NCIP chair reprimanded after blasting opposition solon during House budget hearing

National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) chairman Allen Capuyan earned a reprimand on Wednesday after accusing Bayan Muna party-list Representative Eufemia Cullamat of spreading lies and propaganda during a House budget hearing.

During the deliberations on the proposed 2022 budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Cullamat asked about the role of the NCIP in connection with the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, saying there might be a conflict of interest since Capuyan also serves as the executive director of NTF-ELCAC.

She added that an NCIP regional director, whom she did not disclose, is also an NTF-ELCAC spokesperson.

Capuyan replied that NCIP Region 13 director Marlon Bosantog and all other regional directors of the NCIP are "advisers to the joint regional task force of the ELCAC, considering the problem of our insurgency is mostly in ancestral domain."

"At the same time, he is the spokesperson for the legal cooperation, being a lawyer and a former employee of Solicitor General. Likewise he’s also the spokesperson for NTF-ELCAC. There is no additional compensation, it's pro bono, pagmamahal po sa bayan [love of country]," he added.

Cullamat said the NCIP appears to be an "extension" of NTF-ELCAC in attacking indigenous peoples.

"Dahil yung executive director ng NTF-ELCAC ay mismong chair ng NCIP, si Chair Capuyan. Tila nagiging secretariat ng ELCAC ang ahensya na dapat magprotekta dapat sa mga katutubo," she said.

[The executive director of NTF-ELCAC is NCIP Chairman Capuyan. It seems like the agency that is supposed to be protecting Lumads has become the NTF-ELCAC's secretariat.]

Capuyan then blasted Cullamat in response.

"Unang-una marami ka pong sinasabi, Congresswoman Cullamat, na mga kasinungalingan. Nabubuhay ka sa propaganda— [You are saying a lot of lies. You live by propaganda]," Capuyan said, before being interrupted by Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Zarate.

"I take exception," Zarate said.

"I call out Capuyan. Do not accuse a member of this House of telling lies in this budget hearing. You are here to present your budget. That is the statement of a member of this House, as far as she knows, and Chairman Capuyan has no right to accuse a member of this House of lying," he said, and asked for the NPIC chief to be reprimanded.

Negros Oriental Representative Jocelyn Limkaichong, who was presiding over the hearing, gave Capuyan a warning.

"Chair Capuyan, you have to refrain from saying those very negative comments besides, you are talking to a representative. Kindly refrain," she said.

Capuyan then apologized for his remarks. His statements were also struck from the record. — BM, GMA News