STATEMENT
This November 2022, officers of the
Commission on Human Rights (CHR) visited Kabugao, Apayao.
They started their investigation into the complaint they have received about the violation of the rights of the indigenous Isnag in connection with a set of projects to develop hydroelectric power facilities on the Apayao river and its tributaries.
The Projects
Through its most recently published list of the hydropower projects that it has awarded to various firms, the Department of Energy (DoE) has revealed that it has granted the Pan Pacific Renewable Power Philippines Corporation a total of seven contracts to build and operate large dams on the Apayao river and its tributaries.
On the same list is an eighth project for the province of Apayao. But this is for the development of a 10 MW mini-hydro which will be situated within a separate river system, that of Nabuangan in the municipality Conner. The DoE has awarded this project to Strategic Power Development Corporation, a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation.
The mass media have referred to Pan Pacific as a company “controlled” by San Miguel (e.g. The Manila Times, 21 February 2022 and The Daily Guardian, 12 September 2022). But we have yet to find out whether Pan Pacific is owned fully or in part by San Miguel, or is financed by investment or credit from this corporation.
No Consent
None of Pan Pacific’s projects has the free and prior informed consent (FPIC) of the Isnag. The company and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) say otherwise. They claim that “authorized elders/leaders” of Pudtol, Kabugao, and Calanasan have signed Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) with them for Gened 1 and Gened 2. (Via its Revised FPIC Guidelines, NCIP Administrative Order No. 3, s. 2012, the NCIP has authorized itself to co-sign as third party to all agreements that are entered by “indigenous cultural communities” with the individuals or corporations who wish to undertake projects within their ancestral domains.)
Because these involve the construction of large dams, Pan Pacific’s projects have been opposed by the Isnag of Kabugao since they were first consulted about these in 2015, during the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of Gened 1. But NCIP officers have manipulated the FPIC process in order to make it appear that Pan Pacific’s projects were acceptable to the Isnag.
Thrice – on 4 February, 26 September, and 4 December 2019 – the Isnag of Kabugao issued Resolutions of Non-Consent to Gened 1. But each time, the NCIP and powerful officials in local government came to Pan Pacific’s aid.
They hounded the people’s elders and leaders until they got them to at least try to sit and negotiate with Pan Pacific. This continued until February 2020. The Covid 19 lockdown gave the people respite. But as soon as the national government relaxed its pandemic protocols, the struggle resumed.
The Isnag of Kabugao issued another Resolution of Non-Consent on 15 January 2021, but this was invalidated by the NCIP on the grounds that it had not been prepared in accordance with prescribed procedure and that it had not been signed by “authorized elders/leaders”.
The NCIP then conducted a new round of consultations. These culminated with a meeting on 7 April 2021 at which the NCIP suddenly presented a draft Memorandum of Agreement on Gened 1. “Authorized elders/leaders” supposedly signed the MOA on 20 April. But many of the elders and leaders whose names appeared on the document stated that the signatures were not theirs. Some of the supposed signatories were persons who had already died. Other elders and leaders stated that although they had indeed signed the document, they had done so under duress.
On 28 April 2021, more than 350 elders and leaders of Kabugao signed a final resolution on Gened 1 – a “Resolution irrevocably rejecting once and for all the proposed construction of a 150 MW hydroelectric power plant (Gened-1 Dam) at Waga, Kabugao... by Pan Pacific Renewable Power Philippine Corporation (PPRPPC) and declaring all negotiations pertinent thereto and the concomitant memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed as null and void….”
The NCIP, however, ignored this final resolution. It conducted another round of consultations, this time on Gened 2. It convened a Decision Meeting on Gened 2 on 18 December 2021, and used the police to stop elders and leaders opposed to the project from entering the meeting hall. This only inflamed the opposition, who convened later in the month and, on 31 December 2021, issued a Resolution of Non-Consent both to Gened 1 and to Gened 2. This was signed by more than 2,000 elders, leaders, and ordinary community members. Yet the following February, the NCIP produced a Resolution of Consent and MOA for Gened 2. This was signed by more than 200 “authorized elders/leaders”.
The NCIP has issued Certifications Precondition, clearing Gened 1 and 2 for implementation. But the Isnag of Kabugao have filed Motions for Reconsideration, and these have delayed the projects.
At stake
At the core of the Kabugao Isnag’s opposition is concern for the fate of their land and livelihood. If the Gened 1, Gened 2, and Sicapo dams are built, Kabugao will almost entirely be submerged in the reservoirs that these dams will create, and in the swells of the constricted river. Even if Kabugao’s mountaintops are spared, the people will not be able to utilize these as home sites or agricultural lands because these will become part of the protected watershed of Pan Pacific’s hydros.
Old ethnographies and our current studies teach us that the Isnag have always been able to provide for themselves quite adequately by practicing a balanced system of agricultural and environmental management. At its core is rotational shifting cultivation with long fallows that, even nowadays, last up to 15 years, and so enable the extensive regeneration of forest as well as soil micro-ecosystems on land that had been farmed. Combined with occasional hunting in forests and seasonal fishing in rivers, their rice and vegetable production on shifting swiddens has afforded the Isnag food security. At the same time, the Isnag have been producing cash crops on fields that they have managed similarly with their rice and vegetable swiddens. In olden days, the crops were tobacco and coffee; for the past ten years or so, it has been yellow corn. The cash crops have afforded the Isnag access to formal education, medicine, salt, cloth, and other goods that they do not produce themselves.
Isnag villages are among the few places in the interior Cordillera where there is surplus production of rice (even though there is little, if any, irrigation). And Kabugao, in particular, is among the few places in our region where the commercial production of yellow corn has, so far, not resulted in the degradation of the soil or the general environment.
