Sunday, May 18, 2008 IP group up in arms v. exploration project By Jane Cadalig
AN INDIGENOUS peoples group in Bakun, Benguet on Saturday asked the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) not to endorse a mining exploration project in the town, saying the company failed to obtain the consent of the affected communities.
While admitting that dialogues have been conducted to seek the people's consent, the Gambang Indigenous Peoples and Community Organization (Gipco) said Royalco Philippines, a mining firm seeking to conduct exploration in the village, failed to get the support of the people to the undertaking.
Gipco said the required majority vote of all the affected residents were not met when a referendum was done, a process which seeks to get the pulse of the people on the project.
Said majority vote was imposed by the community, which will define if a project should be endorsed or not. This, they said, is a component of the decision-making process.
In their petition, the indigenous peoples said the majority vote was not attained when a referendum was held December last year.
But despite the failure, they alleged that a memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed between the elders and the company.
Results of the referendum showed that only 745 voters or 25.69 percent of the total 2,899 voters participated.
"This clearly indicates that there was non-compliance with the decision-making process and the agreement during the meeting," the group said.
“Despite the fact that the referendum is a failure, a MOA was executed between some elders and Royalco Philippines. The MOA signing took place in Bangao, Buguias, a place outside the municipality of Bakun," they said.
Even prior to the community consultations, the group alleged that the company already initiated series of meetings with the affected areas, claiming that these consultations were authorized by the NCIP.
"They distributed money to some residents who attended the meetings," the group said.
