REPEATEDLY, Chairman/President Oscar B. Rivera of the Tribong Aeta and Bamban Aeta Tribal Association has put up one-page ads in Sun Star denouncing NCIP for illegal action and even implicated Clark Development Corporation as "conspiring with NCIP in wasting money illegally to the detriment and unnecessary injury and damage to the IPs/ICCs of the 10,684.2295 hectares ancestral domain under CADT 025.
Knowing CDC as a sensible and responsive organization, I presume that it has taken notice of the repeated one-page ads of Mr. Rivera and might have studied the matter expeditiously and resolve it posthaste.
In the 0ne-page ad of BATA and Tribong Aeta in the Sun Star issue of August 1, 2022, Chairman Rivera alleged that the NCIP General Assembly on July 28, 2022 "purportedly for the validation of clan leaders of CADT 25A had no legal basis and therefore the NCIP action on CADT 025A is patently illegal".
Chairman Rivera urged that the legal and moral rights of Tribong Aeta an BATA must be upheld.
As a stranger to the case, I simply do not have the moral suasion to "intervene" and the only purpose I had in mind in writing this column is to find out if the concerned agencies, NCIP and CDC are actually taking cognizance and notice of the messages of Chairman Rivera.
Be that as it may, there is a need for immediate solution to all these issues. Dialogues should be conducted by and among all the parties involved in the "controversy" so that all questions affecting IPs will be answered and resolved expeditiously.
Expect CDC to be proactive in reaching a consensus aimed at resolving all the issues brought out by Oscar B. Rivera, et al and not engage in protracted "media entanglements".
After all, the interests and rights of the indigenous people are foremost in the priorities of the national government and any divisiveness and misunderstanding will surely undercut the noble intentions of the national leadership to resolve all issues involving our distressed brethren. There is no other way but peaceful and reciprocal talks among all the parties involved.