BAGUIO CITY – The entries found in K-12 textbooks wrongly depicting indigenous peoples (IPs) in the Cordillera served as the last straw on the long-standing problem of the peddling of culturally insensitive information on these IPs particularly the Igorots as the Regional Development Council (RDC) decided to confront the issue to stop the practice once and for all.
Michael Umaming, chief of the Technical Management Services Division of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)-Cordillera, said that their office is currently consulting lawyers on what appropriate cases could be filed against the publishers of the textbooks which contain the culturally insensitive information.
During its meeting on September 11, the RDC instructed the NCIP to study what laws were violated by the publishers and what cases could be filed against them.
During the same meeting, the RDC also decided to write the publishers on how the errors in the textbooks could be corrected and that if they will not take appropriate action, the RDC will issue a resolution condemning the erroneous portrayal of the Cordillera IPs. The resolution was approved in principle.
The actions of the council were prompted by the draft resolution from the Committee on Indigenous Peoples Concerns (CIPC) calling on Congress to come up with a law preventing the erroneous portrayal of the indigenous people in textbooks and instructional materials presented by CIPC Chairman Roland Calde who also heads the NCIP-Cordillera.
Umaming said that the lapses could have been forgiven and the attention of those responsible only called had the incidents been isolated but that in this case, there is repetition.
He said that those involved could have easily avoided the errors by just convening the IP elders to validate the information in their textbooks or learning materials prior to publication.
One of the errors ascribed the physical features of the Negritos to Igorots. This, however, has already been corrected with the author apologizing for the mistake and explaining that it was intended to help Grade 1 pupils describe the physical traits of a person.
Asked for reaction, Department of Education (DepEd)-Cordillera Education Program Supervisor for Curriculum and Learning Management Ethielyn Taqued categorically stated that the books did not come from the DepEd but were developed by private publishers who did not conduct thorough research and did not consult with the elders nor follow the free and prior informed consent process of the NCIP.
She said that the books are then sold by the publishers to private schools which make use of them without validation.
Taqued would admit that there were DepEd textbooks marred by culturally insensitive information regarding IPs in the Cordillera but these were rectified by teachers belonging to the subject IP communities.
She also informed that steps are now being undertaken to prevent any recurrence among which are the inclusion of the coverage of learning resources of private schools in the quality assurance procedures of the LRMDS, the implementation of the feedback mechanism of the Bureau of Learning Resources for the correction of erroneous information in DepEd-published textbooks and providing assistance to private schools in the quality assurance of the supplementary learning resources they intend to procure. **Estanislao Albano, Jr.
