AN INDIGENOUS Peoples Mandatory Representative [IPMR] may not be needed in Baguio City.
Mayor Mauricio Domogan is asking courts for the city to be exempt from having legislative representation for Indigenous Peoples.
The plea was signed by City Legal officer Melchor Rabanes verified by the chief executive and backed by the entire city council and submitted to Branch 7 of the Regional Trial Court in response to the legal tussle between the stunted IPMR elected elder, Roger Sinot and the city.
“IP’s in the City of Baguio are not marginalized or a minority, plus the fact that majority of the members of the city council are IP’s, having an IPMR is therefore redundant or a surplus age and would result to a reverse discrimination,” Domogan said.
The city government led by Domogan said IPs in the city are not marginalized nor a minority; citing members of the city council are IP’s themselves, making the IPMR position redundant and the Charter of the Baguio City maintains primacy over the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997.
“The clear import of Sec 78 of the IPRA is that Baguio City is exempt from the coverage of the IPRA, the exemption insulates Baguio City from having an Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative,” Domogan said.
The city’s answer explicitly cited the IPRA’s final provisions seen in Section 78 “The City of Baguio shall remain to be governed by its Charter and all lands proclaimed as part of its townsite reservation shall remain as such until otherwise reclassified by appropriate legislation: Provided, That prior land rights and titles recognized and/or acquired through any judicial, administrative or other processes before the effectivity of this Act shall remain valid: Provided, further, That this provision shall not apply to any territory which becomes part of the City of Baguio after the effectivity of this Act.”
The provision further states “Baguio is a townsite reservation and is governed by its Charter and town site provisions of the public land Act.
All lands within the Baguio Townsite reservation are declared public lands with exceptions to lands reserved for specified public use and lands claimed and adjucated as public property. That the city shall remain governed by its Charter is a clear and unequivocal by the first clause of Sec 78 of the IPRA that the Charter of the city of Baguio shall maintain its primacy over the IPRA within city boundaries.
“When the Baguio City charter comes into conflict with RA 8371 [IPRA], the charter shall prevail; and by express provision of Sec 78 of the IPRA, the Baguio Townsite reservation of the IPRA continues to be such and nothing in the IPRA has changed such status of the townsite reservation. Any ancestral land claims within the townsite reservation remains in limbo.”
In a statement, Tongtongan ti Umili - Cordillera People’s Alliance (TTU-CPA) tagged the arguments of the city are not just insulting, but ridiculous.
The TTU–CPA condemned the move and said it is part of continuous attempts of the City Government of Baguio to prevent IPMR to assume office.
The TTU explained indigenous peoples are marginalized in the city. Lest we forget that the Ibaloys were displaced when the American colonizers chartered Baguio as the summer capital and declared their vast lands as government reservations. Meanwhile, the worsening national oppression in the interior Cordilleras led to the waves of immigration of other Igorot groups to the city only to be fenced at the peripheries of urban development, struggling to live as street vendors or backyard hog raisers. According to the United Nations, around 120,000 indigenous peoples constitute the city’s total population of 350,000. While they make up a large chunk of the city’s population, indigenous peoples — most especially migrant groups — are usually excluded from discussions about urban planning in Baguio.
“It is also irrational to argue that having an IPMR in the city council is redundant for a chamber that already has an indigenous majority. What Mayor Domogan and his cohorts attempt to discredit is the necessity to have a particular council member focusing on the interests of the indigenous peoples. He does not have to resort on asserting a special provision on the primacy of the city charter over the IPRA when it is evident that he has no regard for the indigenous peoples of the city,” the statement said.
IP’s all over the world are set to commemorate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, August 9.