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Ibalois unite against Benguet Corporation's bulkwater project

ITOGON, Benguet (Feb .11) — The Shalupirip Santahnay Indigenous Peoples Movement (SSIPM) gathered this week in a special assembly aimed at strengthening unity among Ibalois and Kankanaeys against the Benguet Corporation’s (BC) Bulk Water Supply Project.

The activity is in preparation for the SSIPM’s 5th general assembly on December 2005.

Pastor Vergel Aniceto of the Itogon Inter-Barangay Alliance (IIB-A) said that BC’s plan to sell water is will drastically affect the Itogon folk’s well being.

“The implementation of the project totally destroys the local ecosystem, livelihood and socio- political of the affected people,” he said.

Participants in the assembly authored a petition opposing the BC project and calling for the cancellation of all BC water permits.

“Benguet Corp should give up claims in Itogon and restore the ownership of the land the government has appropriated to the indigenous,” the SSIPM said in the petition.

The petition will be forwarded to the municipality of Itogon, the province of Benguet, the city of Baguio, to the Senate and Congress and other concerned agencies for their action.

Luisa Besitan of Dalupirip said that the indigenous peoples of Itogon have long been oppressed due to dam and mining projects, which resulted to their displacement. Such projects even led to the disunity of the Itogon folk to some extent, she said.

The results of such projects led to the exploitation not only of natural resources, but indigenous culture as well, she added. Such situations, on the other hand, led to the unity of the Ibalois.

The SSIPM was organized in September 1997 at the height of the San Roque Dam construction, the headed by Ibaloi martyr Lakay Pascual Pocding. # Marlon Gomarcho for NORDIS

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