“Wasto at matuwid lamang na ma-defer ang budget ng NCIP. Bukod sa pagiging red-tagger ng ahensya ito rin ay simbolo misrepresentasyon ng mga katutubo sa bansa,” Rei A. Paulin, KATRIBU Kalipinan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas national coordinator said. This was a response to the deferment of 2023 budget of National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) at the Philippine Congress.

Gabriela Women's Party Rep. Arlene Brosas, together with other representative from the Makabayan Bloc in September 6 budget hearing of Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and its agencies, moved to defer the budget of the NCIP.
According to Paulin “It is just and proper and we at KATRIBU continue to question NCIP’s role in the numerous human rights violations committed against indigenous peoples, especially that Chair Allen Capuyan and other officials of NCIP take significant positions in the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
“The NCIP instead of truly representing the legitimate demands of the indigenous peoples is obsessed in their attempt to scare and intimidate indigenous peoples who express dissent or question their leadership. The recent struggles of IPs across the country have made it perfectly clear that NCIP only followed the whims of the Duterte administration and foreign corporations”, Paulin said.
The deferment will delay the approval of NCIP proposed budget of P1.4 billion and put NCIP under additional scrutiny due to its redtagging activities which are outside the scope of its mandate, as well as its failure to truly protect the indigenous people and their ancestral lands from attacks.
“While we appreciate the approval of the motion to defer by the House Committee on Appropriations, our ranks reiterate our position to defund NCIP and NTF-ELCAC, or better yet, abolish both NCIP and NTF-ELCAC!,” Paulin concluded. ###
Reference:
Rei A. Paulin
National Coordinator
KATRIBU Kalipunan ng Katutubong mamamayan ng Pilipinas
09178169258
reipaulin2020@gmail.com
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