Jan Vincent Leuterio, PIA-XI/jmda)

https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1055329