BONTO, Mountain Province – A former official of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) explained the selection of Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representatives (IPMRs) are supposedly for localities where indigenous peoples (IPs) are minorities and not for all the local governments in the country.
Provincial Administrator Amador Batay-an, who was the former NCIP-CAR regional director, pointed out the spirit of the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) in mandating the selection of IPMRs in certain areas in the country is to allow the IPs to be represented, especially when they are considered as minorities in the said places.
“We believe the spirit of the law is being circumvented to suit the political and selfish interests of some politicians wanting to appease IPs even in IP-dominated areas around the country,” Batay-an stressed.
The former NCIP-CAR official said it is high time for the members of the new Commission to revisit its existing guidelines crafted by the previous members of the Commission mandating all local government units in the country to have their own mandatory IP representative when such rules would be contrary to the spirit of the law.
According to him, the Cordillera is composed of 92 percent IPs belonging to different tribes, thus, there is no longer a need for local government units to select their IPMRs because almost all of those who are occupying sensitive positions are IPs who continue to fight for the recognition of the IP rights and privileges in governance.
Earlier, controversies cropped up in the selection of IPMRs in Kalinga and Baguio City because of the series of protests lodged by some tribes against the selection process undertaken for the appointment of IPMRs as well as other legal and moral issues and thus the process was returned to the IP communities for them to resolve the issues that were raised against the selected IPMRs for the two localities.
Batay-an said selecting an IPMR for an IP-dominated barangay, municipal or provincial council will simply add insult to injury because non-IPs would definitely air their gripes against their being discriminated in the IP-dominated community.
He pointed out there is a need for IP leaders to avoid the so-called reverse discrimination of non-IPs so that there will be a healthy community even in the different IP-dominated communities.
Under existing rules and regulations, IP leaders from the different tribes in a certain locality must select their IPMR to the barangay, municipal councils, and provincial boards through the traditional manner of doing so with the supervision of the NCIP officials who will in turn document the process.
The presence of IPMR in the local legislative bodies has been included as one of the criteria in the selection of local governments that comply with the Search for Good Local governance among the local governments in the country which has been questioned by some officials because of differing opinions on the selection of IPMR in their local legislative bodies.
By HENT
