North Cotabato IPs support Catamco's proposal to arm Bagani

KIDAPAWAN CITY -- Indigenous Peoples in North Cotabato have expressed support for calls of Rep. Nancy Catamco to legalize and arm the IPs, more known locally as Bagani to implement traditional defense sysetem.Datu Arcadio Aman of Kilanan Manuvu Claim told DXND Radyo Bida Kidapawan the Bagani has been part of the IP culture and that it was just right and legal to revive it.He said arming the Bagani would help the IPs in protecting their ancestral domain against invaders and to protecttheir human rights.Aman stressed that under the IP Rights Act (IPRA) Law, the IPs have all the rights to maintain its culture and tradition, including ancestral domain and self-determination.

Another IP leader, Datu Jaime Udo, said legally arming the Bagani would ensure their ancestral domain are free from non-IPs out to grab their lands by force or legal means that slowly eliminate the tribal groups in its homeland. Arming the Bagani does not mean it will engage in armed hostilities but will act as defense in protecting tribal lands and rights, Udo said.Both expressed their support during an assembly and consultation of IPs in North Cotabato on Catamco's proposal. It was held in Sitio
Kamanagan, Ganatan, Arakan, North Cotabato.