Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 29) — The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) said it is currently providing assistance to 3,121 IPs which got stranded amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“[A]ng nas-serve pa lang po namin as of the moment is 937, so mayroon pa kaming 2,184 na unserved stranded IPs,” said NCIP Commissioner for Central Mindanao Jennifer Pia Sibug-Las in a Laging Handa virtual briefing on Friday. The number of stranded indigenous peoples reported to the commission is growing day by day, she said.
The volume in reports of IPs in Metro Manila and nearby provinces getting displaced by the pandemic has prompted the commission to establish Oplan Bayanihan for Stranded IPs. The NCIP has teamed up with the Departments of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine Air Force, Bureau of Fire Protection, and PNP for the initiative. Certain civil society groups and private companies are also part of the program, Sibug-Las added.
Through this program, the NCIP has been distributing assistance in the form of hygiene kits and food packs to these stranded individuals, she said.
The commission is also helping stranded IPs get back home by conducting profiling on them, added NCIP Commissioner Gaspar Cayat.
“Ang opisina natin, kagaya ng sinabi kanina ni Commissioner Jenny, ay tumutulong para maayos ang kanilang mga documentation, and then iyong transportation allowance or paano sila maibalik sa kanilang mga probinsiya,” said Cayat.
[Translation: Our office, like what Commissioner Jenny (Sibug-Las) mentioned earlier, is helping fix their documentation and their transportation allowance, or how will they be able to get back home.]
However, both commissioners admitted the NCIP had faced challenges in providing assistance to the stranded IPs.
“Nahihirapan din po kami dahil siyempre iisa-isahin po namin kung saan sila nakatira,” said Sibug-Las.
[Translation: We’re also having a hard time (distributing aid to the stranded IPs) because we have to go to them one-by-one.]
Cayat, meanwhile, said that the meager assistance the commission could provide these individuals will not be enough to help bring all of them home.
With this, the NPIC is also seeking support from agencies like the Department of Transportation (DOTr) in their efforts to help them return to the provinces, he mentioned.
“Ang sinasabi po natin dito, kailangan po talaga makipagtulungan sa different departments pati nga po iyong mga NGOs na tumutulong sa ating mga stranded na IPs diyan sa Manila ay sila rin po ay nakikipag-coordinate po sa atin,” explained Cayat.
[Translation: What we’re saying here is that we need to cooperate with different departments, and even the NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that are helping the stranded IPs in (Metro) Manila are coordinating with us.]
