Commissioner wants IPs to reflect on SWOT to protect identity

BENGUET IP YOUTH FEDERATION. NCIP Commissioner for CAR and Region 1 Gaspar A. Cayat administers oath to officers of the newly organized federation of IP youth and students in the province of Benguet during the 25th IPRA Commemoration on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022, in Baguio City. (From left: Commissioner Cayat; Federation VP (External) Oliver D. Lubante; Federation VP (Internal) Daisinia P. Bucasan; Federation Treasurer Riza C. Budih; and Federation President Kyshelle Jude A. Rafael). Merriam del Rosario, FNS

BAGUIO CITY — The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples – Cordillera Administrative Region (NCIP-CAR) on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022, commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) calling on convergence with partners and stakeholders for a whole nation approach on ensuring economic sustainability and security in the ancestral domains.

The event also opened the 2022 Indigenous Peoples Month celebration which was graced by NCIP officials and IP representatives including former United Nations Rapporteur on IPs and Tebtebba Foundation Executive Director Victoria Tauli-Corpuz.

In his message during the program, NCIP Commissioner for CAR and Region 1 Gaspar A. Cayat called on Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs) and IPs to work together and help one another for the welfare of the Filipino citizens as a whole and the IPs in particular, a whole of nation and a whole of government approach.

The Commissioner also urged them to try to reflect on their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) so that their identity and welfare as IPs and Filipinos will be highly protected.

“What were our strengths, the weaknesses that we did not address, what will be the opportunities that we should do as IP community and as public servants of the government, and what are the threats trying to destroy the identity of IPs?” the Commissioner said.

In an interview with the Commissioner, he mentioned the need for convergence and harmonization of plans and programs with the government in order for the latter to fully appreciate what NCIP is doing and what it is supposed to do.

Cayat said the job NCIP does is tough, but lamented over the limited budget and meager resources that the government provides.

He implored the full support of the government by providing funds, empowering NCIP to deliver its mandates, by understanding fully the mandate of NCIP and the cry of assertion or aspiration of the IPs, their future, and the national and international responsibility of IPs.

“How can we deliver progress or activities when we have very limited funding?” Cayat said.

Cayat also said he strongly believes that NCIP should be one department, an independent department that should not be transferred from one department to another.

“How can we have the so-called autonomy, the powers, and functions that we should independently fight for the interest of the IPs if we are in control or if we are under different departments that cannot even or is not familiar with the laws of IPRA?” Cayat said.

According to Cayat, NCIP is the only agency given the global responsibility to protect the mountains and forests due to climate change for the entire world, in addition to its main mandate.

“It’s not only service. It’s not an ordinary thing that we need relief. There is an obligation. The government gave us much more [tasks] than that,” Cayat said.

NCIP is the agency of the national government of the Philippines that is responsible for protecting the rights of the indigenous peoples of the Philippines formed on Oct. 22, 1997, under the Office of the President. It is composed of seven commissioners.

The agency has been transferred to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Feb.  27, 2020, by virtue of Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No. 1, Series of 2020.

As per House Committee on Appropriations briefing on Sept. 16, 2022, the 2023 proposed budget of the NCIP is P2.8 billion but under the 2023 National Expenditure Program (NEP), the recommended budget is P1.468 billion.

Cagayan de Oro City  2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said the reduced budget showed neglect and non-attention of the government to the IPs.

NCIP Chairman Allen Capuyan said the activity most affected by the decrease in the budget is the program on the delineation of ancestral domain.

Capuyan said they are proposing an additional amount of P700 million.

Baguio City Lone District Rep. Mark Go expressed support for the NCIP proposal for an additional budget. ###