mmalabanan
About 47 Iraya Mangyan families are threatened to be evicted from upper sitio Lapantay, Bgy. Villaflor because of a P66-million dump project.
During a meeting called by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples , Mangyan representatives refused to sign the proposed Categorized Waste Disposal Facility/Sanitary Landfill Project.
For more than 40 years, the Iraya Mangyan families have been living in the village owned by the Puerto Galera municipal government.
According to the leader of the Iraya Mangyan tribe, Ciriaco Bibo, the proposed project will relocate them to another area, which is far from the proposed municipal dump and landfill project. Moreover, the project will also contaminate a “nearby source of springwater (bukal) flowing into the Tamaraw Falls”.
The proposed dump project will ultimately affect the Mangyan community including the Tamaraw falls, their livelihood derived from agriculture, as well as their two-classroom buildings intended for the use of Mangyan children in their elementary education.
Meanwhile, NCIP Provincial Officer Karen Ignacio allegedly set a deadline for the Mangyans to sign the municipal resolution. Reportedly, the Mangyans will be evicted from the area should the deadline lapse, which is at the end of the month.
“Yan po ang dahilan kung bakit kami umalis sa pinatawag na miting ng NCIP. Pinipilit kami pumirma sa hindi namin kagustuhan,” said Bibo.
That’s the reason why walked out of the meeting called by NCIP. They were forcing us to sign against our will.
Furthermore, Bibo pointed out that the NCIP must consider the Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous People’s Act of 1997, which aims to “recognize, protect and promote the rights of indigenous cultural communities and indigenous peoples”.
Part of its general provisions is to protect the rights of indigenous peoples and their cultural communities over their ancestral lands.
