By Susan Aro
BAGUIO CITY -- The clamor for a
seat for indigenous peoples (IP) in legislative councils to push the
IP agenda prompted the sectoral committee on indigenous peoples concerns
of the Cordillera Regional Development Council to pass
a resolution calling for such.
Allotting an IP
representative in legislative councils is mandated in Republic Act 8371
otherwise known as the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA).
Marcelo Abela, the newly elected
CIPC co-chair, who moved for the passage of the measure, said this was in line
with the directive of the Department of Interior and Local
Government for mandatory representation of IPs among local
government units as a requirement to qualify in the Seal of Good
Housekeeping (SGH) silver category award. LGU awardees to the SGH are
remunerated under the government’s Performance Challenge Fund.
In the Cordillera, very few LGUs
have so far accommodated IP representatives in their local
legislative bodies.
In an earlier briefing of the
National Commission on Indigenous Peoples – CAR on the newly issued policies
and directives, Commissioner Zenaida Brigida Pawid urged LGUs to let
IP representatives who are appointed to sit down in the councils.
On the contention that with
the Cordillera inhabited by predominantly IP groups ,
most of the provincial board members and city/municipal councilors
are themselves IPs, Pawid said this should not be
a reason for non-inclusion of IP representatives who have a
particular role which is to push for the IP agenda.
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