NCIP denies Nueva Vizcaya group’s anti-mining petition

BY JOAN CAPUNA

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – he National Commission on Indigenous Peoples denied a petition of cause-oriented and religious groups for the revocation of the certification of compliance awarded to an Australian-owned mining company for its exploration project in a remote mountain village in Kasibu town believed to be rich in gold, copper and other mineral deposits.

In a decision signed by Jerry Puday, regional hearing officer, the NCIP said the anti-mining petitioners, comprising several residents in the villages of Pao and Kakiduguen in Kasibu, failed to prove their allegations that Oxiana Philippines violated the commission’s guidelines in getting the support of affected tribal communities.

The 11-page NCIP decision was promulgated last Nov. 28.

The anti-mining villagers have been blocking the entry of mining equipment in Oxiana’s Pao-Kakiduguen exploration site.

Oxiana Philippines (now Royalco Philippines), was granted a permit by the national government, through the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, to conduct exploration activities in Kasibu, which also hosts the now operational multibillion-peso Didipio gold-copper project of Oceana Gold, another Australian company.

In their petition to the NCIP, the anti-mining residents, backed by the Catholic Church’s Social Action Center and national anti-mining groups like the Kalikasan Movement, claimed that the consultations and voting on the community’s endorsement of the Oxiana project did not reflect the true sentiments of the Bugkalots, an indigenous ethnic group in the project area.