For several months, the 150MW Gened 1 Hydropower Project of Pan Pacific Renewable Power Phils. Corp., had been the subject to negative publicity by oppositionists in both social media platforms and newsprints even to the extent of spreading fake news, disinformation campaigns, harassing elders in the community and accusing NCIP for railroading ironically what was a SIX (6) year FPIC process.
The oppositionists who suddenly cropped up last January 2021 led by the Kabugao Youth formed by activist Jann Alexis Lappas and Jillie Karl Basan. Lappas is a student in UP-Baguio while Basan is an OFW who just returned to Kabugao to support for his father’s campaign during the May 2022 election. They successfully formed Kabugao Youth to misled the public that they represent the youth sector of the Isnag IPs of Kabugao. Per confirmation with the Province of Apayao, both Lappas and Basan are misrepresenting themselves as Youth representatives, since there is already a legitimate Youth organization recognized in Kabugao, Apayao named “Kippy Taddo”.
Who and what is Kabugao Youth? We know now that they are not the real Youth group of Kabugao. Surely, they are not the usual teeny boppers activists in school. They are not based in Apayao – Lappas is in Baguio while Basan was an OFW. As to age , most likely they will qualify as young professionals. They should have called themselves Kabugao Young Professionals instead. To coin themselves as Kabugao Youth
The Kabugao Youth think of themselves as the righteous, learned saviors of Kabugao. This is of course insulting to their elders who they downplay as uneducated and gullible. Respect for one’s elders is cultural and traditional in the Philippines. Kabugao is no exception. They successfully divided the Isnag community without resorting to the their time and tested traditions of “pakaman” where disagreements on issues are discussed within the community
They are using the slogan of “ Let the Rivers flow”. With the prevalence of Kaingin or the so-called “slash and burn” in Apayao Province, the Apayao River is already silted. The Kaingin system is the main source of livelihood by the Isnag community. Trees are cut to pave way for planting of short-lived crops for their daily sustenance. Sooner or later, there will be no fish to harvest. Worse, is the effect of the kaingin in the softening of the lands with the uprooting of the trees.
Kabugao Youth’s active social media platform funded of course by an invisible hand allowed it to propagate lies using a different narrative to the detriment of the real elders of the Isnag community who are longing for progress in Apayao.
As they said, the “TRUTH will always come out no matter what”. Kabugao Youth’s statements are pure fabrication. How can they know the real story when the group was only formed in 2021?
The Isnag community through its authorized elders and leaders has finally spoken. In a thirteen (13) page Sworn statement dated April 28,2022 signed by 115 legitimate authorized Isnag elders and leaders of the Gened 1 Hydropower Project, the elders debunked the Kabugao Youth’s playbook that the FPIC process of the 150MW Gened 1 project was railroaded and full of controversies.
Lappas together with 4 other oppositionists filed a Motion for Reconsideration (MR) for the issuance of the Certification Precondition granted to Gened 1 last August 2021. Basan who is the spokesperson of the Complainants confidently explained that it was the decision of the community to decide as a community during the 1st Community assembly held on April 7, 2017. She further elaborated that the community at that time even decided to include the youths and the immigrants. She did not mention though that the decisions of the OFWs or participants who were not present during the assemblies are taken into consideration. This is a completely different statement from their allegation that the decision making process emanated from April 7,2017 where “all of the residents of the directly affected barangays will participate in the decision making and that the majority vote will prevail.” This is a perfect example of how the Kabugao Youth keep on flipflopping on their statements making a mockery of the FPIC process when the truth is they are just simply against development in their province. Their obstinate resistance to change is obviously ludicrous and downright ignorant.
Needless to say, the records of the Provincial NCIP and NCIP CAR proved otherwise.
The FACT is that here was NO decision-making process agreed on at their 1st Community assembly on April 7, 2017. What was agreed is that the One AD rule per NCIP A.O. No 3 Series of 2012 will be followed where both directly and indirectly affected barangays of the Ancestral Domain will decide as a community. One of the complainants who is a also a tribal elder and one of the authorized elders of Gened 1 , Ramos Bongui even confirmed that the decision-making of the Isnag Ancestral Domain is thru their Elders and leaders BUT NO resolution of Elders were named or ratified on April 7,2017 since not all the barangays were represented. The initial 83 elders identified were not confirmed and validated that day.
