Mountain Province tribes push separate identities; want resolution of disputes

By Roger Sacyaten

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- Tribal leaders and elders including indigenous peoples’ mandatory representatives (IPMRs) in the province are pushing recognition of their separate identities and resolution of disputes like those on land boundaries.

They recently met here at the Pearl Café and Restaurant 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.