NCIP execs persona non grata over Apayao dam to displace 4,600 persons

By Kimberly Quitasol

KABUGAO, Apayao -- Community elders and leaders of the Kabugao Ancestral Domain in Apayao province declared last week persona non grata top officials of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples Cordillera and Pan Pacific     Renewable Phils. Corp. (PPRPPC) and their agents in their territory over proposed huge dam projects in the province.
Declared persona non grata were NCIP Cordillera director lawyer Marlon Bosantog and “free prior and informed consent (FPIC) team leader and Atanacio Addog.
    They said the two NCIP officials "wittingly and feloniously colluded to maneuver" the FPIC process and issuance of the Certification Precondition for the Gened 1 Dam Project of PPRPPC in the province.
    The 2016 environmental impact assessment for the project said the 60-meter tall Gened 1 dam would store 158 million cubic meters of water, covering 887 hectares. It would submerge 898 households in eight barangays of Kabugao and 42 homes in Pudtol town, displacing more than 4,600 individuals.
    Apart from this hydropower facility, Pan Pacific plans to build three other dams along the Abulog-Apayao River, including the 335 MW Gened 2, 50 MW Aoan Dam, and 120 MW Calanasan Dam.
    Allegations of manipulation and collusion haunted the regional NCIP office following approval of the Pan Pacific Renewable Power Philippines Corporation Gened Dam 1 in Kabugao, Apayao.
    In an online presser on August 20, Kabugao Youth said NCIP Cordillera and its Apayao office were complicit in manipulating the project’s FPIC process.
    They noted that the Isnag community rejected the project three times, with the final Resolution of Non-Consent issued on January 15.
    However, influential individuals allegedly manipulated the process to favor the proponent, including NCIP personnel.
    The group said Bosantog was accountable gor forwarding Pan Pacific’s Certification Precondition (CP) application without resolving their complaints and addressing irregularities of the FPIC process.
    They said the director ignored mounting protest against the project and disregarded formal complaints filed before his office.
    On August 10, the NCIP Commission En Banc (CEB) deferred the project’s approval acknowledging irregularities in the FPIC process.
    However, NCIP Cordillera again sought its inclusion in the August 13 session.
    The NCIP regional director defended the process and got the approval from the commissioners.
    NCIP issues a CP to project proponents who seek to enter and use resources within indigenous cultural communities.
    The document is proof that the indigenous peoples gave their consent after going through the mandatory FPIC process.
    Several members of Kabugao Youth participated during the three CEB meetings.
    They said that NCIP’s technical review team noted anomalies in the FPIC proceedings for the project.
    They also flagged several provisions in the MOA, which are disadvantageous to the community.
    During the deliberation, Jann Alexis Lappas, an Isnag and one of the participants, underscored NCIP’s failure to observe NCIP Administrative Order 3 series of 2012 or the FPIC Guidelines.
    Lappas is also one of the lead conveners of Kabugao Youth, representing the group in several complaints filed before the NCIP regional office.
    During the past months, elders and community leaders lodged several complaints before the NCIP Cordillera regional office, questioning the process.
    Among the issues raised were forgery and undue influence by politicians in favor of the project.
    Kabugao Youth also filed a separate petitions against the project.
    In a letter dated May 3, the group urged NCIP to nullify the MOA supposedly signed on April 20, citing the retraction of several tribal leaders of their signatures. Attached to the letter are the elder’s affidavits of retraction.
    “We have filed complaints with the NCIP, complete with hard evidence of the irregularities in the FPIC process, but they turned a blind eye and approved the project anyway,” Jillie Karl Basan of Kabugao Youth said.
    She is among the young professionals from Kabugao who organized an overseas network to support the campaign against the project.
    “If the NCIP is really on our side, they will not allow these blatant violations to the FPIC process,” Basan added.
    Lappas said that NCIP acted questionably during the proceeding, “failed to protect their rights as indigenous peoples.”
“We are aware of the discrimination against indigenous peoples, and instead of helping, NCIP is the one taking advantage of us,” he said.
    Lappas filed a complaint against the NCIP before the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA).
    He said NCIP gave them a hard time accessing documents on the FPIC process of Gened dam projects.
    He lodged his grievance on June 17 for the agency’s “failure to render government services within the prescribed processing time on any application or request without due cause.”
    The documents, he said, could provide Kabugao folk more understanding of the process and help them come up with their own decision, whether to allow the project on their land or not.
    Lappas added that they would also be filing similar complaints with the Civil Service Commission.
    The 2016 environmental impact assessment for the project said the 60-meter tall Gened 1 dam would store 158 million cubic meters of water, covering 887 hectares. It would submerge 898 households in eight barangays of Kabugao and 42 homes in Pudtol town, displacing more than 4,600 individuals.
    Apart from this hydropower facility, Pan Pacific plans to build three other dams along the Abulog-Apayao River, including the 335 MW Gened 2, 50 MW Aoan Dam, and 120 MW Calanasan Dam.
    The company is among the beneficiaries of the $3 billion loan inked in October 2016 during President Rodrigo Duterte’s state visit to China. The state-run Bank of China funded the deal. -- Kimberly Quitasol with reports from Joseph Gregorio