CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)–The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), through its Subcommission on Cultural Communities and Traditional Arts (SCCTA) will kick-off the National Indigenous Peoples (IP) Month in October pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 1906 signed in 2009, as the constitution mandates the “recognition and protection of the rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs).”
This celebration is known as Dayaw, and this year’s theme, “Katutubong Filipino: Atin ang Tagumpay!” highlights the Philippine Indigenous Peoples firm, optimistic views and practices or their “strategies of prevailing” in the midst of adversities and this pandemic.
During the Dayaw 2021 Virtual Presser, Al Ryan Alejandre, NCCA executive director, said, “Our mandate as cultural workers is to support our indigenous communities, to uphold their rights, affirm their convictions, and honor their contributions in uniting our nation and forging our identity as one Filipino people.”
Alejandre said Dayaw 2021 celebration tells people that the only way to move forward through the challenges today is through a concerted action, a share of the IPs’ struggles and celebrate their achievements, “dahil ang tagumpay ng katutubo ay tagumpay ng bayan at mundo (the success of the indigenous peoples is the success of the nation and the world).”
This year, representatives from various Indigenous groups will gather at their respective communities and conduct engaging cultural performances, discussions on shared cultural values embodied in their responses to the current crisis, among others.
The activities will be video documented, presented into five episodes—Pagpapasinaya sa Tagumpay: The Dayaw Opening Ceremony, October 9; Dayaw sa Sebangan: The Southern Cultural Communities, October 17; Dayaw Sito Lubbon Na Unnot: The Northern Cultural Communities on October 24, 2021; Dayaw sa Butnga: The Central Cultural Communities, October 30; and Pinagtagumpayan: The Dayaw Closing Ceremony, October 31, and will be aired over social media platforms and television.
The program will include themes such as Spirituality and Well-being, Indigenous Learning Systems, Young Indigenous Entrepreneurs, Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and Responses to the Impact of Climate Change and Disasters.
“For most indigenous communities, October is also a month of harvest so let us be reminded that we share the bounty of the harvest of wisdom, the harvest of traditional skills, the harvest of pursuing social cohesion and that is the harvest of Dayaw. Let us celebrate together the abundance in our culture and identity,” Dr. Nestor Horfilla, project director for Dayaw 2021, said.
Various agencies namely National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), Office of the Muslim Affairs (OMA), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) are among the agencies celebrating the annual celebration.
This 2021 IP month celebration, in coordination with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), Year of the Filipino Pre-Colonial Ancestors (YFPCA) is also celebrated pursuant to Proclamation No. 1128, s. 2021 declaring 2021 as the YFPCA.
For more details on this event, one may contact SCCTA through sccta@ncca.gov.ph or NCCA Facebook page. One may also log on to www.ncca.gov.ph. (SAYU/PIA-10)
