By CONG B. CORRALES Associate Editor AT least 10 lumad leaders, most of whom come from Misamis Oriental, trooped the provincial and regional offices of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) here Tuesday to pressure the office to act on the numerous issues hounding their people. Jomorito Goaynon, chairman of Kalumbay, said among the issues they want NCIP to act on is the resolution of the congressional inquiry on A Brown’s palm oil plantation in Opol town, Misamis Oriental. Kalumbay is a federation of indigenous peoples in Northern Mindanao. On March 12, this year, Reps. Nancy Catamco (2nd District, North Cotabato), Juliette Uy (2nd District, Misamis Oriental), Fernando Hicap (Anakpawis), Luzviminda Ilagan (Gabriela), and Karlos Zarate (Bayan Muna) held a congressional inquiry that found that A Brown allegedly “cut corners” to establish its palm oil plantation on a tribal land in Opol town. Ricardo Mateo, NCIP Misamis Oriental also attended the congressional inquiry. “While we call on all our Higaonon brothers and sisters to unite in order to help push government agencies to work toward completing the Dulangan unified ancestral domain claim, we cannot ignore the facts that A Brown has not complied with the requirements in bringing its oil palm project into the area,” Catamco had said during the March 12 inquiry. Catamco is also the chair of Lower House’s Committee on Indigenous Peoples. “NCIP is duty-bound to protect us from militarization. As the rest of the world observed World Indigenous People’s Day last Sunday, the NCIP should lead the other government agencies in upholding the rights and welfare of the lumad,” Goaynon said in the vernacular. Among the other issues Kalumbay want NCIP to address are the continuing militarization in their tribal communities, extrajudicial killings of their leaders and members, and the alleged forced recruitment of their tribal youths in paramilitary groups under the auspices of the Army. According to data compiled by Kalumbay, there have been 30 indigenes in the region slapped with various trumped up charges. To date, there have been 23 of their tribesfolk who have fallen victim to extrajudicial killings in Northern Mindanao. It is because of this dire situtation, Goaynon said, that they urged the NCIP to help them face these trumped up charges in court by giving them legal aid. They demand that NCIP implement measures to: • stop the 58th Infantry Battalion from forcibly recruiting their youths to join its paramilitary units; • stop the law enforcement agencies from filing trumped up criminal charges against their people; and • effect the immediate pullout of government troops from their communities and stop using their communities as satellite camps. Gold Star Daily tried to contact NCIP Regional Director Roberto Almonte via cellphone yesterday but there was no answer. In a text message after their meeting, Goaynon said NCIP-10 officials told them they will have to study first the cases they brought to them. Goaynon added that the NCIP provincial officials also told them that they could not do anything for them, and instead referred them to the Commission on Human Rights. He said they were not able to meet Almonte since the latter was in Canada.