DEVELOMENT PROGRAMS FOR INDIGENOUS TRIBES

DEVELOMENT PROGRAMS FOR INDIGENOUS TRIBES

Dear Mr. President: I think that it was a very good decision on your part to transfer the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) from the DSWD to the Office of the President (OP). Because of that Sir, I think the transfer has now made it possible to introduce as many development projects for the benefit if tribal communities, as much as possible. With due respect, please allow me to mention some of these projects.

To begin with, I would like to highlight the fact that most of these tribal communities have very large agricultural lands to develop, and they have plenty of manpower that they could tap from among their members. However, as much as they have large lands and have plenty of people, they are also very much lacking in technology, training, financing, processing and marketing assistance.

Among the possibilities of what could be done, I am particularly partial to the potential of tree planting, and beyond that, perhaps going into reforestation, meaning the revival of denuded forests. And if possible, Mr. President, they could also go into afforestation, meaning the planting of new forests where there was none before. The decision to plant which species Sir. Will depend on the soil and water tests but suffice it to say that all should be native tree species, meaning not the invasive species.

The data also shows Mr. President, that livestock could also grow under the trees, either in cages or through the free-range approach. The same goes, Sir, for poultry species such as chickens, ducks, quails and turkeys. And in places where there is an abundant supply of water, the tribal communities could also go into aquaculture, either in the natural lakes, ponds and rivers, or in manmade fish tanks such as the Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) technology, a closed and land-based way of farming fish.

Going back to the choice of tree species, priority should be given to those that are fast growing and have a ready market waiting. Although bamboos and bananas are technically not trees, they could be given priority because both are fast growing, and both have huge markets. Although some tree species might be fast growing enough to give medium term incomes to the tribes, it would be advisable for them to also plant some fast-growing cash crops.

Regarding planting trees Mr. President, we should also help our Indigenous Tribal Peoples (ITPs) so that aside from the sale of wood, fruits and related products, they could also earn money from carbon credits and from the debt-for-nature swap program, together with the newly emerging debt-for-climate swap program. According to Microsoft Copilot, “these agreements allow countries to reduce their debt burden in exchange for commitments to protect the environment”.

As far as I can recall Mr. President, there are several National Government Agencies (NGAs) that have yet to come forward to help not only the NCIP, but also all the ITPs all over the country, regardless of whether they already have Certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) or not. Among these agencies are the National Development Company (NDC), the Small Business Corporation (SB Corp), the Technology Application and Promotion Institute (TAPI), the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). IKE SENERES/11-02-2024