MANKAYAN, Benguet -- Barangay officials and elders of Barangay Bulalacao
here are still manning a barricade to block drilling activities of Crescent Mining and Development Corporation
(CMDC).
Bulalacao folk said the company cannot conduct drilling activities because its Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) expired last year.
In a June 17, 2022 letter to CMDC president engineer Ronnie B. Siapno, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) regional director Atanacio Addog said the company has to undergo free prior and informed consent (FPIC) process for renewal of its expired MPSA.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Cordillera on Dec. 31, 2021, endorsed to its central office renewal of MPSA-057-96-CAR of CMDC after Addog issued a Dec. 7, 2021 certification interposing “no objection” to renewal of MPSA to CMDC provided the company "commits to complete the FPIC process.
Barricading errant mining companies had been a practice in Benguet over the years.
These included anti-open pit mining barricade in Itogon in the 1990’s, against Gold Field in Tabio, Mankayan in 2011 that lasted for a year, and now against CMDC.
In the case of Bulalacao, this is the second time they barricaded against mining companies.
The first Bulalacao barricade was in 1999-2000 which stopped Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company’s (LCMC) drilling operation.
The CMDC is a Filipino corporation conducting mineral exploration in 534 hectares land area covering barangays Bulalacao and Guinaoang in Mankayan, Benguet as per MPSA no. 057 granted to them in 1996.
They are partnered with multinational companies for this mining project in Benguet.
This year in March 2, terms of the MPSA were renewed per Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) order.
Residents of Bulalacao, however stood by their claim that no FPIC process was conducted for its renewal and no consent was given for drilling activities of CMDC, hence the barricade.
Bulalacao folk said the company cannot conduct drilling activities because its Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) expired last year.
In a June 17, 2022 letter to CMDC president engineer Ronnie B. Siapno, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) regional director Atanacio Addog said the company has to undergo free prior and informed consent (FPIC) process for renewal of its expired MPSA.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Cordillera on Dec. 31, 2021, endorsed to its central office renewal of MPSA-057-96-CAR of CMDC after Addog issued a Dec. 7, 2021 certification interposing “no objection” to renewal of MPSA to CMDC provided the company "commits to complete the FPIC process.
Barricading errant mining companies had been a practice in Benguet over the years.
These included anti-open pit mining barricade in Itogon in the 1990’s, against Gold Field in Tabio, Mankayan in 2011 that lasted for a year, and now against CMDC.
In the case of Bulalacao, this is the second time they barricaded against mining companies.
The first Bulalacao barricade was in 1999-2000 which stopped Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company’s (LCMC) drilling operation.
The CMDC is a Filipino corporation conducting mineral exploration in 534 hectares land area covering barangays Bulalacao and Guinaoang in Mankayan, Benguet as per MPSA no. 057 granted to them in 1996.
They are partnered with multinational companies for this mining project in Benguet.
This year in March 2, terms of the MPSA were renewed per Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) order.
Residents of Bulalacao, however stood by their claim that no FPIC process was conducted for its renewal and no consent was given for drilling activities of CMDC, hence the barricade.
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