ITOGON, Benguet – The Itogon Suyoc Resources, Inc. (ISRI) and the Itogon Indigenous Peoples Organization (IIPO), the umbrella organization of indigenous peoples groups in the municipality, reaffirmed that the free and prior informed consent (FPIC) process for the company’s Application for Production Sharing Agreement (APSA) 103 covering the three impact barangays of Ampucao, Virac and Poblacion passed through the rigid and painstaking procedures prescribed by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) contrary to the rehashed and repetitive allegations being advanced by the purported Dalicno Indigenous Peoples Organization (DIPO), a supposed breakaway association.
The company and the IIPO were constrained to come up with the said pronouncements following a petition filed by DIPO before the NCIP central office assailing the results of the FPIC process that lead to the signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between both parties late last year using the rehashed issues.
On the issue that the water source of the DIPO members will be affected, it was made clear that the identified water sources are outside the applied area, especially the Maupa source, while the other sources are within the declared no mining zone, buffer zone and excise area. The said issue was actually answered in several occasions to include the ocular inspection as per the request of the indigenous peoples following their dialogue last September 7, 2023.
On the claim that DIPO members were not consulted, it was pointed out that the community assemblies for the APSA 103 started way back in 2018 before it was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the FPIC process resumed, there were refresher meetings that had been done aside from a massive information and education campaign in Dalicno. The community elders that represented them were also validated by the FPIC team from the NCIP.
It was also a known fact that during the census building process, the ancestral domain of Itogon decided to issue a no consent to the project but a request for reconsideration was timely filed by the company and the same was discussed in various occasion with the different members of the council of elders that resulted to the grant of the said request.
On the issue of the inclusion of sitio Dalicno in the APSA 103 map yet it was provided in the FPIC MOA that it is a no mining zone, it is clear that the contents of the FPIC MOA will be the basis of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to identify the exact area that will be approved for the said purpose. MGB will be the authorized agency to expand the areas that were excised and the declared no mining zone, and buffer zone upon approval of the permit being applied for by the company.
The company asserted that the signed FPIC MOA is considered as good and perfected because the primary parties signed the important document. The primary parties to the agreement are the indigenous peoples’ through their authorized council of elders that is why a resolution of consent and resolution of authority were signed first before the signing of the MOA. The lack of signature of the NCIP Chairperson will not invalidate the consent given by the indigenous peoples as the said signature is considered to be ministerial after the issuance of the certificate of precondition.
On the allegation that the company is working beneath the Dalicno residential area, it was stipulated that ISRI is working within its patented claim and it is distant from the residential areas of Dalicno based on the results of several ocular inspections that were conducted by experts to validate the said claim.
Mario Pettoco, a member of the company’s big brother, small brother (BBSB) leader, manifested during the consultation at Dalicno that they will be the one to see to it that if the APSA 103 is approved, they will guarantee that the feared issue will not happen.
Apparently, the DIPO wants to gain the attention of cause-oriented groups to support their opposition to the company’s mine expansion project using rehashed and repetitive allegations that were already earlier addressed based on the FPIC MOA. By Dexter A. See