Antique Vice Governor Rosie A. Dimamay has proposed the creation of the Provincial Indigenous People’s Council which shall attend to the needs of the Aetas, Ita or Ati residents, specifically to protect and promote their interest and well-being with due regard to their beliefs, customs and traditions and institutions.
The proposed council when operational shall formulate and implement the policies, plans and programs geared towards the protection of the rights and well-being of the Indigenous People and the recognition of their ancestral domains as well as their rights.
According to the vice governor, there now lives a total of 40,567 natives in 918 households spread throughout 14 of the province’s 18 municipalities.
Majority of these aborigines are “illiterate, such that they are susceptible to abuses and other advances. They lack understanding of their own rights as provided for by laws and deprived of the services of government agencies and institutions,†Dimamay said.
The indigenous people in the province are among the most deprived groups primarily because of the absence of a body or council mandated by the provincial government to attend to the IPs needs.
“These Aetas easily get sick and they are seldom brought to the hospital for treatment while most of their children are not going to school. These are among the major concerns that I wish we could help them with,†Vice Gov. dimamay said.
Dimamay proposed that the Council be composed of a chairperson, vice chairperson, secretary, treasurer and members and shall involve the agencies which are directly responsible in carrying out the development concerns of the aborigines.
These agencies include the Office of the Governor, the Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO), the National Commission on Indigenous People (Antique), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Department of Education (DepEd), Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO), the Local Government Units with IPs, NGOs accredited with the National Commission on Indigenous People working with IPs, People’s Organizations of IPs and Women Organizations of IPs. - PNA
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