IP leaders confer Honorary Datu title on MAFI Chairman

Tribal leaders and elders from the IP communities of both Manobo and Tagabawa tribes cheered in proclaiming Atty. Allan V. Barcena, MAFI Chairman as the newest Honorary Datu of the tribe.

Barcena, head of Energy Development Corporation's (EDC) Watershed Management Department who assumed the chairmanship of the MAFI Board in 2015, was inducted on April 7, 2016 during the celebration of Alla’o To Sandawa (Day of Sandawa), a festive annual gathering of tribal leaders and elders at Sitio Sayaban, Barangay Ilomavis, Kidapawan City. He was bestowed with the prestigious title of “Datu Mopandoy,” which means a “brainy and creative leader who always sought answers to every problem”.

He was confirmed by Timuey Macapanta Manamba, NCIP Provincial Director, Datu Damaso Bayawan, Chairman of the Manobo Apao Descendants of Ancestral Domain of Mt. Apo (MADADMA), Datu Camilo Icdang, Chairman of the Cotabato Tribal Consultative Council for Development Inc. (CTCCDI), Datu Ronel Dali, Chairman of City Tribal Federation Chairman (CTFC), and Bae Jennifer Pia Sibug-Las, Chairman the party-list group Tribal Communities of the Philippines (TRICAP).

The Manobo and Tagabawa tribes celebrate Alla’o To Sandawa every year to commemorate the late great leader, Datu Joseph Sibug, who founded Sitio Sayaban that is inhabited mostly by IPs/ICCs.