IP groups demand recall of GMA’s EO

12 million IPs rallying to save NCIP, IPRA

Unless President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo revokes Executive Order 364, 12 million indigenous peoples all over the country will withdraw their support to her administration.

Not to be outdone, the Taga Cordillera Kami Inc. (TCKI), an IP rights advocate criticized GMA for this latest move which it said undermines IPRA and the interests of the IPs in the country. Aside from calling for the recall of EO 364, the TCKI and the FALCBB in their respective statements clamored for the heads of NCIP Chairman Reuben Lingating and his executive director.

Both organizations said that Lingating showed his true colors when he did not oppose the enactment of the EO and instead recommended minor revisions, including the retention of his cabinet rank. The NCIP executive director, on the other hand, is blamed for drafting the executive order.

Another group which calls themselves the IP Advocates for Ancestral Domain in Baguio and Benguet taunted GMA for her political double talk. The group alleged that Arroyo mislead IPs when she said that she was pro IP since she was in the Senate but “is actually doing the opposite.” They also scored GMA for ignoring history.

The NCIP rank and file employees on their part are still consulting which each other. However their informal leaders told ZZW that they are opposed to the recent development affecting their mandate as agency. Like the opinion of all the IP groups in their statements, the employees said that having an agency like DAR lording it over NCIP would entirely compromise the independence of NCIP as enshrined in IPRA.

Reports had it that in the entire country, IP organizations are consolidating their forces in their opposition against the Presidential action. They expressed surprise that opposition lawmakers, who were very critical of the administration, have been silent on this important issue.

TCKI called on Cordillera lawmakers and Senator Juan Flavier, who is considered the father of IPRA, to take a direct hand in the issue. “The EO is the continuation of the efforts by the vested interest groups to kill IPRA and they are trying to it again by using the President herself, who seems to be willing to do just that,” a TCKI statement read.

On the other hand, the FACBB is planning to call on Flavier and some of the opposition senators any time this week and bring the matter to their attention. “Instead of downgrading the NCIP, the President should instead make its chairman a member of her official cabinet,” the FACBB stressed. It challenged GMA to show her sincerity to her past statements of support for the IPs by ordering the awarding of all Certificates of Ancestral Domain and Land Titles processed and reviewed by two commission of NCIP.

“She could start this by awarding the 44 ancestral land titles which are ready for awarding since the end of commissioner (David) Dao-as, “ the group said. Meanwhile, Lingating who was reported to have been in constant communication with DAR secretary allegedly issued an order gagging all his regional directors from commenting on the issue.

NCIP – Director Lielene Callardo said during a radio forum on the government station, Radyo ng Bayan last week, that since it is still not known whether the executive order will be to the benefit of to the detriment of the NCIP or IPs it would be best to refrain from commenting on the matter. Some IPs and NCIP employees say that the gag order could be self serving for Lingating and Gallardo. They reminded ZZW that the Court of Appeals has ruled in favor NCIP – CAR director, Amador Batay-an to his former position and replace her. “Lingating is rumored to be on his way out of NCIP and Commissioner Eugenio Ensigne will be is replacement,” they said in explaining why both would want to defend the EO.

Sensing the sentiment of IPs on the matter, Lingating has scheduled a consultation on Oct. 19 to 20 with various IP leaders from all over the country. “We hope Lingating will not use the forum to campaign for the acceptance pf the EO,” an NCIP employee said to ZZW.

In all the statements furnished to ZZW, the common denominator is that the President overstepped her authority when she tried to amend IPRA by an executive order, and called for its cancellation.

This development came even as IP legal luminaries are preparing to contest the executive order all the way to the Supreme Court. From the Cordillera all the wat to Mindanao, IPs are now gathering the respective position papers and statements against EO in an effort to prove to the President that her order is not to the liking of the IPs.

The EO would put the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples under the supervision and control of the Department of Agrarian Reform, which will be renamed Department of Land Reform. Legal luminaries led by legal counsels of the NCIP are reportedly preparing to shoot down the executive order by asking for a temporary restraining order form the Supreme Court should Malacanang insist on implementing it.

The Federation of Ancestral land Claimnants in Baguio and Benguet (FALCBB) appealed to PGMA to revoke EO 364, saying it directly violates the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act. It said this in a petition circulated for signing by the Ips and claimnants in the city and province.

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reported by Joel Belinan in ZigZag Weekly Vol. 9 No. 42

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