Wednesday, November 28, 2007 Very few IPs oppose indigenous people’s law, datu says
OF THE five to seven million indigenous people in Mindanao, a very small percent are against the implementation of the Indigenous People's Rights Act (Ipra).
Mindanao Indigenous People's Conference for Peace and Development chair Datu Joel Unad said the tribal people in Mindanao have overwhelming support for the law.
"We fought for it for three years and we are very happy now that it has been finally implemented," Unad said in an interview with Sun.Star Davao.
Unad added that the indigenous people criticizing the law are those who have no community or have no tribes.
"These people do not even live within an ancestral domain," the datu added.
National Commission for the Indigenous People-Southern Mindanao chair Roque Agton said he pities "IPs who are being used by some groups." Agton added that the legal fronts of the rebel group are the ones urging the tribes to go against the government and are blocking any union between the government and the tribal groups.
"They do not want the government to succeed in helping the tribal communities," Agton said. (CPM)
