FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES MANDATORY REPRESENTATIVES (IPMR) SUMMIT

CAMELOT HOTEL, QUEZON CITY

 

NCIP CONDUCTS AN IPMR SUMMIT

 

The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) will facilitate the summit; and 109 IPMR delegates, from different regions of the country, are expected to join the event. The event will take place at the Camelot Hotel in Quezon City; from the 19th to 20th of July 2023.

 

The intent of the summit is to create a National IPMR League to attain a sustainable network of IP representatives in advancing regional, provincial, local, and national plans for peace and development in Ancestral Domains/Ancestral Lands (ADs/ALs).

 

The IPMR is a realization of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act’s Section 16 or the Right to Participate in Decision Making, particularly on matters that affects their (IP) rights, lives and destinies. This provision paved way for the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to provide initial guidelines in the inclusion of IPMRs to local legislative councils. This is reaffirmed by NCIP Administrative Order No. 3, Series of 2018 as amended by NCIP Administrative Order No. 1, Series of 2021 or “Revised National Guidelines for the Mandatory Representation of Indigenous Peoples in Local Legislative Councils and Policy-making Bodies”.

 

To date, a total of 5,167 IPMRs are selected in Local Government Units in the country. The selection process is “sui generis” or a class of its own, meaning it does not undergo an electoral process like the Kagawads on a particular community; IP communities select them through a process of community decision-making anchored on their culture, customs and traditions.

 

As a leading Government Agency for Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs), the summit is response of the NCIP to the clamor of IPMRs and IP communities for a forum where issues and concerns regarding the performance of IPMR duties may be raised and discussed in the pursuit of continuous improvement, capacity and knowledge building.