LP solon wants guns for bagani
Rep. Nancy Catamco
KIDAPAWAN CITY—A legislator, who had been accused of coddling militia members behind the killing of an Italian missionary priest, stood her ground on a proposal to cloth with government recognition the operations of baganis which would allow the tribal warriors to possess government-issued firearms.
Rep. Nancy Catamco (Liberal Party, North Cotabato) said her measure seeks to protect indigenous peoples from exploitation by what the lawmaker said are groups with vested interests.
Catamco, chair of the House committee on indigenous peoples (IP), said she would pursue her proposal to give full recognition, with regulation, of bagani groups.
She issued the statement amid a growing outcry against the operations of militias, composed of so-called baganis and allegedly created by the military, that are terrorizing IP communities in Mindanao.
The militias had been tagged as behind the killing of three people, including a tribal school teacher, in Surigao del Sur on Sept. 1.
Catamco said legalizing the baganis would allow the government to control and regulate their operations and remove their shadowy character.
“The process of recognition will weed out those (who) are posing as baganis, when in fact they are mere armed groups organized by non-IP interests groups,” said Catamco, who denied she violated any law after admitting that she provided lawyers to defend militia members facing charges in court for the killing of Fr. Pops Tentorio, an Italian missionary priest.
Catamco said she had consulted IP communities about her proposal, which she said she would soon submit to Congress.
She said under her proposal, only “authentic defense systems of IP communities borne out of their cultural tradition” would be legalized.
“Regulation will set the rules to ensure compliance with existing laws,” she said.
The baganis, she said, would be kept out of paramilitary groups, like the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit which the military operates and trains for counterinsurgency operations.
Catamco said she does not want baganis to be under the supervision or control of the military.
“An authentic bagani defense system takes counsel and advice from the collective leadership of the community,” she said.
The legal baganis, however, should be provided firearms by the government, Catamco said.
“Of course we are knowledgeable of realities that in order to effectively protect ancestral domains of the tribe, they necessarily have to be armed subject to the parameters set by law,” she said.
Defense systems indigenous to tribal communities, she said, is a “matter of right” while possessing firearms is a “matter of privilege.”
She said her proposed law would set the conditions for allowing baganis to be armed.
“Use of firearms is another thing and can be regulated by law,” she said.
Catamco said she would vigorously push for the approval of her proposal by Congress. Carlo Agamon, Inquirer Mindanao
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