SPECIAL MOMENT WITH 3 COUNCIL LEADERS OF B'LAAN TRIBE

SPECIAL MOMENT WITH 3 COUNCIL LEADERS OF B'LAAN TRIBE

A night with "the three kings." The author wears tie.

By BERTENI "TOTO" CATALUÑA CAUSING

Editor-in-chief, Dyaryo Magdalo

I posed for a photograph one night very proud.  This was because I was at the center of three datu leaders of the B'laan tribe in General Santos City.  This was taken on December 20, 2011 outside my office at the NPC Bldg. in Intramuros, Manila.

I felt as if I was the PRIMUS INTER-PARES OF THE THREE DATUS -- Datu Lito Majola, Datu Arcillas Ubo Sr. and Datu Marcis San Mentong -- because I knew I was their biggest hope of their lives.

I am helping them secure their Certificate of Ancestral Land Title (CALT) that has been denied them by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) for more than a decade now.

It was a good thing that with our intercession Commissioner Santos Unsad, the NCIP commissioner in charge of their petition for identification, delineation and recognition, pledged to release their CALT in January 2012.  What a very good year for the three datus if the pledge were to be complied with.

I do hope GOD will come down to give justice to them.  They cannot afford further delays.

As I write this, I recall Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. saying: "A RIGHT DELAYED IS A RIGHT DENIED."

Under the law, Republic Act 8743, it is a matter of right for these B'laan tribe leaders to get their certificate of title. 

To the contrary, it is a matter of duty for the NCIP to issue that certificate of title without any more question after their parcel of ancestral land has been identified and delineated.  The recognition and the issuance of the title should follow as a matter of course.

How will our indigenous peoples progress if the government agency tasked to attend to them is the one giving them THE HARDEST AND THE LONGEST TIME?

If you read this, please help by praying for them.

What a good night with "the three kings"! The author is the one wearing a necktie.