NCIP-CAR investigates Nas Daily-Apo Whang-od’s “scam” issue

Tabuk City, Kalinga – The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) - Cordillera is now conducting a review eyeing to visit Buscalan, Tinglayan for an onsite investigation to determine whether the process of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) was done prior to the contract signing of Apo Whang-od for her supposed participation in the Nas Daily’s online learning platform.

This move came following the ‘scam’ issue that gained traction after Apo Whang-od’s grandniece, Grace Palicas, claimed in a now-deleted Facebook post stating that Apo Whang-od did not sign any contract with Nas Daily for the academy and that the Apo Whang-od Academy is a “scam.”

“My grandmother did not sign any contract with [Nas Daily] to do any academy. Some people are taking advantage of our culture. PLEASE HELP US STOP this disrespect to the legacy of Apo Whang-od and the Butbot Tribe,” Palicas wrote in her post.

Palicas also revealed that when she spoke to Apo Whang-od, the oldest tattoo artist told her that she did not understand what the translators said during the contract signing.

NCIP statement

In a statement, NCIP-CAR Regional Director Atty. Marlon Bosantog said that the contract signing video posted by Nas Daily supporting their claim that the Philippine’s “oldest mambabatok” has consent for the contract is not enough, thus there is a need for them to make a review whether Nas Daily has complied with necessary requirements.

“Bandying on social media a contract is not a proof of compliance. The NCIP will make our review and onsite validation and interview, whether the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent process should have been implemented on this incident,” he said.

Bosantog said that they “celebrate the artistic expression of Apo Whang-od and will not stand in her capacity to enter into private contracts” but the claim of the Kalinga community on certain tattoo designs as their intellectual property is what prompted them to take action.

He added that Kalinga community as Indigenous Peoples have intellectual property claims to cultural expressions and that there are issues of cultural intellectual property that intersect in the art of Apo Whang-od.

Meanwhile, in a press statement, Legal Counsel for the National Commission on Culture and the Arts Trixie Cruz-Angeles also said that the video is not a go-signal for Nas Academy to monetize the 1000-year-old tradition citing that there are laws protecting the culture, tradition, and institutions of indigenous communities in the country referring to the Indigenous People’s Right’s Act’or the IPRA Law.

She said that Whang-Od is a member of Kalinga’s Butbut Tribe that ‘owns’ the mambabatok tradition, thus Whang-od cannot lay a sole claim on said traditional art. The IPRA law, she said, requires Nas Academy to acquire the consent of the entire indigenous community.

Response of Nas Daily on the issue

Nas Daily, on their Facebook page, denied Palicas’ statement. Nas daily insisted that they got the consent of the “oldest hand tapped tattoo artist” for the said digital learning platform.

“We approached Whang-Od because, just like you, we love her. We love her traditions and are inspired by her. We wanted to share her culture for future generations to appreciate and respect the ancient Kalinga tradition of mambabatok. So we pitched her family the idea of creating Whang-Od Academy,” Nas Daily said.

They added that Apo Whang-od was there and that her family agreed with the idea on the participation of the tattoo artist in said platform.

To further back their claim, Nas daily narrated that Whang-Od’s trusted niece, Estella Palangdao was there during the contract signing and translated the contract’s content before the “Philippines’ oldest mambabatok” affixed her thumbprint to the contract.

This, they said “is the clearest evidence that it is not a scam and achieved the consent of her and her immediate family”.

Nas Daily also cited that “everybody was compensated for their time, and for every sale, the Whang-od Academy generates, most of it went directly to her and her family. We just provided the technology and the marketing.”

As of this writing, the online platform has already been taken down by Nas Daily, saying that they did it “out of respect” for the family of Apo Whang-Od.

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