04 April 2023
Mayapay Ancestral Domain (AD) Visitation in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte
The Higaonon ICCs/IPs led by their IP leaders/elders welcomed the representatives from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the Mindanao Quick Response Team (MQRT) at the Mayapay Ancestral Domain Management Office (ADMO)/Tribal Hall, Brgy Bonbon, Butuan City, Agusan del Norte in April 04, 2023.
The NCIP Central Office was led by the Office of Empowerment and Human Rights (OEHR) Director, Mr. Reynaldo Dingal together with their Regional/Field Office 13 officials in Agusan del Norte. The MQRT is a composite team of Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Council of Elders and Leaders (MIPCEL) and Mindanao Inigenous Peoples Youth Organization (MIPYO) headed by MIPCEL Executive Director, Bawan Jake Lanes.
The main purpose of this visitation is to tackle prevailing issues in the area particularly the long and overdue delineation process of the Mayapay AD due to perceived misunderstanding between the community and the NCIP Provincial Delineation Team (PDT).
The following are the Ways Forward that were agreed upon during the visitation:
1. Reconstitution of the NCIP Provincial PDT to composed of NCIP personnel from the Regional Office;
2. Meeting with the community to address gaps and engage them as partners in the whole delineation; and,
3. Higaonon Customary Ritual by the community.
In order to address the discontent of the Higaonon ICCs/IPs, the NCIP Field Personnel led by the NCIP Region XIII Director conducted Healing and Reconciliation activities for the Higaonon ICCs/IPs of the Mayapay AD.
This visitation is part of the on-going series of MQRT-NCIP joint activities in addressing the prevailing/current burning issues within every ICCs/IPs.
