LA TRINIDAD, Benguet Some twenty two indigenous peoples (IP) leaders in Barangay Badeo, Kibungan town petitioned the Regional trial Court (RTC) to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) or a writ of preliminary injunction to require the management of Coheco Badeo Corporation (CBC) and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to cease and desist from continuing the free and prior informed consent (FPIC) process on the company’s application for the certification pre-condition of its proposed 500-megawatt hydro power plant project in the said barangay.
In a 20-page petition to nullify the FPIC of the ambitious project, the petitioners also prayed for the court, after due notice and hearing, declare the resolution of consent executed by the elders of the Kankanaey IPs in Badeo endorsing the 500-megawatt pump storage project as null and void, to consider the FPIC conducted by the NCIP for the issuance of a certification pre-condition to CBC as null and void and deny the application and issuance of the certificate of precondition to the corporation by the NCIP.
The petitioners in the said case included John Bagesbes, Paul Lauyan, Dalvin Anapen, Ramon Se-ek, Teresita Mariacos, Gary Wanaten, Danilo Ngalides, Rafael Macanas, Culas Alacdis, Dencio Wan-aten, Robert Papsa-ao, Macario Mariacos, Joel Ngalides, Elias Mariacos, Mayo Sacpa, Banya Perto, Fred Mariacos, Nover Bagesbes, Remy Molitas, Apsay Langpew, Dominga Colbo, Thomas Bagesbes and Balao Papsa-ao while the named respondents were NCIP Chairperson Leonor T. Oralde Quintayo, NCIP-CAR regional director Ronald Calde and the management of the Coheco Badeo Corporation, the operator of the 500-megawatt pump storage project.
The petition alleged that CBC interfered with the consensus building and decision-making of the affected IPs in violation of their right to participate in decision-making pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Reform Act (IPRA).
The petition stated that it should also be noted by the court that according to the NCIP field validation team investigation report on the investigations done on 20-23 September 2017 that customary IP concensus-building and decision-making process of the affected IPs known as “pankaklian” or “pantotongtongan” was not faithfully followed.
According to the petition, it can be concluded that pertinent IPRA provisions were violated because affected IPs have been deprived of their right to fully participate making a decision on a matter that clearly affects their rights and lives through their own processes.
The petition pointed out that the FPIC team failed to comply with the requirements found in the IPRA on respecting the rights of IPs to the natural resources within their ancestral domains considering that the notice posted by the NCIP team for the July 7, 2017 meeting did not actually indicate that only those who were present in the first assembly and second assembly can vote during the decision-making process.
By limiting the decision exclusively to those who were able to attend the first and second assemblies organized for the purpose, the petitioners accused NCIP team members were able to influence and manipulate the outcome of the decision-making process which did not reflect the true sentiment of the IPs but that of the NCIP team leaders.
The petition claimed that there were a number of irregularities in the conduct of the first and second assemblies that were held on the same day that resulted in the violation of Section 22 of NCIP Administrative Order No. 3, series of 2012 otherwise known as the revised guidelines in the exercise of free and prior informed consent and related processes.
The petitioners disclosed that CBC’s butchering of pigs per sitio prior to the conduct of the assemblies is tantamount to a sponsored dinning session, in violation of the prescribed FPIC guidelines.
Moreover, the petitioners stipulated that the resolution of consent submitted by the elders of Badeo does not constitute the decision of the IPs and is not a free and prior informed consent as defined by the IPRA, thus, it should be declared null and void.
The petition pointed out that the municipalities of Kapangan in Benguet and Santol in La Union are within the ancestral domain affected by the proposed CBC 500-megawatt pump storage project, thus, their consensus must also be secured by the project proponents in the spirit of transparency and pursuant to existing laws rules and regulations.
By HENT
