TABUK CITY, Kalinga –The Minangas, the people traditionally occupying the villages of Sadog, Sabangan, Minanga, Bullaguian, Patiking, Potao and Dupag Proper in barangay Dupag, the barangay of this city at the border with Pasil municipality, are making another go at independence and this time they have the blessings of their sister sub-tribes.
The Naneng, Dallac and Malbong sub-tribes with whom the Minangas share common ancestors recently passed a resolution recognizing the Minanga as an independent sub-tribe and endorsing its recognition by the Tabuk City LGU and the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).
In Resolution No. 01, series of 2016, issued in November of last year, the three sub-tribes said that they recognize the “right of the Minanga ICC to stand as an independent sub-tribe of Kalinga because the people of Minanga ICC can better protect their own rights and interests with regard to their ancestral domain and their distinct cultural identity and practices” as an independent sub-tribe.
The sub-tribe which has been identified with the Naneng sub-tribe for several decades had tried to come out of the shadows of the Naneng sub-tribe on two occasions – in the 1980s and again in the late 2000s.
Eventually in 2009, it was able to gain the recognition of the Tabuk City LGU and later the NCIP but due to some infirmities of the process undertaken, the NCIP would later void the recognition.
During the IEC on the formation of Indigenous People’s Structure (ICS) and Indigenous Peoples’ Organization was conducted by the NCIP and the Matagoan Bodong Consultation Council (MBCC) of the Tabuk City LGU at Bagumbayan, Tabuk City on January 24, several speakers alluded to the simultaneous pursuit of a development project as one of the reason the sub-tribe’s recognition was reversed in the end.
It can be recalled that the Minangas in cooperation with the Tabuk City LGU were pushing the proposed hydro electric project along the Tanudan River in the territory of the sub-tribe, a move which was being opposed by groups in the sister sub-tribes specially Naneng who suspected that the simultaneous moves on the part of the Minangas were linked.
Based on the feasibility study conducted by a consultant, the proposed Upper Tabuk Irrigation and Small Hydropower Project was supposed to have a capacity of between 4.4 and 13.1 megawatts and could also irrigate 30 hectares of ricelands.
In his remarks during the IEC, former barangay Dupag barangay captain Ringon Bucalen who was also chosen as chieftain of the sub-tribe during its short-lived recognition as a distinct sub-tribe, stated that project was purely coincidental and instead admitted that the sub-tribe did not faithfully follow the process of seeking recognition.
Bucalen apologized for the error of the sub-tribe and sought the support of everyone to the renewed pursuit of the Minangas for independence.
Bucalen and other leaders of the Minangas vowed during the occasion to fully comply with the requirements of obtaining recognition from the NCIP and also from fellow Kalingas through the renewal of its existing bodongs and the contracting of bodongs with more sub-tribes.
During the occasion, NCIP-Kalinga Tribal Affairs Assistant Dominic Cawas stressed the need for the Minangas to comply with all the requirements for recognition set by the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act so that this time, the sub-tribe would succeed in their pursuit of independence.
He also said that the Minangas need further dialogues with the Nanong sub-tribe and likewise the renewal of old bodongs and the entry into new bodongs with other Kalinga sub-tribes.
Cawas advised the Minangas to pass a resolution seeking the revival of their status as an independent sub-tribe by the NCIP because that will be the legal basis for the agency to act on the issue. He said that the resolution should be endorsed by the Tabuk City LGU.
Cawas said that once the resolution reaches the NCIP national office, it will direct the validation of the claims of the sub-tribe as a distinct indigenous cultural community (ICC) within which the sub-tribe could present its proofs that it deserves what it sought.
After the IEC, the Minangas composed its interim IPO whose responsibility is to work on the requirements for recognition by the NCIP. The officers are the following: Henerio Mangliwan – chairman; Jose Adaol – vice chairman; Ringor Bucalen – secretary; Leticia Bulaat – treasurer; Gabriel Galanto and Celestina Batac – business managers; Modesto Sangdaan and Alfonso Agusil – PROs; Delfin Batac – auditor; Ricardo Paclay, Robert Lagasi, Aldrin Basitao, Susan Apaling, Leon Latawan, Gabina Sallaya and Catigler Lagasi – sergeant at arms; Bonifacio Baliwag, Alexander Tandingan, Carmen Bumacas, Sixto Obal, Tirso Tabbang, Moses Mangliwan and Larry Balicao – advisers. **By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
