Manila – The Institute for Labor Studies organized the 7th installment of their webinar series Resilience in Stride last November 10, via the Zoom online platform and was livestream on the official ILS Facebook page.

The webinar titled, “Katutubo sa Krisis ng COVID-19: Mga Kwento ng Ayuda at Bayanihan sa Gitna ng Pandemya,” was hosted and moderated by ILS researchers Ronell J. Delerio and Arianne Ishreen C. Bucar from the Workers Welfare Research Division.

This webinar generally aims to provide a venue to discuss the current situation of indigenous peoples (IPs) in the Philippines amid the pandemic. This episode also intended to determine how the pandemic affected IPs in terms of employment, livelihood, and overall living conditions through case stories and identify the ways the pandemic disrupted the delivery of programs and services to IPs at the local level and the actions taken by the government and other stakeholders in ensuring continuity.

The Welcome Remarks was delivered by ILS Executive Director Ahmma Charisma Lobrin-Satumba, and this was followed by an Overview of National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) assessment of IP situation during the pandemic, and a presentation of NCIP’s efforts and initiatives during the pandemic.

The main presentations of for this episode include a discussion of the key question, “How are the IPs coping in this time of pandemic?,” which include recollection of the experiences and stories from IPs during the pandemic and their challenges and aspirations during this time. “Case Stories from Sierra Madre and beyond,” or recollections were shared by experts and IP members of the Dumagat and Agta stories.

A representative from DOLE Region XI also led a presentation that centered on their program’s good practices and challenges for the IPs during the pandemic.

The full episode of the webinar is available online via this link: https://fb.watch/9wjOCUX1eG/