Guinaang is site of Cordillera Day for Mountain Province

By Gina Dizon

BONTOC, Mountain Province – Barangay Guinaangin the uplands of this municipality is the site of the decentralized celebration of the 28th Cordillera Day on April 22-23. Chairperson of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance- Mountain Province Chapter Marcelo Daweg said Guinaang and neighboring upland barangays of Mainit and Dalican are target of mining companies eager to mine the gold-rich upland barangays of Bontoc.

Among mining companies which filed applications of exploration are foreign firms Mt Franz, Horizon, and Cordillera Exploration Inc.

Said applications were rejected by the townspeople of Bontoc through their officials who forwarded their resolutions of protest to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.

The CPA has since opposed large scale mining and exploitation of natural resources which destroy the environment and sustainable sources of livelihood, Daweg said in a press conference here.

Mining is one of the major issues to be tackled by a thousand and more participants from the 10 towns of Mountain Province and other visitors from other parts of the country.

Among other workshops are concerns of elders, women and children, drivers and oil price hike; and issues on food security, culture and arts, Cordillera and national situationer, and elections.

Workshop results shall be presented to executive and legislative offices of the provincial local government unit of Mountain Province followed by a press conference.
In response to the query on the CPA’s position of the on- going ‘small scale’ open pit and underground mining at nearby Mainit, Daweg said the environmental effects of open pit mining should be addressed along with the safety of miners. He called on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Provincial Mining and Regulatory Board to take action on the on- going operations.

Around 200 local miners of Mainit are paid on a daily basis by their immediate local bosses in partnership with three foreigners- a Korean, a Bangladeshi, and a Chinese- who support the on-going mining operations, it was learned.

The people should be the ones to manage and control their resources and not by foreigners, CPA –Mountain Province Secretary General Caroline Bagyan added.

The central theme “Fight for Land, Life and Rights” sets the framework for the other celebrations of Cordillera Day at atAmtwagan, Tubo, Abra on April 23-24; Lower Uma, Lubuagan, Kalinga on April 24; Conner, Apayao on April 24; Tupaya, Lagawe, Ifugao on April 29 and three areas for the Benguet celebration at Gold Creek, Itogon (April 20), Mount Pulag (April 23-24), and Tabeo, Mankayan (April 28).

Cordillera Day traces its beginnings April 24, 1980 when Kalinga pangat Macli-ingDulag resisted the World Bank funded Chico River Basin hydroelectric dam project.

His opposition to said project led to his killing by oldiers belonging to the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division under Lt. LeodegarioAdalem.

From 1981 to 1984, the commemoration of the death of MacliingDulag was called Macliing Memorial and called Cordillera Day with its first celebration in Sadanga, Mountain Province in 1985.

CPA, founded in 1984, took the lead in the celebration of Cordillera Day to the present.