On another note, what seemed to be a mystery is why the former NCIP CAR RRT FPIC member – Rocky Ngalob is insisting on his RRT report that the only directly affected barangays will decide following the scrapped NCIP Administrative Order No. 1, series of 2006 where only the IMPACT barangays will be consulted. As an officer of the NCIP-CAR, he should know better that the NCIP A.O. No. 3, Series of 2012 already superseded NCIP A.O. No. 1, series of 2006. The 1st community assembly was done in 2017, five (5) years after the new IR was released. Despite another assembly held on July 23,2021 attended by more than 625 Isnag elders representing all the 22 barangays of Kabugao community affirmed that their decision making process is through their authorized elders and leaders, Ngalob’s RRT report is unfair, very biased and untruthful reporting surprisingly leaked and undeniably started the perfect storm of fake news , unverified statements and lies that proliferated the social media. No wonder he was transferred immediately to another region. As to why he was not investigated , nobody knows.
Another false narrative espoused by the Oppositionists are the three (3) “No Consents” to the Gened 1 Project. The Isnag elders pointed out that the 2 declarations of non-consent as alleged by the oppositionists for Gened-1 in February 2019 and September 2019 were not the results of an informed consent. It was only in December 2020 through a community-initiated assembly where a thorough understanding of the project was achieved and the elders agreed to submit their respective barangay resolutions with names of authorized elders and leaders to negotiate and sign the MOA. This means that there were no authorized and validated elders yet in Feb 2019 and Sept 2019. The No Consent resolution was made by the participants who attended those 2 assemblies. We go back to April 2017, where the community is already aware that the decision should be through their authorized elders and leaders. Per NCIP A.O. No. 3 Series of 2012, the two (2) No Consent assemblies in February 2019 and September 2019 were not valid disapprovals of the community .
In their submitted statement, the Isnag authorized elders confirmed that they only fully understood the total impact, nature and consequences of the hydropower project and its benefits to the Isnag community only in December 2019 community initiated assembly in Brgy. Badduat in the Municipality of Kabugao where they agreed to finally submit their list of elders and leaders which jump started the negotiation process in January 2020. Per NCIP, the scheduling of assemblies were too long thus the huge information gap. This resulted to a myriad of inaccurate understanding and confusion about the project. As a matter of fact, the oppositionists are still spreading fake news that the Gened 1 renewable hydropower project is still the 600MW Apayao-Abulug original concept that would submerge the entire Kabugao municipality in reference to the National Power Corporation’s design of 600mw that will destroy properties and sources of livelihood as a major stumbling block.”
The elders understood only in December 2019 that the Gened 1 was no longer the feared 600MW Hydropower project and that PPRPPC already redesigned it to 150MW hydropower project. That the Gened 1 will not submerge the entire Kabugao town but only 1 percent or only 936 hectares of the 93,512 hectares of Kabugao will be affected by the project’s reservoir. PPRPPC was invited by NCIP to explain again the Gened 1 project including its benefits. The community even started listing down their initial demands which was taken into account by PPRPPC. The Isnag community at this time were more receptive and have absorbed the project information and its benefits to the community and to the entire province of Apayao thus they expressed their willingness to continue with the negotiation.
“It was also during the December 2019 assembly that the community manifested to the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) their submission of their respective resolutions per barangay naming their authorized elders and leaders to negotiate and shall be the signatories to the memorandum of agreement,” the statement added.
The December 2019 assembly yielded a total of 209 authorized elders and leaders representing the entire Isnag community of the Municipality of Kabugao.
Negotiations ensued on January 17 and 31, 2020. All assemblies from 2020 onwards were attended by both the authorized elders/ leaders and the Isnag Kabugao AD. The December 2019 resolutions authorizing the 209 elders were already followed. Inf act, NCIP showed the signed December 2019 resolutions and the draft MOA in both English and Isnag languages. More importantly, the authorized elders underscored that the 209 nominated authorized elders and leaders for Gened 1 in the submitted 2019 resolutions were not questioned by the oppositionists in the January 2020 and succeeding assemblies that paved the way for the endorsement of the Gened hydropower projects.
