P-Noy appoints 3 commissioners, 11 other officials of NCIP

MANILA, Philippines - Three new commissioners and 11 other officials of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) were formally sworn in yesterday.

Secretary Teresita Quintos Deles, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and designated by President Aquino to oversee the commission, administered the oaths of Commissioners Percy Brawner, Conchita Calzado and Datu Cosme Lambayon.

Two other commissioners appointed last November were also sworn into office yesterday. They are Zenaida Brigida Hamada-Pawid and Dionesia Banua.

Brawner will be in charge of Region II, Calzado will represent Region III and the rest of Luzon, while Lambayon will oversee Region III as well as Northern and Western Mindanao.

Pawid represents Region I and the Cordilleras, while Banua represents the island groups including Mindoro, Palawan, Romblon, Panay and the rest of the Visayas.

Also sworn in during a ceremony at the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process in Pasig City were acting NCIP executive director Basilio Wandag; bureau directors Masli Quilaman and Jonathan Adaci; regional directors Sancho Buquing for Region 1, Ruben Bastero for Region 2, Roberto Almonte for Region 4, Pinky Grace Pabelic for Region 10, Woy Lim Wong for Region 12 and Dominador Gomez for Region 13/ CARAGA.

The commission, headed by chairman Roque Agton, was created by the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act as an independent agency under Office of the President to formulate and implement policies, plans and programs to promote and protect the rights of indigenous persons and their ancestral domain. – With Jose Rodel Clapano