The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) tied a partnership with Bounty Agro Ventures Inc. (BAVI) through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that will lead to positive changes in the lives of the ICCs/IPs through job creation, livelihood, and enterprise in order to increase economic productivity in the Ancestral Domains.

Present during the ceremony were NCIP Chairperson Allen A. Capuyan, together with Commissioner Bo-i Jennifer Pia “Limpayen” Sibug-Las, Ethnographic Commissioner for Central Mindanao, Commissioner Jeorge M. Largado, Ethnographic Commissioner for Island Groups and Rest of Visayas and OIC-Executive Director Atty. Caesar M. Ortega as witnesses for NCIP, and Mr. Ronald Mascariñas, President and General Manager, with Dr. Erasmus Paderes, Senior Vice President as witness for BAVI.

This MOA is in line with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr.’s economic agenda and food security priorities wherein the Ancestral Domains are vital to a wide range of agricultural activities towards achieving food security and contributing to the economic stability of the country.

“Anywhere in the world, even the richest economist in the world, Hindi kayang gampanan ng gobyerno ang lahat ng pangangailangan ng bayan, dapat tumulong ang mga Private Sector at ibang kumpanya upang magkaroon ng kakayanang lumago ang negosyo sa Pilipinas”, Mascariñas said.

“The partnership between ICCs/IPs with stakeholders, both Public and Private Sectors, is actually a convergence in bridging the gaps”, Capuyan added.

After the MOA Signing, the NCIP turned over Project Epanaw’s Three (3) Coffee Table Books (CTBs) and 2020-2021 Annual Accomplishment Reports (AARs) to BAVI.