By: Minerva BC Newman
CENTRAL VISAYAS, Sept. 9 (PIA) – Indigenous Peoples of Luzon meets today until September 10 at the Quezon Hall, Teacher’s Camp in Baguio City aims to set up a mechanism that will strengthen the voices of Luzon’s IPs as they engage in dialogue with local and national policy-makers as well as international institutions
Among the Luzon IP groups participating in the assembly are the Isneg, Bago, Tingguian, Kankanaey, Iwak, Ibatan, Agta, Itawes, Tuwali, Gaddang, Kankanaey, Bugkalot, Ayangan, Tiblac, Ivatan and the Dumagat.
Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities said the assembly serves as a forum to discuss the myriad issues and concerns of the IPs and how to solve these challenges.
Legarda noted that despite significant strides in protecting the rights of the IPs over the past twenty years, poverty, malnutrition and lack of access to basic healthcare and education disproportionately still haunt the indigenous communities in the country.
The senator quoted the UN estimates that the life expectancy of a person belonging to the IP communities is up to 20 years shorter than that of the general population.
These communities persist to experience higher levels of maternal and infant mortality and prevalence of diseases such as tuberculosis. Their unique situation should be part of public discourse, Legarda said.
Invited to participate are the Cordillera Administrative Region's (CAR) and Region I to V’s regional directors of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); Department of Agriculture (DA); Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR); Department of Health (DOH); Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD); Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG); Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE); Department of Tourism (DOT); Department of Justice (DOJ); among other national government agencies, the briefer reads.
National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Chair Zenaida Brigida Hamada-Pawid will deliver the welcome remarks while Senator Loren Legarda delivers the opening speech and will also moderate the open forum.
The second day of the assembly will include special presentations by expert resource speakers such as Atty. Sedfrey Candelaria, associate dean of the Ateneo de Manila Law School and director of the Katutubo Desk of the Ateneo Human Rights Division that will make a presentation on the ILO Convention 169: Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention.
National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Chairman Felipe de Leon will present Sustainable Management of Schools of Living Tradition and Bakun Indigenous Tribe Organization manager Amos Beta-a, will present the ‘Success Stories on Community Initiatives’.
The Baguio IP assembly is the first of a series of assemblies nationwide. On September 23-24, another IP assembly will be held in Iloilo City for the Visayas Indigenous Peoples and the Mindanao IP assembly will be in Davao del Norte on September 16-17, 2011.
These assemblies are prelude to the Indigenous Cultural Summit in Manila on October 13-14. 2011.(PIA-7/mbcn & with reports from the Office of Senator Legarda)