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Wolfland to explore Guilayon domain in Kalinga -- MGB

BAGUIO CITY (Nov. 5) — The Cordillera office of the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (MGB-DENR) approved the exploration permit of the Wolfland Resources Inc. (Wolfland), allowing it to conduct exploration activities in the 499.058 hectares in the ancestral domain of the Guilayon sub-tribe.

The area covers barangays Guilayon, Magnao and Nambucayan in the municipality of Tabuk, Kalinga.

In an interview, MGB-CAR official told NORDIS that their office granted the exploration permit on July 30, 2004.

Documents obtained by NORDIS revealed that Wolfland, represented by a certain Andres West, applied for the permit docketed under MGB records as EXPA No. 0780 covering the above mentioned hectares. The Guilayon’s pending ancestral domain application covers the said area.

A paper trail revealed that the permit was issued after National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) chair Reuben Dalisay Lingating signed a certificate precondition on July 16, 2004. Lingating issued the certification as requested by the MGB-CAR.

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-tribe.

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

FPIC acquisition

Under RA 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997, the NCIP needs to acquire the FPIC of the indigenous community/ties 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 interests of the indigenous peoples or their ancestral domain.

NCIP Administrative Order #3 of 2002 provides the guidelines for the issuance of the FPIC for any activity affecting the ancestral domain of indigenous peoples (IPs). It reiterates the IPRA definition of FPIC, which refers to the consensus of all IPs based on their customary laws and practices and free from any influence. A language understandable to the IPs concerned is required to be used in disclosing the project or activity and that FPIC should be given by the IPs upon signing the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).

The MOA

The Guilayon sub-tribe, Wolfland and the NCIP came-up with a MOA in April 2004. The MOA required the Guilayon sub-tribe “not to do any acts” which could impede the company’s exploration while the company will provide funds amounting to P658,000.

The funds are broken down as follows: P50,000 for the rehabilitation of the area; P30,000 for waste management; P80,000 for information dissemination meetings, P450,000 for road rehabilitation, P48,000 for educational assistance for three students from the area who will enroll in vocational/technical courses.

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”.

The said MOA paved the way for the FPIC issuance by the three communities.

Broad opposition

The communities near the three barangays of the Guilayon sub-tribe questioned the FPIC and the certificate precondition processes. These communities who belong to the peasant alliance Timpuyog dagiti Mannalon iti Kalinga (TMK) claim that they will bear the brunt of the short and long-term effects of the exploration and the consequent mining activities yet they were not consulted on the project.

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

“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. The Mananig River joins the Chico River that flows down to Aparri and Tuao of Cagayan province where it flows into the China Sea. The said areas are dependent on agriculture, TMK added.

NCIP, FPIC limitations

Another elder from Kalinga claimed that the Guilayon experience is bad precedent for the utilization of their resources. But the experience exposes the limitation of the NCIP as an agency for indigenous peoples and the limitation of the FPIC processes based on the IPRA itself and the present reality.

He points out that there is a limitation of the area covered where the FPIC is required when it should include the nearby and downstream communities that will be affected by the project.

He also observed that the NCIP is a tool for the facilitation of mining-related projects. “The NCIP- Kalinga officer showed her bias for the exploration from the very start. She headed the field-based investigation, which resulted to the MOA and FPIC despite questions raised by affected communities outside the Guilayon territory”, he said.

NCIP Chair Lingating issued the certificate pre-condition without the NCIP Commissioners considering the petition filed by affected residents.

The elder said that confining the FPIC to the affected communities destroys the essence of the indigenous concepts on ancestral land and domain, where there is interconnection of all their lands, resources and the community.

“To do so institutes the disintegration of these systems which this office (NCIP) was purposely created to protect”, he said.

The Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) states that beyond the question of FPIC processes is the indigenous peoples’ right to their land and resources. CPA claims that the promises of benefit sharing and assistance by Wolfland, as contained in the MOA signed by the Guilayon sub-tribe and the NCIP, are a deodorizer and a ploy to enter the Guilayon areas.

“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 Windel Bolinget concluded. # Arthur L. Allad-iw for NORDIS

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