BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) lined up various activities to celebrate Indigenous Peoples (IP) month this October.
Lawyer Ronald Calde, NCIP-CAR regional director, extended the invitation to the public to patronize the activities the agency prepared for the month-long celebration for them to be able to appreciate the importance of being able to contribute in efforts to preserve and protect the rich culture and traditions of indigenous peoples considering that the Cordillera is a region dominated by indigenous peoples belonging to different tribes.
On October 8-31, 2016 at Vocas La Azotea, the public will be given a chance to appreciate the ingenuity of Cordillera artists through the PAMA NA Art Exhibit followed by a series of free film showing at the Ili-likha along Assumption road on October22-26.
Giving importance to the efforts to preserve and protect the region’s state of the environment, the more than 1,000 beneficiaries of the NCIP-CAR’s educational assistance program will actively participate in a massive tree planting activity in a place to be announced later wherein each of the participating scholars will be required to plant at least 10 tree seedlings and subsequently maintain them to help regreen the forests in the region and sustain the identity of the Cordillera as the watershed cradle of Northern Luzon.
At the same time, the NCIP-CAR will be spearheading a series of for a on regional autonomy and federalism for the youth and students in the different colleges and universities regionwide from October 1-31, 2016 while a separate forum on regional autonomy and federalism for elders will be held on October 28-29, 2016 in a venue that will be announced later.
According to the NCIP-CAR official, there will be a book launching on October 30, 2016 wherein the venue will still be ascertained.
The Igorota Foundation will be hosting an event entitled ‘the Cordillera Perspective on Development and Violence Against Women and Children on October 28-29, 2016.
The month-long event will be capped by the conduct of the Gong Festival and Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) Day on October 30, 2016 at the Baguio Convention Center wherein participants from the different tribes in the region will converge to showcase their respective culture and traditions through the playing of the gongs.
Calde said the Gong Festival will serve as a venue for both the elders and the youth to interact in the showcasing of their respective culture and traditions as well as allow the youth to be able to acquire the skills on how to value the traditions that were passed on to them by their ancestors.
He encouraged the public to patronize the various activities lined up for the month-long celebration to serve as an avenue to learn the rich culture and traditions of Cordillerans which were preserved and protected by the elders and were able to be passed on to the younger generations effectively and efficiently./By Dexter A. See
