By March L. Fianza
Roger
Dalisdis Sinot, who was elected, is an Ibaloy who traces his bloodline along
with the descendants of Piraso (one name) of the Kafagway area.
He
had been a leading advocate of IP rights.
Supporters
of IPMR are not surprised that the selection for a new member to the city
council would be attacked on all sides.
Pinsao-Irisan
Ancestral Lands Cluster member Rey B. Suello said, the method of selection
steered by national and local guidelines was challenging for both the nominees
and the electors as this was the first time that the IPMR process would be implemented.
The
consensus on the election of the IPMR that proceeded last Nov. 4 at the Ibaloy
Heritage Garden at Burnham Park was facilitated by the Baguio office of the
National Commission on Indigenous Peoples under lawyer Harriet N. Abyadang.
At
least five Ibaloys presented themselves as candidate-nominees namely; former
Onjon ni Ivadoy president Jackson Chiday of Loakan, ex-barangay chairman
Basilio Binay-an of Loakan, IP book author Vicky Macay also of Loakan, public
school teacher Michael Alos of Camp 7, ex-barangay chair of Pinsao and Baguio
Council of Elders chair Roger D. Sinot.
But
a few days after Sinot won over the other nominees, Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan
hit the process of selection saying it has excluded other IP groups such as the
Kankanaeys and Kalanguyas and confined the voting and selection to the Ibaloy
group.
Prior
to the selection on Nov. 4, the Cordillera People’s Alliance through Vice
Chairperson Jill K. Carino said, “It is a promising development that the
Ibaloys in Baguio City have selected their first IPMR to the Baguio City
Council.”
Carino
is a descendant of Kafagway (Baguio) headman Mateo Carino who championed the
“native title” or private landownership prior to the arrival of foreign
colonizers.
As
agreed on by the plenary-assembly in a consensus, selection would be through
secret balloting, after the five candidates failed to come up with an agreement
among themselves (Tongtongan) on who would sit as first IPMR in the city
council of Baguio.
The
plenary-assembly was tasked by the national and local selection guidelines to
come up with a consensus to endorse one of the five candidates as IPMR in case
the Tongtongan of the nominees was unsuccessful. But that failed too.
Abyadang
said, she was confident of the selection process the plenary had undergone,
along with the local guidelines that the assembly ratified.
The
amendment and ratification processes of the selection guidelines was witnessed
by Councilor Art Alladiw while counting of the ballots was assisted by Zee
Radio block timer and former barangay chair Peter Wasing of Quirino
Hill.
The
set of guidelines for the selection process was approved and signed by members
of the assembly who belonged to the Ibaloy, Kankanaey and Kalanguya Indigenous
Cultural Communities (ICCs) who are residents in the city, prior to the secret
balloting.
The
set of guidelines that was ratified in the morning prior to voting required
that to be a qualified voter in the first IPMR selection, one must be able to
trace his lineage to any of Baguio’s original family of Ibaloy settlers, and
must be a resident in the city.
Of
the more than 300 registrants who belonged to the Ibaloy, Kankanaey and
Kalanguya ICCs, only 195 were qualified to vote.
The
rest of the assembly stood as observers in the selection process while the
others in good conscience left the voting area upon knowing that they were not
qualified to vote.
Carino
said the CPA “also thanks the IP migrants in Baguio City who issued a
resolution during the Cordillera Elders conference held last August 29-30
pushing and expressing support for the Ibaloys to sit as an IPMR in the
council, in recognition as the original inhabitants of Kafagway.”
“We
look forward to working with Roger Sinot as our new IPMR to advance the rights
of indigenous peoples in the City,” Carino said.
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