TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, March 31 (PIA) -- Indigenous communities in Bohol move a step closer to their dreams when the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) has given the go signal to the National Housing Authority (NHA) for their shelter assistance to the Eskayas of Taytay Duero. 

The NHA, though its Bohol Field Office, presented the agency’s Housing Assistance Program for Indigenous Peoples (HAPIP) in the mountains of Duero.

In line with NHA Board Resolution 5437 dated March 30, 2012, NHA issued Memorandum Circular No. 2423 which laid down the guidelines governing the implementation of the Housing Assistance Program for Indigenous Peoples.

HAPIP was created to provide housing assistance to indigenous women, men, and children to improve their living conditions through the provision of decent shelter pursuant to Republic Act 8731 or the Indigenous Peoples Right Act of 1997.

The general policy is to provide financial and technical assistance to IPs in coordination with National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and local government units (LGUs) in the development of their housing sites in their own Ancestral Domain or in lands owned by the LGU, explained NHA Bohol Field Manager Grace Solis. 

The assistance is designed to ensure that the IP’s economic, social, and cultural wellbeing, through the provision of basic services of housing, will be protected and to promote their active participation in the whole process.

But for the protection and conservation of the culture, heritage, and rights of the IPs, safeguards have been set up to ensure that government agencies like the NHA must first secure prior certification from the NCIP in compliance with the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA).

Section 59 of Republic Act No. 8371, (IPRA) of 1997 states that “all departments and other governmental agencies are strictly enjoined to secure prior certification from the NCIP before issuing, renewing, or granting any concession, license or lease, or entering into any production – sharing agreement, with the IPs in the area, generally to protect their rights and domains."

By law, the NCIP can only issue the certification after doing a field–based investigation by its Ancestral Domains Office to ascertain that the IPS in the area are informed and a written consent of ICCs/IPs is obtained.

Even then, the beneficiary IPs still reserve the right to stop or suspend, in accordance with the law, any project that has not satisfied the consultation process requirement.

On this, the NCIP recently issued to the NHA the Certificate of Precondition from the NCIP for its HAPIP in Brgy. Taytay, Duero, Bohol.

The NHA in Region 7 has readied a P15-M financial aid to the LGU of Duero, Bohol for the resettlement project for the IPS, with the fund coming from its HAPIP Project. 

The P175-M forms the first tranche and would be spent on the land development and housing construction for the 40 housing units as projected for the Eskaya tribe.

The housing project to be built within the ancestral domains property of the Eskaya would provide Boholano indigenous communities sturdier and more disaster-resilient houses.

Aside from Solis, also present during the recent turnover were NHA Senior Engineer Aurell Arboladura, Senior Financial Planning Analyst Vic Christian De La Torre, and Secretary Michelle Galanida.

For the LGU, present were Mayor Conrada Amparo, Vice Mayor Gillian Achacoso, Brgy. Captain Edgardo Bagotsay, and Duero department heads.

Also in the event were Eskaya Tribal Chieftain Hilario Galambao and NCIP Bohol OIC Emilou Gonzaga. (RAHC/PIA7 Bohol)