One of the significant highlights of the IP Summit is the signing of a Joint National Advisory by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), represented by Chairperson Allen A. Capuyan and Secretary Benjamin Abalos, Jr. respectively. The said advisory is to stop, prohibit, and report any transactions, dealing, negotiation of selling and transfer of lands within the Ancestral Domains/Ancestral Lands (ADs/ALs) . This is in response to the continuous and rampant selling of portions of ADs/ALs despite the efforts of the Commission to educate and inculcate the nature of ownership of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs).
The Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) provides that ancestral domains are private but community property of the IPs since time immemorial and thus, cannot be sold, disposed, or destroyed.
Immediately after the signing of a National Advisory, DILG Secretary Abalos administered the oath-taking of Mr. Ricky Noblesala, Provincial Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) in Camarines Norte. The oathtaking was held in the presence of Camarines Norte Governor Ricarte R. Padilla and NCIP Chairperson Capuyan, along with all the guests attending the summit as witnesses.
The ceremony is deemed to be historic as Provincial IPMR Noblesala, a member of the Manide ICCs/IPs, is the first Provincial IPMR of the Bicol Region. This feat is a sign of hope that, through the support of the DILG, the pressing issue of nonrecognition of our IPMRs as members of their respective local legislative bodies will eventually be resolved.
ICCs/IPs UNIFICATION WITH GOVERNMENT IN NATION-BUILDING
AFPCOC, Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City
16 November 2022
