Presidential bet Mangondato vows involvement of IPs in agriculture sector

Presidential candidate Faisal Mangondato on Wednesday said his government would provide programs to indigenous peoples (IP) to improve the agriculture sector and their own communities, should he win the May 9 polls.

During the Catholic E-Forum hosted by Radio Veritas, Mangondato explained that the IPs must be treated the same with every Filipino and should not be used by politicians whenever they want.

“Dapat ang ating pamahalaan ay mabigyan sila ng isang magandang programa na makalalahok sila saan mang bagay dito sa ating bayan (our government should give them a good program so they could get involved in any sectors in our country),” he said.

Mangondato then emphasized that the government should make use of the IP’s wisdom on agriculture because they are the ones directly involved in it.

“Marami silang ideya lalo na sa agrikultura na pwede nating mapag-aralan kung papaano nila gamitin ‘yung mga talino nila sa pagtatanim, pagsasaka (they have many ideas especially in agriculture that we can learn and we can use their knowledge in planting and farmi),” he said.

“Kung tayo ay kumukuha lamang ng mga ideya sa mga theory na hindi natin matanong ang sagot ng totoong nangyayari sa mga lugar katulad ng mga IPs, ay hindi natin makukuha ang solusyon na mabuti dahil hindi tayo nakakapunta sa mga lugar na ‘yan,” he added.

(If we only get ideas from theories and don't know what is really happening on the ground like IPs do, we won't get the right solution because we don’t go to those places.]

Mangondato said he could identify the needs and wants of the IPs to improve their own community and their lifestyle if the country is able to shift to federalism.

The Katipunan ng Kamalayang Kayumanggi’s (KTPNAN) presidential bet is pushing to shift the country’s form of government from unitary to federalism in three years.

He said he is aiming for federalism to bring the government closer to the people, to serve, and produce good programs in agriculture, industry, health, and education.—AOL, GMA News