KIBUNGAN, Benguet – Villagers in several barangays of this municipality raised concern over the alleged mind-conditioning activities by the management of the Coheco Badeo Corporation to reportedly railroad the free and prior informed consent (FPIC) process for its 500-megawatt pump storage hydropower project in the remote barangay of Badeo.
A number of residents from barangays Badeo and Madaymen revealed the alleged mind-conditioning activities of the company in their barangays is an obvious desperate move to rally people to support their environmentally-critical project that poses an extreme danger not only to the ancestral domain of the municipality but could extend up to the other neighboring domains.
The sources revealed officials of Coheco Badeo Corporation are allegedly trying to rush things up to prevent the relelation of additional critical details that can alarm the affected communities and derail their plans considering the vigilance of the public on environmental issues arising from such an ambitious project.
“We understand Coheco Badeo Corporation’s 500-megawatt pump storage hydropower project will still be subjected to the required field-based investigation but we are wondering why the company is in a hurry to conduct free prior and informed consent (FPIC) activities around the municipality. While it is true that such activities are not strictly prohibited, it seems the company is trying to hide something from the people by trying to cut short the process, when in fact, they are being required to complete their documentary requirements which are still lacking,” one of the land owners stressed.
According to the sources, the recent actions of Coheco Badeo Corporation officials to do their FPIC-related activities is considered to be premature because the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples has not yet ordered the company to proceed with the process.
The sources urged concerned land owners in the different barangays not to be carried away by the mind-conditioning activities of the company while officials of concerned government agencies should not succumb to what they described as bullying efforts of company officials that cut short the tedious processes involved in securing the consent of the concerned ancestral domain owners.
The sources allege that these company efforts are intended to allow them to proceed with their plan to reportedly sell the company once they get the consent of the ancestral domain owners.
The company has a previous record of having sold their rights to a company they established which was able to secure the consent of the people of Kapangan and Kibungan for a similar project. It seems the company is in the business of establishing companies that apply for resource extraction in ancestral domains and after getting the FPIC, they sell their rights for a profit.
The Kibungan ancestral domain owners claim there is a big possibility that the company will do the same in this 500-megawatt hydropower project. The worst case is that the buyer company will not honor agreements entered into between the seller company and the community leaving the indigenous peoples empty handed while suffering the negative consequences of the exploitation of their resources.
By HENT
