KPLN GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF 7 MANGYAN TRIBES
July 3, 2006
By Lheila Mozenda C. Mendoza

The Kapulungan Para sa Lupaing Ninuno (KPLN), Inc. is a federation of the 7 Mangyan tribes at Oriental Mindoro, namely, Iraya, Alangan, Tadyawan, Tau-Buid, Bangon, Buhid at Hanunuo. KPLN promotes and organizes programs and projects, which are geared towards sustainable development for the benefit of the Mangyan community as a whole.


One of KPLN’s programs is to conduct a General Assembly of the 7 Mangyan tribes as venue for presenting the federation’s previous years’ project results including the financial reports, amending and approving of KPLN’s Manual Operations and Policies and discussing and lobbying for resolutions of the major issues faced by the Mangyans. The General Assembly meeting was held last June 27 – 30, 2006 at Lalud, Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro. The said activity was composed of almost 200 participants among the different leaders and officers in each tribe.


There were invited guests from Department of Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Agrarian Reforms (DAR), National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) and other government agencies and non-government organizations (NGOs) such as Mangyan Mission (MM), Non-Timber Forest Products – Task Force (NTFP), Mangyan Heritage Center (MHC) and many more to present their on-going projects and to have open dialogues and discuss topics and issues concerning the Mangyan tribes such as land conflicts and ownerships, titling of Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) and approval of the Work and Financial Plan and Resource Utilization Plan (WFP/RUP) and Annual Work Plan (AWP) for CADT and KAPLANO applications, Mangyan student scholarship programs, and also mining issues within their ancestral domains.


One of the highlights of the General Assembly was the awarding of endowment fund by Governor Arnan C. Panaligan of Oriental Mindoro for the building and establishment of KPLN’s Commercial Center for Mangyan products at Calapan City.


The 4-day gathering was also a place for cultural presentations and promotions to build stronger relationships among the 7 Mangyan tribes.