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GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 7 April) – Former North Cotabato governor and representative Nancy Alaan Catamco, a proud daughter of the Bagobo-Manobo ethnic group, has formally assumed as chairperson of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).
She took her oath of office Monday before North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza at the provincial capitol in Barangay Amas, Kidapawan City.
The NCIP announced Catamco’s appointment by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last March 31.
Catamco served as North Cotabato Second District representative for three terms from 2010 to 2019, and as the province’s first Lumad (Indigenous Peoples) governor from 2019 to 2022.
She is the 12th NCIP chairperson since the commission was established in 1997 to carry out the mandate set forth by Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act or IPRA Law.
“This is a new challenge and journey. But this is my purpose – to help and strengthen the NCIP,” she said in a speech before capitol employees before she was sworn into office.
Catamco succeeded Dr. Marie Grace T. Pascua.
Before assuming as NCIP chairperson, Catamco was the NCIP ethnographic commissioner for Central Mindanao.
Catamco earlier vowed to protect and promote the interests and well-being of the Indigenous Cultural Communities or Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs), with due regard to their beliefs, customs, traditions, and institutions.
Part of the agency’s major functions is to issue Certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) and Certificates of Ancestral Land Titles (CALTs), and facilitate crafting of Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plans (ADSDPPs) within ancestral domains.
One of the current hot issues involving the NCIP is House Bill 621 or “An Act Rationalizing the Ancestral Lands Administration and Adjudication Process, Amending for the Purpose Republic Act 8371, Otherwise Known as the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997.”
Under the proposed measure, the NCIP’s Ancestral Domains Office (ADO) will be transferred to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, to be called the Ancestral Land Registration and Administration Office (ALRAO).
Among others, ADO is responsible for the identification, delineation and recognition of ancestral domains, and issues certification prior to the grant of any license, lease or permit for the exploitation of natural resources affecting the interests of ICCs/IPs or their ancestral domains, according to RA 8371.
Catamco strongly opposed HB 621, which is authored by Camiguin Rep. Jurdin Jesus Romualdo, noting that it will lead to the institutional fragmentation of NCIP, a specialized body created by the IPRA Law.
“The commission respectfully submits that this may lead to institutional fragmentation, creating confusion, procedural complexity, and uncertainty, particularly for indigenous cultural communities, who already face challenges in accessing government services,” she said during a House committee hearing last month. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
