This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VII, No. 7, March 18-24, 2007
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S WATCH
Balatoc Land Sale Threatens
NL, Cordi Food Security
Kalinga elders have disclosed that the food security of North Luzon and the
Cordillera region will be threatened once the Batong Buhay Mines is reopened as
a result of the reported sale of some 400 has.of the Balatoc ancestral domain.
BY
LYN V. RAMO BAGUIO CITY (246 kms. north
of Manila) Kalinga elders disclosed that the food security of North Luzon and
the Cordillera region will be threatened once the Batong Buhay Mines is reopened
as a result of the reported sale of some 400 has.of the Balatoc ancestral
domain. Ama Julio Longan, Tony
Ngayaan and Andres Wailan of the Cordillera Elders' Alliance (CEA), the
Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) and the provincial Anakpawis, respectively –
All participants to a forum on the Cordillera mining situation at the University
of the Philippines (UP) Baguio – were all alarmed at the prospect of the land
sale, which they regarded as a desecration of the Kalinga ancestral domain.
“Saan nga isuda ti
manglapped ti panagminas ti Balatoc”
(It is not they who would stop the mines) Ama Longan, CEA chairperson said. He
said there are far larger tracts of rice land in lowland Tabuk and in the
provinces of Isabela and Cagayan that would be left unproductive by any
environmental destruction in Balatoc. Longan recalled that the
Balatoc tribe of Kalinga were not the only ones who stopped the Batong Buhay
mining operations in the 1980s. “Tao, saan nga utot, ti
nangpukan kadagiti tower ti kumpanya idi”
(People, not rodents, caused the collapse of power towers of the mining company
before) Ama Longan vividly recounted. He said when the power towers were downed
and the power supply was cut, the mines eventually closed down. Similarly, Tony Ngayaan,
secretary-general of the provincial chapter of CPA said several communities
downstream of Balatoc in Pasil town would be deprived of irrigation water
sources. Not only will the domestic water be polluted, but irrigation for rice
fields would also be cut, he said. “By then, Tabuk, the rice
granary of the Cordillera will eventually lose its fields to the pollution from
the mines,” Ngayaan said. He also said communities in Lubuagan, Tinglayan, Pasil,
Tabuk, Pinukpuk –all in Kalinga; Tuao, Cagayan; and all towns in Isabela will be
affected. Cagayan and Isabela supply
rice to other north Luzon and Central Luzon areas, including the Metro Manila
area, said Andres Wailan, Anakpawis provincial coordinator. Balatoc elder Victor Gumisa
earlier said rice fields in Balatoc were covered by the communal land which nine
of their tribesmen allegedly sold to Guidance Management Corporation (GMC),
allegedly owned by Jack Rodriguez of the defunct Benguet Exploration (B-Ex) in
Tuba, Benguet. Although GMC has filed a
corporate declaration for the return of the contested land due to petitions from
the Balatoc tribe, the Cordillera elders find the idea very hard to buy. No Deed
of Sale between the affected tribe and the company was involved in the alleged
sale, although it has been registered with the Office of the Provincial Assessor
of Kalinga. Northern Dispatch / Posted by Bulatlat © 2007 Bulatlat
■
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Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat