INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S WATCH

Mining Woes in the Cordillera
Guilayon Tribal Villagers Want to Stop Swedish Mining Exploration

Foreign mining corporations are apparently upbeat on a recent announcement by President Macapagal-Arroyo that the mining industry should go on full swing as an answer to the country’s fiscal problems. But a Swedish firm faces opposition from an indigenous tribe in the Cordillera region, a favorite mining area for foreign TNCs.

BY ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
NORTHERN DISPATCH
Posted by Bulatlat 

BAGUIO CITY — Several villages of Tabuk, Kalinga are up in arms against the mining exploration of a Swedish company on the ground that the “free consent” said to have been obtained by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) did not represent the sentiments of other villagers.

The mining exploration permit for the Wolfland Resources, Inc., which includes Philippine incorporators, was reportedly issued last July 30 by the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) office of the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (MGB-DENR).

The permit allows Wolfland to conduct exploration activities in 499 hectares of the ancestral domain of the Guilayon sub-tribe, which covers barangays Guilayon, Magnao and Nambacayan in the municipality of Tabuk, Kalinga (314 kms north of Manila).

Documents obtained by Nordis revealed that Wolfland, represented by Andres West, applied for the permit covering the area within the Guilayon’s ancestral domain. Apparently the permit was issued after NCIP chair Reuben Dalisay Lingating signed a certificate precondition last July 16.

“Free consent”

The certificate, a copy of which was obtained by Nordis, revealed that Lingating issued the certification upon request by the MGB-CAR in Baguio City. The certificate was issued after the NCIP Kalinga provincial office facilitated the acquisition of the “free, prior and informed consent” (FPIC) of the Guilayon sub-tribes.

But the affected communities and sectors in the area questioned the FPIC process. They have petitioned the NCIP national office to stop the exploration and review the process.

Under RA 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997, the NCIP needs to have the “free consent” of the indigenous community before it can issue a certification. The certification is a requirement before the grant of any license, lease or permit for the exploitation of the natural resources affecting the indigenous peoples or their ancestral domain.

NCIP Administrative Order No. 3 of 2002 defines FPIC as the consensus of all IP members based on their customary laws and practices and free from any influence.

MoA

The Guilayon sub-tribes, Wolfland and the NCIP signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) in April this year. The MoA required the Guilayon sub-tribes “not to do any acts” which could impede the company’s exploration while the company will earmark funds amounting to P658,000. The money will be used for the rehabilitation of the area, waste management, road rehabilitation and educational assistance for three students from the area.

The MoA also provides priority employment for members of the Guilayon sub-tribe “except only in cases where such employment would require experts not available from the said tribe”.

Broad opposition

However, communities near the three barangays of the Guilayon sub-tribe questioned the FPIC and the certificate precondition processes. These communities which formed the peasant alliance Timpuyog dagiti Mannalon iti Kalinga (TMK) say that the mining exploration and operations will uproot their lives and drive them away from their land. As a result, they said, they have refused to give their consent to the project.

The Tabuk barangays of Naneng, Bagumbayan, Lokong, Bantay, Junction and Katablangan; and the Pinukpuk barangays of Dugpa and Baay are among those to be affected, TMK leaders say.

“The Mananig River which originates from the three barangays is the source of irrigation of rice fields nearby and the downstream areas,” added  a TMK leader in an interview. Mananig joins the Chico River that flows down to Aparri and Tuao of Cagayan province till it exits to the China Sea. The villages are dependent on agriculture, TMK added.

NCIP, FPIC limitations

Another elder from Kalinga said that the Guilayon project could be a bad precedent for the management and utilization of their ancestral resources. But the case also exposes the limitations of the NCIP as an agency for indigenous peoples and of the FPIC process itself.

He points out that the FPIC should have included the nearby and downstream communities that will be affected by the project.

Second, he says, the NCIP has only exposed itself as a tool for the facilitation of mining projects. The Kalinga NCIP officer showed her bias for the exploration from the very start, the village elder said. She headed the field-based investigation, which resulted in the MoA and FPIC despite questions raised on the processes. NCIP chair Lingating issued the certificate pre-condition without the commission looking into the petition filed by affected residents opposed to the project, he said.

Lastly, confining the FPIC to the affected communities only runs counter to the essence of the indigenous concepts on ancestral land and domain, where there is interconnection of all their lands, resources and the community.

In a related position, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) said that beyond the question of FPIC processes is the indigenous peoples’ right to their land and resources. CPA said that the promises of benefit sharing and assistance by Wolfland, as contained in the MoA signed by the Guilayon sub-tribes and the NCIP, are a deodorizer and a ploy to enter the Guilayon areas for profit.

“The promises will not compensate for the long-term impact of large-scale mining exploration and operation as well as the concomitant violation of our collective right to our livelihood sources,” CPA Secretary-General Windle Bolinget said. Bulatlat

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