KIBUNGAN, Benguet – The municipal government decided to defer the scheduled information and education campaign and investigation in relation to the proposed 500-megawatt pump storage hydropower plant of the COHECO Badeo Corporation in the remote village of Badeo to avoid complicating the requirements and the cease and desist order (CDO) imposed by the Cordillera office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) on the proponents of the project.
However, Mayor Cesar Molitas said it is within the power and mandate of municipal officials to be informed of any new plans, projects and programs being introduced by any agency or group in every locality; the municipal government also has the power to conduct an investigation or hearings in aid of legislation.
It will be recalled that the municipal council passed Resolution No. 2016-81 requiring the conduct of the information and education campaign and investigation on the proposed 500-megawatt pump storage hydro project of COHECO Badeo Corporation to validate earlier complaints that the company attempted to intrude into the ancestral domain of the municipality without the expressed consent of the indigenous peoples in the area.
Molitas granted the request of lawyer Jerome Selmo to defer the conduct of whatever activities related to the hydro project so as not to complicate the requirements prescribed by the NCIP relative to the conduct of the free and prior informed consent (FPIC) for the project.
Selmo wrote the municipal government to inform local officials that the NCIP-CAR issued a cease and desist order against the unauthorized activities of COHECO Badeo Corporation and requested that the scheduled information and education campaign spearheaded by the local government regarding the project be deferred unless it was with the prior approval of the NCIP-CAR which has jurisdiction over the case.
Lawyer Roland Calde, NCIP-CAR regional director, warned local government units of being used by supposed developers and being hoodwinked into organizing information and education campaign activities in relation to their proposed projects just to get the communities to give their consent to proposed projects in the ancestral domains.
He said that local government should be extra careful in spearheading the conduct of IEC activities, inviting prospective developers or project proponents to mainly discuss the merits of their projects without the expressed authority of the concerned regulating agency because they can be accused of giving undue favour to the developers. Under the FPIC process, all information related to the project must be provided within an adequate timeframe to the affected indigenous communities in a language and manner they can understand, that will allow them to make informed decisions, including seeking external technical advice. They also have the right to say no to a project. Any IEC should discuss all related matters, whether positive or negative, related to a project, and should not be a one-time event.
The NCIP-CAR was forced to issue a CDO against the 500-megawatt pump storage hydro project of the COHECO Badeo Corporation when concerned villagers and landowners complained that the company already intruded in the ancestral domain of the indigenous peoples after it was able to sneak in several drilling machines and build the quarters for its drilling personnel without the authority and consent from the indigenous peoples, and the free and prior informed consent process having taken place.
By HENT