The elders bared that on the January 31, 2020 assembly, a pre-signed Memorandum of Agreement was drafted by the authorized elders and Isnag community of which most of the terms of the MOA were already agreed on except the valuation of the affected agricultural lands.
As to the alleged 3rd No Consent on January 15,2021, the same was not part of the FPIC process per the NCIP A.O. No.3, Series 2012 since it was initiated by the Local government of Kabugao. The NCIP conducted an investigation of the January 15 assembly and it was concluded that only 29 of the 209 authorized elders and leaders of Gened 1 signed the dubbed 3rd No Consent Resolution. The remaining signatories were either outsiders or oppositionists in the community who never participated in the FPIC process. This is when the Kabugao Youth surfaced for the very first time.
To further validate the pulse of the community, the NCIP and the FPIC team conducted a secret balloting on March 18,2021, when all 209 authorized elders were called one by one before casting their votes. The election was administered by the Commission on Elections of Kabugao in the presence of Jann Alexis Lappas and other known oppositionists. The result? Of the 128 legitimate elders who participated in the secret balloting, 86 were in favor of negotiation while only 42 voted against the project.
Lastly, the elders alleged that the primary oppositionists except the Kabugao Youth were active participants to the FPIC process especially during the January 2020 negotiations where they were identified as minority opposition to the project and ironically were also nominated by their respective barangays as elders and leaders for the Gened 1 hydropower project. They even signed a pre-drafted Memorandum of Agreement on January 31,2020 .
The elders claimed that after an exhaustive negotiation that started in December 2019 to April 2021, the Isnag community gave the 150MW Gened 1 renewable hydropower project an opportunity for a hearing it deserved where the proponent was able to present the significance and importance of the put up of the hydro power plant in providing alternative source of renewable energy to the grid especially with the looming power crisis besetting the country.
“It is our firm belief that the community should hear first the proponent about the project and its benefits before it condemns the negotiation because an informed decision after all necessitates the fullest opportunity of due process” the authorized elders stressed.
The legitimate Isnag elders and leaders emphasized that the negotiation process was really extensive, that is why after a six (6) year FPIC process, the Memorandum of Agreement was only signed on April 20,2021. The MOA included the following standard benefits eg. Royalties, hospital and educational assistance; compensation for the affected Isnag houses and crop lands; and mandatory government benefits such as real property taxes, government share and the Renewable Energy Act 1-94 by the project were reached only on April 20, 2021. These monetary benefits alone already amount to P2.7 Billion.
The real icing on the cake is the 2 Megawatt (MW) of Free electricity available for each Isnag and Tawit IP households in the Municipalities of Kabugao and Pudtol. The Free 2 MW is equivalent to an estimated P350 Million per year or a total of P6Billion during the duration of the MOA.
If we add both monetary and free electricity, we are talking about a MOA that amounts to P8.7Billion. The authorized elders and leaders are aware about this. This is the primary reason why they have finally spoken out. This is one opportunity they surely cannot miss.
How can someone say no to free power to the entire Province of Apayao, jobs for every Yapayaos and finally progress to the entire Province? How can they say NO to a potential P8.7Billion MOA intended for the Isnag community and their future generations? To yield to this one sided perspective is like waking up one morning with a dead river and denuded forests; no progress in Apayao ‘and most of the Isnag IPs living below poverty lines . If not the Gened projects, who will invest in Apayao with their current state?
This is what the Kabugao Youth and the Oppositionists intentionally omit to bound their innocent followers to the doctrine of acquiescence. They conveniently camouflage the bigger picture of the Gened projects to mimic expected actions from their blind supporters that the Gened projects are bad and Kabugao should remain undeveloped.
On another note, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., on his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered before the 19th Congress on July 25, 2022, wants all renewable power projects expedited. This is no longer just about the Province of Apayao but for the entire nation as well. The country will fall into recession if the power supply is not addressed as soon as possible.
Will the Kabugao Youth unfounded advocacy interfere with the platforms of the President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ? Abangan!
