GMA picks Vizcayano as new NCIP commissioner

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – President Arroyo appointed over  the week a native of one of this landlocked province’s indigenous tribes as new commissioner of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), replacing another Novo Vizcayano who retired from the government service last month.

Local leaders hailed the President for the appointment of Rizalino Segundo as one of the NCIP commissioners, succeeding former Gov. Corazon Espino, who ended her six-year term last month, describing it as Mrs. Arroyo’s continued expression of confidence in the leadership and intellectual capabilities of the Novo Vizcayanos’  indigenous communities.

Before his appointment, Segundo, a full-blooded Kalanguya, served as sectoral representative and later as chairman of the Indigenous Peoples Sectoral Council in the National Anti-Poverty Commission for four years wherein he advocated the equal prioritization of teachers belonging to the indigenous communities to the government’s educational institutions as well as strengthening scholarship opportunities for tribal youths.     

A native of mountain Santa Fe town here, Segundo, a known student leader during his days at the Nueva Vizcaya State Institute of Technology (now Nueva Vizcaya State University), was also responsible for pushing the rights of the indigenous communities’ ancestral domain claims, especially in areas being subjected for mining activities. An agriculture graduate, he has been vocal against trampling on or railroading the rights of tribal residents, especially on issues concerning environmental degradation, inequalities in employment distributions, human and cultural exploitation, socio-economic crisis and social unrest.

As commissioner, Segundo vowed to bring the government closer to the indigenous  communities, especially those who have been marginalized, and whose rights have been trampled upon as well as continue to be exploited by few vested groups.

“Let’s support the government but without sacrificing the life of the poor indigenous peoples and other margi­nalized sectors. What we are fighting for is genuine recognition of rights and privileges of the (tribal communities) who have been neglected for the past many decades,” he said.   – Charlie Lagasca