INDIGENOUS PEOPLES NEWS

COTABATO CITY --- The government has just published three books on cultures, history and ancestral domains of indigenous communities that stakeholders want in digital copies too for faster circulation.

Dubbed “Project Epanaw,” the publication of the Pagkilala, Paggalang and Pagtaguyod books, launched simultaneously in Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas and in Mindanao last Sunday, was an initiative of the central office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.

SULTAN KUDARAT --- The military on Wednesday urged peace advocacy groups to listen to wishes of indigenous communities for the New People’s Army to leave their ancestral domains where rebels rule with impunity.

Major Gen. Juvymax Uy of the Army’s 6^th Infantry Division said Wednesday the 6^th ID is thankful to local government units in central Mindanao that have lately been active in helping drumbeat the sentiments of IP constituents ranting on the presence of NPAs in their villages.

KORONADAL CITY- Pumanaw na kahapon sa edad na 106 years old si Bai Yabing Masalon Dulo ang ipinagmamalaking 2018 GAMABA o Manlilikha ng Bayan Awardee ng South Cotabato. Ito ayon kay Arts Culture and Tourism Museum Unit Senior Tourism Operations Officer Argie Asaria ay kanilang ikinabigla at ikinalungkot.

KORONADAL CITY --- Roel Apas is a college professor who is so proud of having finished college with the help of a mining outfit in Tampakan, South Cotabato.

Apas, who has a master's degree in public administration, is one of 757 ethnic Blaans who are now professionals, courtesy of the Samahan ng mga Matatalinong Indibidwal scholarship program of the Sagittarius Mines, Inc., or SMI.

The scholarship program caters to deserving students in enclaves covered by the SMI's Tampakan copper and gold project.

KORONADAL CITY --- For Blaan leaders, only with the extraction of copper and gold in Tampakan, South Cotabato and nearby towns can the tribe rise from poverty and underdevelopment. 

“Let us mine freely these lands in our ancestral domain that are rich in copper and gold,” Bae Dalena Samling, figurehead of the tribal council in Barangay Danlag in Tampakan town in South Cotabato, said Wednesday.

SOUTH COTABATO --- The Bl'aan community in this province was elated with the government’s imprimatur, on their behalf, for the extraction of copper and gold in their ancestral homeland.

Benefactors have earmarked US$5.9 billion for the mine development project, expected to generate employment for Bl’aans and much-needed revenues that can be spent for education, health care and social interventions for the indigenous people in areas within the extraction sites.

SOUTH UPI, Maguindanao – In celebration of Indigenous Peoples Month this October, the Women’s Organization of Raja Mamalu Descendants (WORMD), in partnership with the United Nationd Development Programme (UNDP) and the Army’s 6^th Infantry Battalion had conducted an outreach program in the remote village here Saturday.

Beneficiaries of the outreach program amid the pendemic were IP children who received vitamins, dental and hygiene kits.  A feeding program and free haircut were also provided for the IP children in Barangay Pandan.

KORONADAL CITY – The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in the Soccsksargen region has trained a “Tasaday” man to become a photovoltaic expert under a government skills program.

Tasaday was once called “Lost Tribe of Tree Swinging People in the Philippines.”

Biking Mahayag has been trained and capacitated to assemble a solar-powered panel for his village.

Mahayag, 53 and one of the Tasadays scholars of TESDA-12 in Photovoltaic Installation training in Blit, Ned, Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, is now an expert in his own right.

MANILA - Catholic bishops on Tuesday appealed for “respect of the dignity” of indigenous peoples as they continue to struggle for their rights.

The Episcopal Commission on Indigenous Peoples urged the government “to heed the call of IPs in recognizing their rights, ancestral domains and self-determination”.

“We call on the government to stop development aggressions and policies that adversely affect the lives of IPs in many parts of the country,” said Bishop Valentin Dimoc, ECIP chairman.