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Friday, July 3, 2015

“Love yourself, your tribe, preserve your culture,” says PIA-9 head

By Claro A. Lanipa

PAGADIAN CITY – “In the five workshops that we have conducted throughout the region, we always instill in the mind of the participants the importance of loving yourself first, your tribe and preserving your culture,” PIA-9 Regional Director Noemi B. Edaga emphasized.

This was the closing message of RD Edaga during the IP Journalistic Writing Workshop yesterday at Chandler Suites, to the 31 participants and grantees under the Educational Assistance Program (EAP) of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples IX (NCIP-9) in Zamboanga del Sur.

“PIA can only teach you to write, and we hope that the knowledge we shared will be kept alive in you by writing, re-writing and reading,” Edaga said.

“You are the only one who can write from the heart, from the IP’s point of view, ours is just to give you the tools,” Edaga pointed out.

She added, “this workshop will end up today, but I hope our connection would not end here because we are virtually connected through the internet.”

The lady chief encouraged the newly-elected officers and EAP grantees   to unite, meet every now and then, send text messages to the group and encourage them to write or do something for their IP community.

“We want to see you shine through this workshop,” Edaga said.

Meanwhile, Mercilyn Hatad, NCIP Provincial Officer was optimistic that participants have learned much through this two-day training workshop given by PIA. “For those of you who have the skills and talent in writing, this training will help enhance and improve it,” she encouraged.

Hatad was also grateful to PIA for helping the IP youths because this is one way to hone their skills and talents. “I am pretty sure that this training will be a great help to the EAP grantees,” Hatad declared.

“I challenge everyone to show me your write-up or output and I will exchange it with a reward. So that the effort of PIA and our office will not be in vain, it will pay-off,” Hatad inspired the grantees.