BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP-CAR) returned to the indigenous peoples (IP) community to decide on the fate of the city’s Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) following the emergence of various legal and moral issues confronting the selection of Roger Sinot as the IP representative to the local legislative body.
Lawyer Roland Calde, NCIP-CAR regional director, said the petition of a number of Kankana-ey, Kalanguya, Ibaloi and other IPs in the city alleging, among others, their exclusion from the selection process of the city’s IPMR will be brought back to the IPs for them to discuss and decide whether or not to uphold the earlier selection of Sinot as the IP representative of the city.
He said it will be the NCIP Baguio service office that will convene all the IPs in the city to prevent future allegations that some of the tribes were excluded from the process, thus, it will be up to the IP leaders that will be convened to decide on the matter based on mutually accepted customary laws.
Aside from issues on the exclusion of some tribes in the initial selection process of the city’s IPMR, Calde admitted there were issues brought to his attention regarding Sinot’s alleged multiple registration with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and his alleged conviction on a theft case in Nueva Vizcaya that caused his alleged imprisonment for at least six months in the Solano district jail.
Initial reports reaching Calde’s office showed Sinot was first registered as a voter in Tuba, Benguet before registering in Pinsao, Baguio City and finally registering for the third time in Nueva Vizcaya.
According to the NCIP-CAR official, Sinot actually cast his vote in the recently-concluded elections in Nueva Vizcaya which casts doubt on his intention to become the city’s IPMR when he is not a duly registered voter in the city.
While it is true that the Regional Review Team (RRT) of the NCIP-CAR recommended the issuance of a certificate of affirmation on Sinot’s selection as the city’s IPMR, Calde asserted the issues that cropped up in the course of the investigation done by his office involves issues on moral turpitude which is in violations of the rules, regulations and guidelines for the selection and eventual appointment of the city’s IPMR., thus, the proper move that he undertook was to remand the matter back to the city’s IP community for them to come out with a decision on the matter based on the customary laws and the active participation of all IPs in the city.
“We had to make a decision to return the matter on the controversial selection of the city’s IPMR back to the IP community because they are the ones that can solve their differences so that they can select the deserving IP representative to represent them in the local legislative body,” Calde stressed.
The NCIP-CAR official called on all IPs in the city to actively participate in the future undertakings their Baguio station office will conduct to correct the deficiencies of the previous IPMR selection process to put things in their proper places and prevent complaints from other IPs that they were excluded from the selection process.
By Dexter A. See
