NCIP's three-volume book project on IP cultures and homelands lauded

COTABATO CITY --- The government has just published three books on cultures, history and ancestral domains of indigenous communities that stakeholders want in digital copies too for faster circulation.

Dubbed “Project Epanaw,” the publication of the Pagkilala, Paggalang and Pagtaguyod books, launched simultaneously in Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas and in Mindanao last Sunday, was an initiative of the central office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.

Leaders of indigenous communities, among them Romeo Saliga of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, or BTA, and North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco separately told reporters Tuesday they appreciate the NCIP’s three-volume book project published to educate Filipinos and tourists from abroad on the country’s culturally-pluralistic settings.

“We can use these books as reference for our information campaign on the cultural norms and traditions of indigenous peoples in the province and those in other regions,” Catamco, a member of the Uvu-Manuvo community, said.

Catamco, the first ever governor of North Cotabato from an IP community, said they are optimistic the NCIP can   also produce digital copies of the three coffee table books.

“More Filipinos can read these books if obtainable via the internet. Meantime, we give the NCIP our proud salute for this book project,” Catamco said.

The launching in Mindanao of the three books on Sunday was held at the SM Mall in Lanang, Davao City.

The event, attended by IP leaders from different southern regions, was capped off with the opening of a photo exhibit depicting indigenous communities at SM Mall in Lanang, a bustling economic hub in Davao City.

Secretary Allen Capuyan, NCIP’s chairperson, was quoted in an earlier Facebook post related to the book project as saying that their Project Epanaw highlights the importance of protecting IP ancestral lands.

Saliga said he will encourage tribal leaders in Maguindanao province to publicly express gratitude to the NCIP for the three books that can help address what he called “historical injustice” against IP communities.

“The history of the original inhabitants of islands from Aparri down to Southern Mindanao is fading out. Most of the so-called `millenials’ are unaware of that history. These three books can help us a lot,” Saliga, representing the Teduray tribe to the 80-member BTA, said.

The BTA is also known as the interim parliament of the now 25-month Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao that replaced the 29-year Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in February 2019.

The three books the NCIP published, Pagkilala, Paggalang and Pagtaguyod, features the profiles of each IP community in the country, their different festivals and traditional rites and centuries-old means of livelihood, and their ancestral homelands, respectively.