THE INCUMBENT Indigenous Peoples mandatory representative (IPMR) Rodolfo M. Mande revealed on Tuesday that a leader of the Bagobo-Klata tribe will replace him in the 20th City Council.
Mande was sworn in before then-mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Jan. 10, 2022, after the seat was vacant for three years.
Mande of the Matigsalug Tribe is the current IPMR but his term of three years ended on Jan. 10. He was then reinstalled in February through a hold-over status until March 11.
“Ako pagawas nako and papasok na ang sunod na tribu, gikan sa Bagobo-Klata (I am on my way out and the Bagobo-Klata will be next in line,” Mande told the reporters on Tuesday before the regular session.
“The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples is finalizing the documentation of the next IPMR, and after that it will be submitted to the Mayor’s Office for him to give the final verdict,” he added.
However, he stressed there is no specific date when the next representative will assume the seat.
The councilor said the approval from the NCIP for the hold-over status lasts for a month and until a successor is selected.
The prospect successor is Datu Demetrio Bolo, the current IPMR of Barangay Biao Escuela of Tugbok District.
Mande was appointed after the NCIP refused to release the certificate of affirmation (COA) for then Bagobo Klata tribe representative Cherry Ann Codilla’s IPMR post at the city council in 2018.
Established in 2012, the rotation of the mandatory representative of the IP in the city council is in alphabetical order. However, as in the case in 2019, where the Klata tribe could not hold the post after the Kagan Tribe, Mande from Matigsalug filled in the post.
The IPMR stands as chairman of the city council’s committee on Indigenous Peoples.
