DAVAO CITY, September 10 (PIA) - For the first time, the Indigenous Tribes of Davao Occidental composed of the B'laan, Manobo, and Tagakaulo tribes had finally voiced out the issues and concerns that they are facing within and amongst their respective ancestral domains.

The local tribes' leaders and members welcomed the representatives of various government agencies who, under the leadership of the National Council for Indigenous People (NCIP), were all open to hearing out issues and providing culturally-centered solutions that are tailored for each specific indigenous community.

The task at hand proves to be a challenge but the national government is in close counsel with the three indigenous tribes to come to a workable understanding of the current situation on the ground to have accurately targeted policies in addressing the problems of IPs.

"Ang importante man, ang mga ahensya sa gobyerno maka buy-in sila sap roblema sa sitwasyon nga ang agencies of government will be sensitive to specific issues nga naga gikan gayud sa community (What is important is that government agencies will be able to buy-into the situational problems so that the agencies of the government will be sensitive to specific issues stemming from communities)," NCIP Chair and Executive Director for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) Secretary Allen Capuyan stated when discussing about the close coordination with IP tribes in Davao Occidental.

The consultative meeting is in line with the mandate of Executive Order No. 70 which seeks to employ a whole-of-nation approach in addressing the issues with peace and order brought about by local insurgencies.

The Provincial Tribal Chieftain for Davao Occidental Gregorio T. Day I remarked on how the said consultative meeting will greatly benefit the tribes of Davao Occidental by achieving sustainable peace in IP communities throughout the said province through maintaining a consistent presence of the government in ancestral domains.

"From time to time magpadayon ang ilahang close monitoring, security sa kabukiran ... kinahanglan ang presensya sa atuang gobyerno magpabilin sa area nga diin ma identify nato nga naa sila (From time to time, their (Armed Forces of the Philippines) close monitoring should be consistent and provide security to rural areas ... the presence of our government should always be present in [rural] areas so we can identify if they [insurgent groups] are there," Day said.

To ensure that the needs of IP groups in Davao Occidental, Capuyan emphasized on the need to properly cascade the government's services on the ground by framing solutions to problems with the perspective of the three tribes in-mind.

"Naanad man ta nga mag offer ta ug solution from our point of view. Lami baya nga tanawon nato ang problema from their point of view ug ilang manner of solving it kay naa man sila kaugalingon nga self-governance. (We're used to offer solutions from our point of view. But it would be ideal if we view the problems from their [Indigenous tribes] point of view and their own manner of solving it since they have their own form of self-governance)" Capuyan said. (PIA XI/KPLC)