GMA urged to junk geothermal project

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Residents and elders of Barangay Dananao in Tinglayan town here urged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to cancel a geothermal service contract that will pass through their ancestral domain, saying they have not given their consent to the project.

At least 150 village elders and residents declared their opposition to the project which was awarded over a month ago to APEC-GMC, a private company conducting exploration activities that would lead to the construction of the power generation facility in the province.

In their petition, the Dananao residents said there was no consultation held in their community for the geothermal project.

The APEC-GMC applied for a geothermal exploration permit covering parts of Pasil town, Tinglayan and Lubuagan due to the potentials of putting up a geothermal plant in the area.

While the people of Pasil gave their free and prior informed consent, the indigenous cultural communities and indigenous peoples of Lubuagan and Tinglayan were not openly consulted since the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples has yet to schedule dialogues with the affected communities.

Despite the lack of consent from affected tribes, Energy Secretary Angelo C. Reyes unwittingly issued the geothermal exploration permit to the company.

To prevent disagreement among the affected communities which might lead to violence, the NCIP here issued a clarification that the certificate of pre-condition issued by the agency covers only the Pasil area and not the Lubuagan and Tinglayan towns.

The petition said the DOE issued a general permit for the project without considering the limited certification pre-condition issued by the NCIP, thus, people are now wary about the activities of the assigned geothermal project explorer. – Dexter A See