CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — A group of more than 100 tribal leaders in Mindanao will meet here next week to respond to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address on Monday.

In a report called “State of the Indigenous Peoples’ Address” for presentation on July 29 in Plaza Divisoria, tribal leaders told local media their statement would push for reforms on ancestral domain issues that the government has failed to address.

One tribal leader, Datu Tony Lumandong of Northern Mindanao’s Higaonon tribe, said his community still has problems that could be resolved by the government’s recognition of the community’s judicial system and ancestral development.

For her part, Bae Rose Undag, another tribal leader from Claveria, Misamis Oriental, said they want a faster implementation of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) signed on Oct. 29, 1997 by President Fidel V. Ramos. (BusinessWorld)