Group files petition vs CEXCI Cordillera mining applications

By Sherwin De Vera

BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) filed a petition calling for the termination of the different mining applications filed by Cordillera Exploration Company, Inc. (CEXCI).

The group submitted the document at the regional offices of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) on March 3, the 25th anniversary of Republic Act 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995. It contained more than 500 signatures from leaders of people's organizations from Kalinga, Benguet, Mountain Province, and Ifugao.

"This is just the initial submission, we are still collating the sheets from the provinces, including those from Ilocos Sur and Apayao," said Santos Mero, CPA Vice Chairperson for Internal Affairs.

He said the petition was the result of the inter-provincial mining summit held in Sagada in August last year. The signatories are asking the NCIP and MGB to cancel all applications of the company citing environmental concerns, displacement from their land, and livelihood and human rights violations. They also alleged that the company was able to process its application without undergoing free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) process.

According to Engineer Brent Pagteilan of MGB-CAR Mines Tenement Evaluation Section, only two of the four mining application of CEXCI, are under process – Exploration Application (EXPA) No. 116 and the renewal of its exploration permit for its Manmanok project in Apayao province. He explained that EXPA No. 116 came from the company's Application for Financial and Technical Assistance (AFTA) No. 008.

"This (EXPA No. 116) is a portion of AFTA 008 covering portions of Mankayan and Bakun in Benguet and Cervantes in Region 1. We already endorsed it for the FPIC process. The applicant and NCIP Region 1 agreed that Region 1 offices would process the Cervantes portion," he said in mixed Ilokano and English.

Pagteilan said CEXCI has yet to secure a certification from the NCIP that it has complied with its commitment under the Memorandum of Agreement with the concerned ancestral domain claimants. The document is a requirement before they can issue the permit renewing the exploration operation in Apayao.

He explained that the conversion of portions of AFTA No. 008 to an application for exploration does not dissolve the original tenement area filed by CEXCI. According to him, the company might just be prioritizing areas it deems "easier to get approval" from the community.

Meanwhile, NCIP-CAR Legal Officer Atty. Atanacio Addog said that CEXCI sent a letter, asking their office for the continuance of their FPIC process in Mankayan. However, the lawyer noted that their office has no record and not aware of any FPIC process for the company's mining application in Mankayan.

According to him, since there are no records, they will ask the company to submit all the necessary documents. He added that they could only start with the processing once CEXCI complies with all the requirements.

"We are only aware of their application in Kalinga, that is ongoing, but the regional suspended it because the regional office required them to comply with their obligations under their MOA with the community," the lawyer said.

He told Nordis that the company already wrote them last month requesting that NCIP lift the suspension since they have complied with the obligations.

"We have yet to validate with our field office if they have really complied with their obligations to the community. But based on my initial information from Kalinga, there was a renegotiation between CEXCI and the affected people to resolve their issues about the company's obligations," he added.

Addog also denied that there were FPIC violations committed, stressing that no project of the company has entered the domains of indigenous peoples without securing the consent of the communities. # nordis.net