KIBUNGAN, Benguet – Alarmed indigenous peoples (IP) leaders in this municipality shrugged off the obviously desperate efforts of the management of the controversial Coheco Badeo Corporation to mislead the people into believing that its 500-megawatt pump storage hydropower project was already endorsed by their barangay council and the municipal government, saying that company officials are now allegedly trying to misinform by making it appear that the previous endorsements made by former local officials on the projects justify their actions to cut short some processes.
Joseph Onero, one of the IP leaders in barangay Badeo, pointed out the purported endorsements issued by the previous administration over the said environmentally critical project does not actually bind the present set of local officials and it should not be a license for the company not to strictly adhere to the legitimate, lawful and valid processes enshrined in the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) and other related laws.
“We already saw how the company attempted to cut short the process when it tried to bring in drilling equipment and conduct unauthorized drilling activities in Badeo last year despite the clamor of the people for the company to first conduct the necessary consultations and secure their free and prior informed consent before proceeding to whatever lawful activity. We are grateful to the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) for addressing the concerns that we raised that prevented the company from illegally intruding into our ancestral domain,” Onero stressed.
He added the supposed endorsement by the previous administration of the project should not also be an excuse for the company to disregard the legitimate plight of the affected IPs not to sell their consent in the event they allow them to operate.
On his part, Octavio Anapen, also an IP leader in Badeo, claimed the use of the previous endorsements by the company to obviously disguise its other illegal actions prior to the conduct of the mandatory free and prior informed consent process only means that they are trying to cut short some processes for them to be able to get their consent and subsequently sell their consent to another company which does not enjoy their trust and confidence because the only interest of some company officials is to earn at the expense of the IPs of Kibungan and Kapangan.
He called on their fellow IPs from Kibungan and Kapangan not be blinded by the sugar-coated words of the company officials trying to convince them to support the environmentally critical project for them to prevent controversial issues from cropping up which would surely derail their clandestine plans.
Anapen claimed much of the valid issues against the project have not yet been raised by the affected IPs because of the alleged evasive attitude of company officials who simply hide under the guise of the previous endorsements to justify their existence in the locality.
He challenged those company officials not to be blinded by the hefty salaries that they are receiving from the Korean businessman because the foreigner will surely recover the huge expenses incurred once the company will be sold after the IPs shall have given their consent because the buying price would be bigger. By HENT
