By Luel Galarpe/PNA
CEBU CITY — More than 50 Badjao students will graduate in the elementary and junior high school levels here early this month.
National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) – Cebu head, Hazel Torrefiel, told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Thursday that the 54 students are among the Badjao children receiving educational assistance from the NCIP.
“Helping provide proper education to the children of our indigenous brothers and sisters has been the primary concern of NCIP-Cebu,” Torrefiel said.
She said the NCIP has provided PHP5,000 worth of educational assistance to these graduating students enrolled at the Alaska Elementary School in Barangay Mambaling and at the Don Carlos A. Gothong Memorial High School.
“We have also allowed them to use our personal computers here at the office for their research and school assignments. We are also providing remedial and tutorial assistance to Badjao students,” Torrefiel added.
The NCIP has also coordinated with the Cebu City Hall for the school uniforms of at least 100 Badjao children and with the MSN Foundation of Cherry Mobile for the school supplies of all Badjao pupils at the Alaska Elementary School.
A total of 319 Badjao children are enrolled at the Alaska Elementary School and 99 at the Gothong High School.
Torrefiel said they have also given PHP10,000 assistance each to two Badjao students who are taking up review classes for the Licensure Examination for Teachers.
The NCIP-Cebu also provides other assistance – financial, medical, legal, among others – to the Badjao community in Mambaling and the Ati Tribe in the City of Naga.
The Ati Tribe, with a population of 210, are migrants from Barotac Viejo in Panay who resettled in Naga more than a decade ago.
The NCIP has also facilitated the processing of delayed registration of live births of both Badjao and Ati children in partnership with the Public Attorney’s Office, Philippine Statistics Authority, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
The agency likewise facilitated the PhilHealth membership of the IPs in Cebu and assisted in their availment of free hospitalization and senior citizen benefits.
In Naga last year, the NCIP and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) conducted livelihood training courses on carpentry and bread making.
Torrefiel said the NCIP has also coordinated with Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources for the distribution of 12 fiberglass pump boats to the Badjaos and three to the Atis in Naga.
With the full support of the Duterte administration and the aid of Divine Providence, Torrefiel said the NCIP will never cease to provide assistance to the indigenous families here in Cebu.
