CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro (PIA) – The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) initiated yesterday the signing of peace covenant among 69 IP Mangyans and representatives of the local and national government agencies of the province at Vencio’s Garden Hotel in this city.
The signing of the peace covenant aims to level the understanding of all stakeholders (Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Local Government Units, Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples, National Government Agencies and Public/Private Sector) on the significance of operationalizing the 11 Building Blocks in making the ICCs/IPs resilient, relevant and responsive to national peace, security, and development.
The covenant also hopes to develop core communicators that would advocate the importance of the 11 Building Blocks with the help of the 15 newly sworn IP Youth Leaders from different tribes of Mangyans in the province of Oriental Mindoro.
Based on the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), the 11 Building Blocks are the following: 1) Confirmation of Indigenous Political Structure (IPS); 2) Registration and Accreditation of Indigenous Peoples Organization (IPO); 3) Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT)/Certificate of Ancestral Land Title (CADT) Delineation Process; 4) Establishment of Ancestral Domain Management Office (ADMO); 5) Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plan (ADSDPP) Formulation; 6) IP Wealth Management-Community Resource Management Development Plan (CRMDP) Formulation; 7) Institutionalization of Certificate of Precondition (CP), Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and Exercise of Priority Rights (EPR); 8) Effective Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) in the Local Legislative Bodies; 9) Efficient and Enhanced Memorandum of Agreement/Memorandum of Understanding/Memorandum of Cooperation Formulation; 10) Socio-Economic Activities with IP Cooperatives; and 11) Ancestral Domain Defense System.
NCIP Officer In-Charge Eden M. Cenon of Bulalacao Community Service Center said that the signing of peace covenant by all parties shows the unified action of the government and the IPs towards achieving a genuine peace, unity and progress in the province. (LTC/PIA-OrMin)
