The House Committee on Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs) and Indigenous Peoples (IPs) is eyeing to craft a resolution seeking to include the concerns of IPs in the national policy agenda of President Rodrigo Duterte.
During a committee hearing on the complaints of various Lumad leaders on the continuing atrocities of the New People’s Army (NPA) against IPs, North Cotabato Rep. Nancy Catamco urged the panel to pass a resolution for the government to prioritize the concerns of IPs and be highlighted in the 10-point socioeconomic agenda of the President.
“It’s about time for this committee to pass a resolution (highlighting) that the concerns and issues of the IPs should be part of the national policy agenda of the President,” Catamco said.
“It’s about time for this committee to pass a resolution highlighting that the concerns and issues of the IPs should be part of the national policy agenda of the President.”
Meanwhile, ANAC-IP Rep. Jose Panganiban Jr. stressed the need to provide a higher budget for the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to address the plight of IPs when it comes to peace and development.
NCIP chairperson Leonor Oralde-Quintayo, on the other hand, called for a whole-of-government approach to address insurgency, noting that her agency alone cannot address it.
“The budgetary constraints should not hamper the efforts of the government to address the insurgency. This is a time of convergence where all government agencies will contribute and try to address as a whole the issue on insurgencies,” Oralde-Quintayo said.
“This is a time of convergence where all government agencies will contribute and try to address as a whole the issue on insurgencies.”
Presidential adviser for indigenous peoples’ concerns Allen Capuyan echoed NCIP’s position, noting that the whole-of-government approach is the way-to-go given President Duterte’s zeal to quell communist insurgencies.
“We must believe that it can be done, and it must be done,” Capuyan said.
