The first to file certificate of candicacy at Comelec Benguet, incumbent Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan is seeking for a higher post as Congressman for the lone Congressional District of Benguet.
Palangan’s political platform would revolve around Benguet people’s ancestral domain rights. In a interview with PTV Cordillera, he said that only around 10% of Benguet’s land area is classified as alienable and disposable as majority of it either watershed, forest reserve, or protected areas. This means even the current residential areas, a lot of them are still not releases fof titling process.
“I want to represent the people of Benguet in Congress because of so many social problems in our province.” First problem he says is land tenure. he said there is a “need to reclasify the lands to give more lands” to the farmers and small scale farmers. He said the Benguet small scale miners’ application as Minahang Bayan was rejected by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the DENR (MGB-DENR) because “the are they applied is within a watershed.” He further said that if this problem is not resolved, there will come a time when the Benguet farmers and small scale miners will be facing charges considering that the land they are farming and mining are within watershed, forest reserve, and other rights before the approval of the IPRA law. He wants the ancestral domain of the province of Benguet to be respected and implemented.
Palangdan, who arrived at the Comelec at 9:00 AM of October 1st was accompanied by his wife Jofelia and son Victorio Jr./with report from MPBC
