MORE NEWS, BENGUET

Permit issued ‘flawed’: Bakun villagers oppose mine firm; seek meetings
By Dexter A. See

BAKUN, Benguet — Officials and residents of a mineral-rich village here renewed their opposition to mining activities, claiming that a permit issued to a mining company for exploration in their area was flawed.

Earlier, the Cordillera office of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau granted an exploration permit to Royalco Philippines Inc. to conduct exploration activities at a 976-hectare area in Barangay Gambang in the next two years.

The purpose of the exploration was to determine if the area had sufficient ore deposits for viable mining operations.

However, the barangay officials said Royalco failed to secure an endorsement from the council of Barangay Gambang and the Bakun municipal council.

This was a requirement for "free and prior informed consent" of affected communities.
Although there existed an agreement between the company and tribal elders, barangay officials said customary decision-making process adhered to by the community was not followed as evidenced by the fact that the referendum held last December in connection with the exploration project was a failure.

Earlier, Cordillera MGB officials justified the issuance of the exploration permit to the company, saying it was only for 976 hectares instead of the 5,000 hectares which the company had applied for.

MGB said the company has secured the consent of the elders and the community for only 976 hectares.

The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples used the consent of the elders as basis for the issuance of a pre-condition certification to the company.

Under the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act, companies wanting to exploit and utilize natural resources of a certain area must first secure “free and prior informed consent” of affected communities before they could commence operations.

Residents of Barangay Gambang said the NCIP certification was flawed. They requested the conduct of consultations so they could air their views on the effects of mining to the community and the environment.

The agreement between a few community elders and company officials was signed in Bangao, Buguias, which is outside Bakun.

This action deprived the community of the chance to clarify and to be informed of the provisions of the agreement, the residents said.

They said the signatories to the agreement were a "chosen few" and did not represent the majority of the residents in Gambang who have already manifested their vehement opposition to mining.


Benguet power coop chief disputes P280M loss; says it was ‘technical, non-cash’
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — The management of the Benguet Electric Coop. disputed
reports the power firm is now facing bankruptcy due to its over P280-million losses the past four years, saying that the losses were technical and non-cash.

Gerardo P. Verzosa, Beneco general manager, said the cooperative has been incurring multi-million losses as evidenced by its annual financial statement the past several years, but losses didn’t result in bankruptcy as claimed by some groups.

He said these groups wanted to take over the power cooperative through its conversion into a stock cooperative.

He said the losses were not caused by operational inefficiency, but by depreciation of the value of its assets and facilities and provision of bad debts.

According to Versoza, the losses were non-cash items which could not be covered since the method used for the computation as directed by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) does not provide for recovery of such losses.

Based on records, Beneco incurred net losses of P63.2 million in 2004, R78.8 million
in 2005, and R93.8 million in 2006.

In 2007, the electric cooperative suffered losses of P4.13 million but this has yet to be audited by a reputable accounting firm.

The electric cooperative’s losses caused by the depreciation of the value of its facilities: R78.8 million in 2004; and P101.5 million and P101.7 million in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

The losses incurred due to bad debts were P12.5 million in 2004; P1.7 million in 2005; and P1.5 million in 2006.

But Verzosa said that despite the red ink, the cooperative is still efficiently and effectively operating, and this was partly due to its ability to bring down its systems loss.

Since 1990, the cooperative’s systems loss had gone down from high 28 percent to 11.2 percent last year and in the first quarter of this year.

This is way below the tolerable limit of 14 percent as provided for the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA).

Verzosa said Beneco saved approximately P1.7 billion the past 17 years due to drastic reduction of its systems loss, and as a result, the power users have been enjoying the delivery of quality electric service.

The industry defines systems loss as the energy lost, either natural or manmade, as the electricity travels from the generation plant to households or industries.
Verzosa said the critics should be responsible enough in waging their all-out campaign to convince the more than 120,000 power users to approve their long overdue plan of converting the electric cooperative into a stock cooperative.

They should not be raising issues which are baseless, he added. – Dexter A. See


Benguet gov presses veggie, mine global competitiveness
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- The provincial government is faced with pressing issues over the people’s major sources of livelihood – the vegetable and mining industries. Benguet Gov. Nestor Fongwan, speaking at the "Kapihan sa Benguet" forum, said with the impact of the World Trade Organization which provides access to the global market, the province’s vegetable industry should now be globally competitive.

He said there is still a need to improve vegetable packaging and processing, utilizing the cold-chain facilities. Improved packaging and processing add value to the produce, he said. Sixty-five percent of the high-value, temperate crops produced nationwide comes from Benguet, Fongwan said.

Targetting the high-end markets for higher income, this strategy should benefit the farmers, he said. While it is true that there is lesser revenues generated from the vegetable industry, more people are benefitted, compared with the mining industry which generates more income, but benefits lesser number of people.

On the mining industry, Fongwan cited the need for the legalization of the operations of small-scale miners. He noted that many small-scale miners have been conducting mining operations, but they do not have mining rights. Fongwan said that the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) is working on a proclamation for a "Minahang Bayan" so that small-scale miners would be recognized as legal miners.

Engineer Octavius Mano of Environment and Natural Resources Office said that a group of small-scale miners in the province had filed a petition for the declaration of a "Minahang Bayan" which will be submitted to the central office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for clearance.

Mano said that to date, four small scale miners have been issued permits because they complied with requirements. But roughly, there are some 10,000 small-scale miners in many provinces, he said. Mano said his office, upon the directive of Governor Fongwan, is drafting an administrative order that would direct the conduct of inventory and profiling to determine the exact number of small-scale miners, including the equipment they use. The data will be needed for the possible legalization of their operations and for the protection of the environment. – Dexter A See