• Hey Webmasters! New Photo Album Service Launched - Check it out!

home

party list initiative

declaration of principles

the bago

mission statement

organization history

indigenous communities

chapter officers

calendar

contact

DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND PARTY PLATFORM OF THE BAGO

  We are a sectoral party seeking a strong focus to empower the weak in improving their plight through consistent collective efforts, shared by all the members, under the auspices of all lawful and legal means.

We, of the Bago tribe and people, have survived the misfortunes and vicissitudes of our history, including Spanish rule, through our inherent group consciousness and awareness; our collectivism that helped us to stay together as communal groups despite disruptive influences; and our practice of democratic consultation of our elders and leaders, as the foundation of our self-governance. This collectivism and foundation of our self-rule is the “sintatako” spirit. Literally translated, sintatako means “us” or “we” which means our predisposition to think in terms of ourselves as a group in almost all concerns. In all these we have also continued to live by our culture and inherited ways of life.

It is hoped that this Bago group awareness and collectivism would also constitute our constructive example and contribution into the social, economic and political milieu of the Philippines today.

      To achieve these objectives, we commit ourselves to these program of governance:

1. We shall uphold democratic processes and pursue transparency in all government affairs and activities;

2. We shall advocate and support all lawful means and efforts to change to a more judicious and humane sharing of wealth and power in the country;

3. We shall pursue legislation towards the amelioration and enhancement of the livelihood of marginal and disadvantaged indigenous communities;

4. We shall legislate to enable all the indigenous communities of the Philippines to protect, develop and optimally use their ancestral domains for their economic benefit and particularly to turn their denuded lands into green and productive reforested areas;

5. We shall legislate for the soonest joining of all indigenous peoples into the mainstream of Philippine society;

6. We shall legislate to provide ample resources to more fully protect, preserve and promote the practice and observance of all ethnic culture and ways of life with particular emphasis on the teaching and enrichment of ethnic culture with the indigenous youth;

7. We shall uphold and advocate human rights;

8. We shall preserve our proprietary rights over the utilization, distribution and development of our natural resources and oppose moves to open them to foreigners;

9. We shall strive to open the avenues of the poor and underprivileged to be able to acquire decent homes for themselves through liberal lending program;

10. We shall strive through cooperation with the government and the private sector to provide a mechanism that will bring about the lowering of the prices of basic commodities, especially in food and medicine;

11. We join all groups in advocating genuine development centered on the needs of our people on the delivery of basic services;

12. We shall promote and advocate all legislation for the real and genuine growth and development of the Philippines as a nation.

For all of the above, we pledge our lives and all that we hold dear and sacred.

Back to top