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Saturday, February 08, 2003
Ancestral domain title for Kibungan looms
By Macarthy Malanes
BENGUET -- After Bakun, the indigenous peoples of Kibungan, La Trinidad, Benguet, could be the next awardee of a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) as the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples is doubly working for the conversion of the town's Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claims (CALC) into a CADT.
Kibungan, which settled most of its boundary disputes, is now on the process of preparing its Ancestral Domain Sustainable Managment Plan, a requirement before the issuance of a CADT.
At the same time, the NCIP is also validating the ancestral domain boundaries of Kibungan with other adjoining towns such as Kapangan, Atok, Buguias, Bakun and Sugpon in Ilocos sur through the monumenting of boundaries.
The NCIP thus scheduled the monumenting of ancestral domain boundaries between Kibungan and Sugpon on February 11 so as to avoid any boundary conflict in the future.
Meanwhile, NCIP Benguet Provincial Officer Nora Ramos disclosed that through information and education campaigns, the NCIP is also securing the written consent of other towns in Benguet such as Buguias, Bokod, Kabayan and Atok relative to their applications for CADTs.
The CADT, if issued, would empower indigenous peoples to administer, protect and manage their ancestral domain based on their time-tested indigenous knowledge systems and practices, as provided for under the Indigenous People's Right Act.
Ramos admitted, however, that the issuance of CADTs is not a fast-track process because the NCIP needed to reconcile conflicting interpretations, especially in the delineation of ancestral domain boundaries.
Ramos explained that the local leaders and the council of elders from both adjoining domains must come to terms with each other in order that their ancestral domains would be validated.
At present, some towns in Benguet had not yet settled their boundary disputes with other towns due to conflicting interpretations as to their real domains.
(February 8, 2003 issue)
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