IPRA VS.

NIPAS ELEVEN years after the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) has been implemented, only one Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) had been awarded to indigenous peoples or lumad in Misamis Oriental. In April 7, 2006, Pamalihi, a Higa-onon tribal council in Misamis Oriental, rejoiced when their ancestral domain claim in Mt. Balatukan was finally awarded to them. It took them though seven years of lobbying before their claim was awarded to them. Today, even that small victory is slipping away. The National Government has declared the entire mountain range of Mt. Balatukan as a natural park based on the Nipas Act (RA 7586) of 1992. We feel that the government is not serious in the implementation of IPRA, Rodelio Sawangga, a Higa-onon tribal leader said. Sawangga said IPRA law or Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) or Republic Act 8371 of 1997 should have done away the conversion of Mt. Balatukan range into a national park. But the National Government, Sawangga said, instead went ahead in classifying Mt. Balatukan range into a national park much to the detriment of the lumads who lived by its slopes. Higa-onon leaders from tribal Council in Gingoog city, Malitbog and Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon gathered here Thursday to discuss their plight amid the entry of largescale mining, Jatropha, bio-fuel, palm oil and other development project in their ancestral domain claims. Central to the issue is the IPRA law and the NIPAS Act (RA 7586) of 1992. Under the NIPAS Act (RA 7586) of 1992, hunting, destroying, disturbing, or mere possession of any plants or animals or productsacts that are traditionally done by lumadsare prohibited in national parks. IPRA law is also being questioned by the lumads for it violates their inherent rights to their ancestral lands. Government officials who were present at the meeting tried to explain the problem to the lumads.

Lawyer Ruby Oblefias of Department of Interior and Local Government in Region 10 said there are still many gray areas in the implementation of local government code that involves the IPs. But she said the DILG recognizes the IPRA because it guarantees the mandatory representation of IPs in the local council or any other policy making bodies in towns and cities. We even have a department circular which in effect recognizes IPRA as an enabling law of the local government code, Oblefias told the lumad leaders. Teddy Sabugaa of Misamis Oriental provincial government lamented that lumad issues were not presented to the provincial board because representatives from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) were always absent during the sessions. Sabugaa said the presence of NCIO and lumad leaders is important especially that the provincial board will soon meet to discuss the budget of Misamis Oriental this coming November. Fidel Gamos of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Region 10, assured the lumad leaders that the decision classifying Mt. Balatukan into a national park is not final. There is a specific clause in the proclamation that it will only be finalized until further ground survey and in full consultation with IP leaders in the area affected, Gamos said.