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IP women leaders’ convention held

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet (May 12) — Indigenous women leaders from the Cordillera’s six provinces gathered here this week for the 2nd Statesmanship Convention for Indigenous Elected Local Lady Officials. The two-day activity was organized by the Office of the Presidential Liaison Officer for Political Affairs (OPLOPA) and assisted by the University of the Philippines Institute for Small-Scale Industries (UP-ISSI).

UP-ISSI’s Crispina Almonte said that the activity aims to generate action plans and interventions to the challenges confronting each province after an analysis of the respective strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats therein. Almonte said that the delegates’ action plans will serve as a guide for advocacy work, legislation efforts, and better delivery of local government unit (LGU) services. The action plans will be endorsed to Malacañang.

Lady officials from the barangay, municipal, and government levels participated in the activity, including San Juan, Abra Vice Mayor Aida Valdemor, Tubo Vice Mayor Celine Oyanan, San Quintin Vice Mayor Rosita Soriano, both in Abra; and Atok, Benguet Vice Mayor Concepcion Balao, to name a few.

Regional directors and representatives from the government’s line agencies briefly discussed key points in their programs and several government legislations such as the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) and the Local Government Code. Inputs on violence against women and children, small and medium enterprises, environmental management, tourism, and project planning and monitoring were also given.

OPLOPA USec. Josephine Dominguez hopes that the activity will help unite indigenous women leaders and unite local lady leaders. Domiguez, who hails from Sabangan, Mt. Province said that hopefully, protection of the Cordillera’s cultural heritage will also be promoted through these efforts.

“Take for instance the Grand Cañao festival in Baguio sometime ago. I objected to this because the cañao is a sacred practice”, Dominguez cited.

Mining threats

Delegates from Kalinga fear the possible effects of the entry of a foreign mining firm to their province, particularly in Buaya village, which lies between Balbalan and Pinukpuk towns.

Conscious of the government’s plan to revitalize the mining industry and the favors granted to foreign mining firms through the Mining Act of 1995, one member of the Buaya sub-tribe said that once the unnamed mining firm enters, they could suffer not only environmentally but economically.

“Adu ti small scale miners ditoy Buaya. Numan sumrek tu diay minas, maawananda ti trabaho. Uray kunam a mangted ti panggedan ti minas, isuda met laeng ti mangala ti nagbannogan mi”, (Buaya’s small scale miners will lose their livelihood if the mine pushes through. They say that mining will create employment, but it is really the mining firms who will benefit from our labor), she said.

Another delegate, also from Buaya, said that her family relies more on their small scale mining income compared to their government salaries.

The Guilayon sub-tribe, inhabiting the villages of Magnao, Guilayon, and Nambucayan in Tabuk town are also threatened with the entry of foreign mining firm Wolfland Resources, Inc.

Corporate mining and dams have ravaged the region’s resources, leaving not only irreparable environmental damages but also displacement of indigenous peoples from their ancestral domains. Data from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau show that almost 70% or 1,434,770 hectares of the region’s land area is up for mining applications.# ATB for NORDIS

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