NCIP exec: ‘We have a lot to learn’

ITOGON, BENGUET – “Da kami ti NCIP, adu ti nagbasulan mi. Adu pay lang ti biruken mi nga adalen. (We at the NCIP, we have our faults. We have a lot to learn).”

Commissioner Zenaida Pawid of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples acknowledged this in a public forum on smallscale mining held at the Itogon gym, May 30.

This developed following an advice for the indigenous peoples of Itogon, especially the small-scale miners, to be careful not to peddle their ancestral lands to non-members of their families or non-IPs to ensure their rights over their lands will remain.

She said the NCIP will be very pleased to partner and cooperate with them.

Pawid expressed the NCIP will be grateful if the public reminds the agency of its functions and not immediately be condemned for its lapses.

She added IPs can come up to them and express their sentiments with discretion.

The commissioner ended with an encouragement for the miners to unify and be guided by the Republic Act 8371 or The Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA); the New Mining Code; the Small Scale Mining Act; and the Mining Executive Order 79 which institutionalizes and implements reforms in the Philippine mining sector to ensure environmental protection and responsible mining, to achieve sustainable mining in their locale.