KIBUNGAN, Benguet – The Cordillera office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP-CAR) said it remains transparent in the disclosure of the contents of its field-based investigation (FBI) report in relation to the proposed 500-megawatt pump storage hydro project of the controversial Coheco Badeo Corporation in barangay Badeo, saying that it never intended to hide from concerned parties the results of the FBI report.
Lawyer Roland P. Calde, NCIP-CAR regional director, belied reports that he issued instructions to the NCIP Benguet provincial personnel not to issue copies of the FBI report, adding that all concerned parties deserve to take a look at the contents of the report to guide them in their future actions whether or not to favour the project.
“We want concerned parties to have access to the FBI report so that they will be guided in whatever actions to take in the future. We never intended to hide from the report because we firmly adhere to the policy of transparency and accountability to our people,” Calde stressed.
In the FBI report, the team recommended Coheco Badeo Corporation to conduct the mandatory free and prior informed consent (FPIC) process to secure the consent of the indigenous peoples and indigenous cultural communities living in the Kibungan ancestral domain for the said project.
Further, it was also recommended that in case there will be disputes that will crop up during the course of the FPIC process, the company must expand the conduct of a separate FPIC process for the IPs and ICCs in Santol, La Union and even in nearby Kapangan, Benguet.
Calde pointed out issues on the existence of overlapping claims and political disputes can only be ventilated during the conduct of the full-blown FPIC process that is why it will now be up to the concerned local governments and ancestral domain holders to raise their issues during the mandatory process.
He said it is still too early to conclude whether the pump storage hydro project will affect the ancestral domain of Santol, La Union and Kapangan, Benguet but the said matters will be proven during the course of the FPIC process that will first start in Kibungan town.
The NCIP-CAR official disclosed officials of the company were required to execute an undertaking that in case that it will be proven during the course of the FPIC process that their 500-megawatt pump storage project will extend to other neighboring ancestral domains outside Kibungan, it will conduct the similar FPIC process in the affected ancestral domains.
Under the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), companies intending to exploit, develop and utilize the resoures of the State shall first seek the free and prior informed consent (FPIC) of the indigenous peoples and indigenous cultural communities living in the ancestral domains that will be affected by their projects.
Calde explained it will now be up to the IPs of Kapangan and Santol, La Union to prove during the FPIC process that their domains will also be affected by the put up of the pump storage project so that the company will be compelled to conduct the FPIC process in their areas of jurisdiction to secure their consent.
By HENT
