By
Roger Sacyaten
BONTOC,
Mountain Province -- Tribal leaders and
elders including indigenous peoples’ mandatory representatives (IPMRs) in the
province met here Oct. 30 and 31 at the Pearl Café and Restaurant here to find
solutions to common problems besetting the five major tribes in the province,
namely; Kankanaey, Applai, Bontok, Balangao, and Baliwon.
The activity was conducted
by the Lang-ay Festival Organization in coordination with the provincial office
of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).
It was funded by the
National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
The objective of the
activity was for participants in a workshop to identify major problems for the
individual tribes.
The problems were
synthesized into major common problems all of tribes in the province.
These problems will be
presented to concerned government and non-government agencies for favorable
resolutions or recommendations for possible actions.
Fr. Marcial Castaneda,
the spiritual counselor and member of the Board of the Lang-ay Organization,
told participants the event “was a dialogue of the past and the present,
culture and the faith, and peoples and tribes.”
He cited “importance of
looking at the deeds of forebears and onslaught of technologies in our lives at
present and the importance of intertwining of culture and the religious faith.”
He urged elders as usual
to lead the young with credibility and integrity and to teach them the values
of inayan and lawa (some sort of a local version of the Golden Rule) that the
elders practiced.
Lawyer Wilson Kalangeg,
provincial officer of the NCIP also urged the participants to contribute in
finding solutions and recommendations to the overall concerns of the tribes.
The participants were
grouped into the five major tribes for workshop 1 to identify issues and
concerns on their respective tribes.
In workshop 2, the
participants came up with the most common and relevant issues and concerns.
The settlement and
recognition of ancestral domain boundaries, and the problems on the recognition
of the sub tribes as separate and distinct tribes as the major issues and
concerns. Support to Cordillera Autonomy was also identified.
All the tribes
identified ancestral boundaries as the major concerns and even adding that the
political boundaries are different from the ancestral boundaries.
On ethnicity, the
improper use of native attires was scored. It was cited for example that the
tapis for women has no official and uniform upper garments. No problem for men
as they use the wanes or g-strings only but the improper use of head gears was
also mentioned.
Barlig representatives
said those in Central Barlig should be called e-Fialika, e-lias, and
e-Kachakran instead of being lumped in the tribe of Balangao.
The Paracelis
representatives who supposedly belong to the Baliwon tribe also asked for the
recognition of Ga’dang as a separate and distinct tribe from Baliwon.
Other concerns cited,
among others, were institutionalization of the conduct of Peoples’ Day in all
local government units (LGUs) for concerns of the people to be addressed.
Establishment of
dialysis centers in the municipalities, especially those that have no dialysis
centers and far from such centers was proposed.
Paulino Tumapang, Jr.,
the chairperson of Lang-ay Organization and the private sector representative
of Mountain Province to the Regional Development Council, took the opportunity
to conduct information education campaign (IEC) on autonomy.
He cited three concerns
of autonomy such as permanent identity, responsive policies, progress for all.
“We
all have to be referred as Cordillerans, governed by policies we craft and
implement not dependent on imperial Manila, and direct programs and projects
for the progress of all,” is the summary of the lecture of Tumapang.
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