THE NTF-Elcac National Task had a three-day Regional Action Planning Workshop on EO 70 in Baguio and it was participated mostly by IP Mandatory representatives and government line agencies led by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).
A representative from Southern IPs were also present who accordingly are considered collectively as Lumad by the rebel forces in Mindanao. I was sent by my office as an agency representative and I also sat as part of the government panel during its closing program.
A Lumad Indigenous People representative from Mindanao stated "Ang tunay na kalaban ay tayo din po" referring to actions supporting armed struggle by insurgents or rebel forces.
Brigadier General Henry Dayaoen, commanding officer of the 503rd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army in an interaction said that the New People's Army are present in places where government is weak and these are mostly in IP areas. "We plan, they also plan. Mahirap mag plano ng development kung ang kapitbahay natin ay nagpaplano din ng taliwas sa nais nating maunlad na bayan" he noted. "Ang NPA, ay nais paghiwalayin ang pamilya at markahan ang gobyerno na masama," the army general adding that the rebels do not want progress and development. It has been 51 years already that the left wing group was headed by Joma Sison who Dauaoen said is a true dictator as opposed to their rally battle-cries that Philippine presidents are dictators and "tuta ng kano" starting from the late President Ferdinand Marcos to President Rodrigo Duterte.
The NCIP officials discussed the Four Bundles of Rights or four core rights of the IP and these are the right to ancestral domains and land; the right to self-governance and empowerment; social justice and human rights; and the right to cultural integrity. The Philippines holds the distinction of being the 1st Country in the South East Asia region to enact a law recognizing the traditional rights of Indigenous Peoples over Ancestral Domains with the passage of "The Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997. Our IPRA is accordingly serving as the framework for international policy directions in dealing with issues pertaining to IP rights.
During the forum, the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) process was discussed lengthily as a major concern of the participants from the CAR provinces. The FPIC is a specific right that allows the indigenous peoples to give or withhold consent to a project that may affect them or their territories.
On the matter of declaring the NPAs or referred to as Communist Terrorist Group as "persona non grata", the army general appealed to the participants to also help enlighten the minds of the CTGs that they are being indoctrinated by the ideals of communism. The whole of nation approach involves not only the law enforcers and government instrumentalities but also the local community as well.
Executive director of the NTF-Elcac Allen Capuyan said that the action plan drawn from the twelve workshop clusters will serve as a basis on what moves to make as part of the national action plan. Government agencies like the Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Social Welfare, Department of Agriculture, National Irrigation Administration, Technical Educational and Skills Development Authority, Department of trade and Industry, Department of Public Works and Highways, Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines including the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and Philippine Information Agency will be forwarded copies of the agreed interventions according to NCIP-CAR Regional Director Roland Calde. With all these line agencies and local government units in tow, we hope that words such as "imperyalismo," "militarismo," "kapitalismo," "gawaronic," "siramatic," "tuta ng Kano," "berdugo ng bayan" and many more will no longer be heard from youths shouting in the streets supporting the communist terrorist groups.