MISAMIS Oriental Provincial Board Member President "Prexy" Elipe on Monday, April 15, said there seems to be an intention to delay the approval of Indigenous Peoples (IP) representation in the capitol's legislative body.
Without dropping names, Elipe said there is apparent intent to delay proceedings after learning that the invitation of personnel from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) have not been sent on time.
The committee that tackled the matter convened after the regular session on Monday.
"Long overdue na kini nga meeting kay sige ka-postpone ug cancel kay dili gakahatod ang invitation sa mga personahe like karon gitawagan na lang ang DILG unya ang sa NCIP ayha pa gihatod so apparently klaro nga naay intent to delay the proceedings," Elipe said.
(This meeting is already long overdue because it's always postponed or cancelled, because invitations were not delivered to the officials; like what's happening now, we are already calling the Department of Interiorand Local Government' and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples' invitation was just delivered only today. So, apparently there's a clear intent to delay the proceedings)
Elipe said the committee meeting aims to put in place the representation of the IPs in the Sangguniang Panlalawigan so "lumad" or IP issues and concerns are raised in the local lawmaking body.
He said it is the NCIP that determines and endorses the IP representative to the DILG and the SP will be the one to recognize through a legislative measure.
The committee also planned to invite in the next meeting the provincial legal and budget office to discuss the allocation for the IP.
Elipe said that the IP representation is part of the law. (Alwen Saliring)