(Tribal leaders of Magbukun show the boundaries of their conservation area to SBMA chairman and administrator Wilma T. Eisma (left) and Grace Tena, program analyst of UNDP, during the declaration of the tribe’s Indigenous Community Conservation Area in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. Photo by Malou Dungog)
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has reiterated its commitment to help develop indigenous people’s communities in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and renewed its vow to promote the rights of the tribes to their ancestral domain here.
During the kick-off of the celebration of the National Indigenous Peoples (IP) Month here last week, SBMA officials led by chairman and administrator Wilma T. Eisma recognized the contribution of the various Ayta tribes in protecting the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and promised to help them in in both development and conservation efforts.
Among those present were representatives of the Ambala tribe of Pastolan, Hermosa, Bataan led by chieftain Conrado Frenilla; Cawag tribe of Subic, Zambales led by chieftain Antonio Cabalit; and the Magbukun tribe of Kanawan, Morong, Bataan led by chieftain Rodelio Tamondong.
“Last week our Ayta brethren from the Magbukun tribe in Morong declared the boundaries of the 6,000-hectare Indigenous Community Conservation Area (ICCA) under a project of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP),” Eisma said. “The SBMA will continue to promote the socio-economic development of our brother Aytas in Subic.”
“This is not a job for one person, but for all of us, so I reiterate my call for ‘malasakit’,” Eisma also said. “Let us not forget that we all have a job to do, and we all have the duty to protect Subic.”
In June this year, the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) approved the Magbukun tribe’s ancestral domain claim over some 12,000 hectares of land that straddles part of the Subic Freeport in Morong. A similar claim has been won by the Pastolan Ayta tribe several years ago with the help of the SBMA.
Magbukun chieftain Tamondong, meanwhile, pledged his community’s support and involvement in the SBMA’s projects to develop the area.
“Magkaiba man tayo ng kulay, wika, at antas sa lipunan, pero iisa ang dugong dumadaloy sa ating balat. Kami pong mga katutubo ay kaisa ninyo sa pag-abot ng pangarap para sa isang masagana at malayang Pilipinas (We might have different color, dialect and status in the society, but we are of the same blood. The indigenous people are with you in working towards a progressive and free Philippines,” Tamondong said.
Armie Llamas, manager of the SBMA Public Relations Department, said as part of the IP Month celebration the agency would undertake on October 26 the 1st Indigenous Peoples Conference that would tackle propagation of medicinal plants, as well as government programs that tribal communities can avail of.
The SBMA has also scheduled the blessing of a clinic and high school building at the Pastolan Ayta village in Hermosa, Bataan on October 24.
A medical mission was likewise set at the Iram resettlement area in New Cabalan, Olongapo City on October 16 by St. Theresa’s College Quezon City alumni batch ’74, in partnership with the Olongapo City Medical Society (OCMS) and under the coordination of Dr. Asean Briones of the SBMA Public Health and Safety Department.
The group will similarly hold a lecture on Early Child Development for special education and day-care teachers, and parents at the James L. Gordon Memorial Hospital conference room.
Under Proclamation No. 1906 of 2009, the National Indigenous Peoples Month is observed each October in recognition of the rights of indigenous cultural communities and the preservation of these rights within the framework of national unity and development.
