MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 26 January) An extension project of the Bukidnon State University (BukSU) has enhanced the legislative capabilities of Malaybalay City’s Indigenous People Mandatory Representatives (IPMR), a project officer said.
The College of Public Administration and Governance (CPAG)-initiated project was done in collaboration with the City Government of Malaybalay, through the Office of the City IPMR, and the Liga ng mga Barangay.
Mark Lyster Semortin, a CPAG faculty member and acting project leader, said majority of the 46 barangay IPMRs have experienced skills enhancement in their legislative roles especially in preparing ordinances and resolutions, based on an ongoing impact assessment and outcome harvesting study.
He said they gathered evidence of immediate outcomes as there has been an increase in the number of approved ordinances proposed by the IPMRs.
“This is very evident as of today. I think this is the essence of the project of capacitating the IPMR. Towards the end of the project, it is expected that from zero formulated ordinances, now they have formulated ordinances, because this is their mandate,” he added.
Semortin cited for example the IPMR from Brgy. Imbayao, who drafted an ordinance declaring a barangay “IP Day” in October, as part of the National Indigenous Peoples Month celebration. He noted that through the ordinance, they were able to allocate a portion of their local fund for activities for the IPs in the barangay.
Semortin could not yet give the number of ordinances passed after the training sessions were conducted. He said they can provide it after the completion of their terminal report, which covers three years.
The project, entitled “Capacitating the Indigenous People’s Mandatory Representatives (IPMR) of Malaybalay City,” aims to enhance local IPMRs’ legislative capabilities through a comprehensive training and capacity-building program, Semortin said. The training included parliamentary procedure, which helped them improve the skills they needed to perform as legislators representing the Indigenous Peoples in the Sangguniang Barangay.
The training covered basic knowledge on the Sangguniang Barangay with lectures on internal rules of procedure, dynamics of conducting meetings, and handling or raising a motion during legislative sessions.
Semortin said they exposed the IPMRs to innovative approaches including use of technology to aid their work. He said in the training, the IPMRs practiced using Google forms and Google drive, among others.
He also noted that IPMRs gave positive feedback for the training the college conducted, as shown from their responses during a post-training evaluation. The most recent leg of the training was held on November 20 and December 11, 2024.
The CPAG initiated the extension project in 2017, which ran up to 2019 until it was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. They revived it in August 2021 with a Memorandum of Agreement with the Office of the City IPMR, Datu Makayuba Renato Sumbongan for recently selected IPMRs.
Semortin said they hoped that the learnings by the 46 trained IPMRs will not end with them.
“Hopefully, they will cascade it to their communities,” he added. (Liezel Mee S. Comision and Leah Mae Daguwaas, are 1st year BS Development Communication students of Bukidnon State University)
