But Dueñas and Sulong have lost no time in assuming their posts, the latter even despite a July 17 memorandum issued by Director Rowena Turingan of the Malacañang Personnel Group Secretariat to Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora confirming the appointments of the Ramos commissioners. The Executive Service Board and Civil Service Commission have likewise upheld the validity of the Ramos appointments.

Comments Flavier: “I don’t know if (Cerilles) knew, but he was making recommendations in areas that are outside of his department.” But what is worse, he says, is that the DENR secretary’s recommendations—particularly that concerning Sulong—were in direct contravention to some provisions of the law. Besides the chairmanship, Sulong also has been appointed as commissioner representing Northern and Western Mindanao, which conflicts with Saway’s earlier designation to the same position.

In fairness, Cerilles may have deemed it fit to make the recommendations since his department had been the one tasked with issuing Certificates of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADCs) until last June 6. With the IPRA now in effect, it is the NCIP that has the responsibility of converting the 181 CADCs the DENR has issued into Certificates of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT).

But indigenous peoples groups are having a hard time accepting Cerilles recommendees in the agency that is supposed to look after their rights. After all, many of them have not forgotten that the ex-Zamboanga del Sur representative had been vehemently anti-IPRA during the congressional deliberations on the proposed bill.

Though Cerilles would eventually vote in favor of the IPRA, Elena Damaso of the Coalition for Indigenous Peoples Rights and Ancestral Domain (CIPRAD) recalls that “it was Cerilles who stood up to interpellate Rep. (Gregorio) Andolana during the period of amendments on the bill’s second reading, questioning the need for Congress to pass a special law for the indigenous peoples.”

Then Rep. Cerilles asked why the enjoyment of the full measure of human rights and fundamental freedom had to form part of State policies. Arguing that tribal peoples already enjoy equal status with non-IPs, Cerilles cited the Subanen in his constituency as having “been given advantage in government positions, proprietary claims, mining claims, etc.”

He pointed to three colleagues—then Congressmen Elias Lopez (Bagobo), Candau Muarip (Yakan) and Did Dilangalen (Maguindanaoan)—as proof that IPs enjoy full fundamental rights.

In the same session, Cerilles also mentioned a mining claim by a Subanen that impinges on a piece of land he owns in Tubud, Lakewood.

But as DENR secretary, Cerilles now says he is an IPRA supporter and holds reservations about the Mining Act. He has even consistently said no Financial or Technical Assistance Agreements (FTAAs) will be approved within his first 100 days in office. To top it off, he has made much of his recommendee, Sulong, having Subanen blood.

Yet indigenous peoples groups and environmentalists remain unconvinced that he has had a change of attitude regarding IPRA. Even Flavier observes: “To the extent that he got involved in this recent imbroglio over appointments to the NCIP, it’s already a bit negative. If the question is if he is supportive of the IPRA, that one evidence shows that the answer is perhaps not.”

In truth, tribal groups are particularly incensed over the appointment of Sulong, whom they say is not only unqualified for the NCIP chairmanship but has also a string of graft cases to his name. He was removed as mayor of Lapuyan in 1992 after being found guilty of “dishonesty, falsification of public documents and malversation of public funds” by the Sangguniang Panglalawigan of Zamboanga del Sur.

Sulong is among the defendants in two cases pending in the Sandiganbayan, one over an alleged non-existent road project he was involved in as mayor, the other over a supposedly overpriced fence. Six more malversation complaints against him have been filed with the Office of the Ombudsman in Davao City. According to Sulong, though, all of these are mere “political harassment.”

Of his endorsement, Sulong declares: “The secretary says there has to be one Subanen in the NCIP because we’re a large group. At three million, we are the biggest cultural minority group.”

But NCIP figures based on the 1990 data of the Office for Southern Cultural Communities place the Subanen population at only around 500,000. Independent estimates put the tribe’s numbers at close to a million.

Subanen themselves are not eager to claim Sulong as one of them. The tribe’s timuays (village chieftains) in Lapuyan say Sulong is not even a certified member of the community, being only 25 percent Subanen by blood.

But even if he were pure Subanen, Manuel Selen of Glompok Bagelal (literally a gathering of elders) in Lakewood, Zamboanga del Sur, says that would not necessarily make him qualified to speak for the tribal peoples. This is because the basis of unity among indigenous peoples, says Selen, is not merely ethnicity in terms of blood.

