PH Lesson: How To Assist Indigenous Peoples? Help Them Help Themselves!

Same assistances, different peoples. That is what the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) are jointly doing for the great many PH indigenous tribes from Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.

The assistance is to generate livelihoods and at the same time “safeguard the customs, traditions, values, beliefs, and interests of the communities,” says Edelmira Luminarias, DA Caraga 4K Program Focal Person (Kent Warren H Fugoso, 27 February 2021, “Bridging Knowledge, Closing The Gap: IPs In Agriculture,” PIA.gov.ph). Caraga is in northeastern Mindanao.

I am looking at 3 reports on the communities of indigenous peoples (IPs): from Bataan, Caraga, and Surigao. In these and other locations, the DA has partnered with the NCIP.

In Bataan, according to the PIA, the partnership has launched a program with a very long name! 32 words in all: “Ayta Ambala Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran para sa Kababayang Katutubo Indigenous Peoples Culturally Responsive, Socioeconomic, Ecology, Agro-Aqua Technology, and Special Services Integrated Ancestral Domain Development Approach (4Ks-IP CREATESS IADDA)[1]” (Big News Network). I would spell “Ayta” as “Aeta.” “Integrated Ancestral Domain Development Approach” – I take it that “integrated” signifies that no projects stand alone, and “development approach” means everything must be sustainable: technically feasible, economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially acceptable. Nothing less.

In short, the program is “Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran para sa Kababayang Katutubo” (4 Ks) – “Livelihood & Progress for Indigenous Compatriots” (my free translation). This is for all regions in the Philippines. Implemented from 2020 to 2022, 4 Ks is a 3-year nationwide  program to help indigenous communities develop. Initially, one community per province is identified as a pilot before the program is introduced on a wider scale.

JB Agrifino says in Benguet, Sitio Domolpos in Tinongdan, Itogon has been identified as a pilot area. attended to by the Domolpos Ansipsip Ancestral Domain Indigenous Peoples Organization (DA-CAR RAFIS, Facebook post). Necessary social preparations have been conducted within the month of May 2021 particularly on data gap analysis and need prioritization by the community. Domolpos is somewhat special in that the NCIP had initiated assistance in 2019 but still sees the area needs further help from government, according to 4 Ks Program Regional Focal Person Charles Picpican. In fact, the Domolpos 4 Ks is in an ancestral domain shared by Itogon, Benguet in Region CAR and Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya in Region 2.

Thus, in Sitio Domolpos in Benguet, the cooperating IPs are set to receive an estimated  P9.5 million worth of packaged interventions from the 4 Ks Program: P3.6 million for crop production and P5.9 million for livestock and poultry.

For specific assistances, agricultural production interventions, particularly Arabica coffee and native pigs, were being readied for distribution to the beneficiaries of Domolpos. The coffee and native pigs were being produced at the Baguio Animal Breeding Research Station, one of the research outreach stations of DA-CAR, located in Dontogan, Baguio City.

Meanwhile, the identification of pilot areas in the remaining 5 CAR provinces are underway. Not to forget intended 4 Ks for all over the Philippines.@517

---

[1]https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/269293592/da-ncip-provide-livelihood-assistance-to-ips-in-bataan