LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The management of the Ydroelectric Development Corporation (HEDCOR), the Cordillera office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the La Trinidad Indigenous Peoples Organization (PTIPO) recently signed a memorandum of agreement for the rehabilitation and upgrading of the company’s Bineng hydro power plants to increase its production from 5 megawatts to 19 megawatts using the water from the Balili river.
HEDCOR INc. has a proposed project within the La Trinidad ancestral domain known as the 19-megawatt Bineng combined hydroelectric power with a projected annual opower generation output of 59,157,700 kilowatts per hour more or less and one of the requirements of the said project is the certification pre-condition from the NCIP pursuant to Section 59 of the Indigeous Peoples Right Act (IPRA) and condntion prescedent to the issuance of the same is the issuance of the free and prior informed consent (FPIC) of the concerned indigenous cultural communities or indigenous peoples.
The FPIC process for the project was undertaken in accordance with NCIP Administrative Order No. 3, series of 2012and the IPs and ICCs of the La Trinidad ancestral domain were able to arrive at a concensus to give the green light to the said project and interpose no objection to the issuance of necessary or related permits and licesnes for its construction and operation.
Under the agreement, the IPs shall be entitled to 1 centavo per kilowatthour royalty sharewith an increase of half centavo per kilowatthour every five years of operation. With the projected annual power generation output, the IPs are expected to receive a royalty share of P591,577 in the first year of operation but the computation of annual royalty share may vary because the basis is the actual power generation output in kilowatthours as indicated in the audited financial statement of the proponent.
Further, there shall be a fixed special development fund amounting to P792,713.70 throghout the operation of the power plant and the said royalty share and special development fund shall be directly released to the account of the LTIPO within 2 months from the last day of the corresponding year of operation and no such release shall be made without the concurrence of the NCIP ethnographic Commissioner for CAR and Region I and the Chairerson duly secured by the LTIPO.
The agreement stated the host IPs shall use their annual monetary shares for programs and projects as indicated in the Community Royalty Development Plan (CRDP) that redown to their well-being and benefit ensuring that not less than 30 percent shall be allocated for livelihood and social development projects.
In addition to the monetary shares, HEDCOR Inc. shall extend to the IPs projects such as IP ulti-purose building, annual scholarship fund amounting to P240,000 for deserving IP students who hail from the domain; fund in the amount of P100,000 for the purchase of IP musical instruments and native blankets needed in the performance of traditional dances; annual IP medical and dental mission to include lectures on family planning; annual funding support for the IP month celebration starting in the first IP month celebration follosing the signing of the agreement; Lakbay-Aral for LTIPO and the elders or leaders and construction of an IP viewdeck in strategic location for one can view the project and other nearby scenic spots.
The agreement added a joint monitoring team headed by an NCIP employee with 2 NCIP employees and 2 representatives each from the proponent, the host ICCs, and the LTIPO as members shall be created by the NCIP upon the issuance of the certification pre-condition to monitor compliance with the terms and conditions.
The agreement shall take effect upon the issuance of the certification precondition by the NCIP up to the expiration of the dyro power service or operating contract of the proponent with the Department of energy and that HEDCoR Inc. shall secure and post a surety bond amounting to P1 million after the issuance by the IPs of the resolution of consent but before the start of the project construction to answer for damages or violation of terms and conditions which the latter may suffer and claim on account of the project.
The agreement stated another FPIC process shall be required in case the hydro power operating contract of the proponent with the energy department expires and the former desires to renew the same and renewal can only be done if there is a positive concensus and the corresponding agreement and certification precondition.
The agreement may be cancelled and the consent given by the host IPs is considered recalled which shall result to the stoppage of the construction or operation of the project when the construction or operation of the project shall have been found by competent authorities to cause grave environmental destruction, serious illness among the community residents or has adversely affected to a large extent the sources of livelihood in the community; the proponent has deliberately or unjsifiably failed to comply, after written demand, with any of the terms and codntions embodied in the contract and the proponet’s successor-in-interest, in case of transfer of rights, is not willing to assume the responsibilities and obligations of its predecessor.
By HENT