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By Joyce Adra, Contributor
BROOKE’S POINT, Palawan: Non-government
organizations (NGOs) and environmentalists in the southern tip of
Palawan are headed for a showdown with
their supposed conventional ally and supported
group, the indigenous peoples
(IPs), on the issue of control over their
ancestral domain which is today, a subject of proposals to
reclassify as “protected zone” under a plan where government
will effectively retake control of the tribal lands.
In a letter seemingly addressed to the general
public, the Brooke’s Point Federation of Tribal Councils (BROFETRICS),
a federation of indigenous people native to the mineral-rich
municipality of Brooke’s Point, said, “the tribesmen were
extremely slighted with the insinuations of some local officials and
organizations that they are being bribed by mining firms,” in
their fight for their rights to their ancestral lands.
“We and our ancestors have been fighting for
our rights, even long before today’s generation of non-tribal
people set foot in our province. There is no need for anyone, much
less any sense or reason for anybody, to tell us how to assert our
rights over our very own tribal lands. We know our rights, “said
Chieftain Renila Dulay, president of the BROFETRICS, in a phone
interview.
The group refuted an earlier news report (not in
this paper) that quoted an NGO of accusing a mining firm of “using
tribal leaders to raise issues against the impending declaration of
the 120,000-hectare forestland, as a protected zone.”
The tribal leader said that only the IPs should
be bestowed with the sole authority and responsibility to manage
their ancestral lands, as already defined and outlined under
Republic Act 8371, or the IPRA Law.
The coalition of IPs also lashed back at its
critics for allegedly “undermining our unity and belittling the
council’s leaders.”
Dulay said, “It is completely disrespectful to
the tribe’s people. It seems they want to test how broad our unity
and support is from the thousands of tribes people in Palawan.”
The BROFETRICS Chief further said that the
reclassification and retaking of control of their lands, if allowed
by government, will be a “complete reversal to the gains we have
achieved in the fight for recognition and respect for our ancestral
rights.”
Apart from the belief that they will lose
control over their ancestral domain, the
IPs said they are opposed to the proposed
reclassification of Mt. Mantalingahan because, “first and
foremost, we were not consulted in the drafting of the proposed
plan, which will directly affect us.” They said the proponents
should have conducted “sincere” dialogues to hear the sentiments
of the tribes.
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