NV tribe defies Church; backs mining exploration

By Charlie Lagasca

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya  – The Bugkalot tribal group has expressed its support for a mining exploration project in its ancestral land in mountainous Kasibu town this province despite the continued Church-led anti-mining barricades leading to the site.

Robert Cabarroguis, director of the Bugkalot Confederation, said the barricades set up by anti-mining groups leading to their villages are a clear violation of their human rights and their right to self-development.

For more than two months now, Church-backed residents and anti-mining groups have been manning a checkpoint leading to the Bugkalot mountain villages of Pao and Kakidugen in Kasibu town to prevent the entry of mining equipment.

The Australian firm Royalco Philippines has a permit issued by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau to conduct gold and copper exploration in the two Bugkalot villages.

The Bugkalots, used to be known for their headhunting practice, earlier had endorsed the mining exploration, believing that the national government-sanctioned project would bring development to their remote mountain area.

Besides blocking the entry of exploration equipment, the barricades, according to Cabarroguis, were hampering their movements, especially in transporting their agricultural crops and basic commodities.  

“They even conduct illegal search and inspection of our personal items when we pass through the barricades going to our land. It is us who are being harassed and threatened,” he said.

Village officials said even materials for government-funded development projects such as cement and other construction materials have been confiscated by those manning the barricades, who they said were not even residents of the area.