“Sulong may be a Subanen but he’s a politician,” Selen says. “He no longer has the viewpoint of a tribal person. So what will happen to IPRA’s promises of protection of indigenous systems, knowledge, practices and institutions when his political interests would come first?”

The opposition of activists and tribal peoples groups to Sulong and Dueñas prompted the creation of an ad hoc committee to look into the NCIP controversy. But instead of re-evaluating only the appointments of the two Cerilles recommendees, the committee has decided to subject even the Ramos appointees to further scrutiny, even if they had already undergone months of screening by a Malacañang search committee.

Flavier’s office has aired fears that the ongoing evaluation of the commissioners may lead to the removal even of those who deserve their posts, thereby leaving more seats for the taking for people who may have vested interests.

The 64-tribe Katutubong Samahan ng Pilipinas (Kasapi), a national consultative forum of indigenous peoples, also says the creation of a review committee may just mean that the issue is merely being given a runaround. Though it concedes an evaluation process ensures the NCIP’s integrity, Kasapi says statements and data gathered during an assembly last month are sufficient enough to arrive at a final decision.

The meeting, convened under the initiative of Gasgonia’s office, saw most of the attendees—tribal leaders and representatives—clamoring for the retention of Daoas, Dolandolan, Saway, Tidang and Tuan while petitioning for the recall of the appointments of Sulong and Dueñas.

Sulong, for his part, refuses to acknowledge the results of the consultation. Two weeks after the meeting, he and Tuan held a similar Mindanao-wide forum that ended up being a rally of sorts for Sulong, who has not let the controversy surrounding his appointment stop him from making what many say are questionable decisions.

Among these, apparently, are the certificates of accreditation the NCIP chair-designate has been issuing to select councils of elders in Mindanao—an act that some indigenous groups say reintroduces personality-based factionalism characteristic of the leaderships of past state-instigated tribal agencies.

Mandaya chieftain Likid Honorato Magdagasang fears this can only perpetuate the practice of having datus, timuays matikadungs and baes proclaimed not on the basis of customary laws but by virtue of political experience and connections. Other traditional tribal leaders say Sulong’s actions have only sown confusion and mistrust among them.

In Monkayo, Datus Bagonbon Andresan and Managyo Carlito Chavez, who both have CADC applications covering 30,000 hectares in the area, are already complaining over not receiving accreditation to be part of the tribal council there.

Rajah Carlito Buntas has been given the blessing to organize the council in Monkayo. Interestingly enough, Buntas is not native to Monkayo. According to his own cousin, Manuel Labrador (Datu Matanglahi), Buntas hails from Boston, Davao Oriental and resides in Tagum. He came to Diwalwal during the height of the gold rush in 1986 and has since maintained a tunnel there, as well as close ties with big-time illegal miners.

In August, Buntas received a certificate recognizing his application for a CADC covering land in Monkayo and Compostela Valley (formerly Davao del Norte). The certificate was signed by Sulong, as well as NCIP commissioner Tuan and Roque Agton Jr, whom Sulong had installed as NCIP director for Region XI.

But the certificate has been declared null and void by the NCIP because it failed to undergo many of the steps required by IPRA.

Joey Austria, coordinator of the DENR’s Ancestral Domain Management Program also says: “Questionable yan. There is nothing in the law or its (implementing rules and regulations) that says something about a certificate of recognition of claim. Diretso na dapat sa CADT.”

Besides, all certification relating to ancestral domains should emanate from the commission’s Ancestral Domain Office, which is barely operational at this time—like all offices within the commission—owing to a yet to be approved plantilla. Likewise, matters concerning certification ought to be acted upon by the commission en banc.

But Sulong only sees the need for the certification in this situation. “In the first place, it’s only for recognition. And it’s meant to protect the legitimate claimants of the area in the meantime that the NCIP is only temporarily functional.”

Table 1: Status of Ancestral Domains
Until June 6, the DENR was the government agency tasked with certifying ancestral domain claims pursuant to the department’s administrative order No. 2 (DAO 2).

Certificates of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADCs)	Awarded: 181 Area: 2.531 million hectares	Pending Area: 2.5 million has.
Certificates of Ancestral Land Claim (CALCs)	Awarded: 146 Area: 10,095 has.