Thick-canopy forests still cover the mountain slopes in Kabugao and Calanasan, and those parts of Pudtol which are traversed by the Maton and Apayao rivers. If the dams are built, these forests, too, and their 105 species of flora will be submerged. Some 96 species of fauna will lose a precious habitat. (These numbers are based on the EIA for Gened 1.) Among those displaced will be the Philippine eagle.
Call
It is but right for the Isnag to stubbornly oppose the large dams planned for construction on the Apayao river and its tributaries. It is but right for them to defend their ancestral domains, the resources here, and the way of life these have supported. They are but exercising their self-determination. We hope they continue to assert this before capitalist corporations, government officials, and even state forces.
In recent months, elements of the police and the military have told some of the Isnag that if they persist in opposing and obstructing the dam projects, which are deemed a priority of the government, they will be no different from terrorists. We hope that they recognize this as mere propaganda. Theirs is a resistance to projects that threaten to obliterate their land, livelihood, and very lives. It is a legitimate resistance.
They started their investigation into the complaint they have received about the violation of the rights of the indigenous Isnag in connection with a set of projects to develop hydroelectric power facilities on the Apayao river and its tributaries.
The Projects
Through its most recently published list of the hydropower projects that it has awarded to various firms, the Department of Energy (DoE) has revealed that it has granted the Pan Pacific Renewable Power Philippines Corporation a total of seven contracts to build and operate large dams on the Apayao river and its tributaries.
On the same list is an eighth project for the province of Apayao. But this is for the development of a 10 MW mini-hydro which will be situated within a separate river system, that of Nabuangan in the municipality Conner. The DoE has awarded this project to Strategic Power Development Corporation, a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation.
The mass media have referred to Pan Pacific as a company “controlled” by San Miguel (e.g. The Manila Times, 21 February 2022 and The Daily Guardian, 12 September 2022). But we have yet to find out whether Pan Pacific is owned fully or in part by San Miguel, or is financed by investment or credit from this corporation.
No Consent
None of Pan Pacific’s projects has the free and prior informed consent (FPIC) of the Isnag. The company and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) say otherwise. They claim that “authorized elders/leaders” of Pudtol, Kabugao, and Calanasan have signed Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) with them for Gened 1 and Gened 2. (Via its Revised FPIC Guidelines, NCIP Administrative Order No. 3, s. 2012, the NCIP has authorized itself to co-sign as third party to all agreements that are entered by “indigenous cultural communities” with the individuals or corporations who wish to undertake projects within their ancestral domains.)
Because these involve the construction of large dams, Pan Pacific’s projects have been opposed by the Isnag of Kabugao since they were first consulted about these in 2015, during the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of Gened 1. But NCIP officers have manipulated the FPIC process in order to make it appear that Pan Pacific’s projects were acceptable to the Isnag.
Thrice – on 4 February, 26 September, and 4 December 2019 – the Isnag of Kabugao issued Resolutions of Non-Consent to Gened 1. But each time, the NCIP and powerful officials in local government came to Pan Pacific’s aid.
They hounded the people’s elders and leaders until they got them to at least try to sit and negotiate with Pan Pacific. This continued until February 2020. The Covid 19 lockdown gave the people respite. But as soon as the national government relaxed its pandemic protocols, the struggle resumed.
The Isnag of Kabugao issued another Resolution of Non-Consent on 15 January 2021, but this was invalidated by the NCIP on the grounds that it had not been prepared in accordance with prescribed procedure and that it had not been signed by “authorized elders/leaders”.
The NCIP then conducted a new round of consultations. These culminated with a meeting on 7 April 2021 at which the NCIP suddenly presented a draft Memorandum of Agreement on Gened 1. “Authorized elders/leaders” supposedly signed the MOA on 20 April. But many of the elders and leaders whose names appeared on the document stated that the signatures were not theirs. Some of the supposed signatories were persons who had already died. Other elders and leaders stated that although they had indeed signed the document, they had done so under duress.
On 28 April 2021, more than 350 elders and leaders of Kabugao signed a final resolution on Gened 1 – a “Resolution irrevocably rejecting once and for all the proposed construction of a 150 MW hydroelectric power plant (Gened-1 Dam) at Waga, Kabugao... by Pan Pacific Renewable Power Philippine Corporation (PPRPPC) and declaring all negotiations pertinent thereto and the concomitant memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed as null and void….”
The NCIP, however, ignored this final resolution. It conducted another round of consultations, this time on Gened 2. It convened a Decision Meeting on Gened 2 on 18 December 2021, and used the police to stop elders and leaders opposed to the project from entering the meeting hall. This only inflamed the opposition, who convened later in the month and, on 31 December 2021, issued a Resolution of Non-Consent both to Gened 1 and to Gened 2. This was signed by more than 2,000 elders, leaders, and ordinary community members. Yet the following February, the NCIP produced a Resolution of Consent and MOA for Gened 2. This was signed by more than 200 “authorized elders/leaders”.
The NCIP has issued Certifications Precondition, clearing Gened 1 and 2 for implementation. But the Isnag of Kabugao have filed Motions for Reconsideration, and these have delayed the projects.
At stake
At the core of the Kabugao Isnag’s opposition is concern for the fate of their land and livelihood. If the Gened 1, Gened 2, and Sicapo dams are built, Kabugao will almost entirely be submerged in the reservoirs that these dams will create, and in the swells of the constricted river. Even if Kabugao’s mountaintops are spared, the people will not be able to utilize these as home sites or agricultural lands because these will become part of the protected watershed of Pan Pacific’s hydros.
Old ethnographies and our current studies teach us that the Isnag have always been able to provide for themselves quite adequately by practicing a balanced system of agricultural and environmental management. At its core is rotational shifting cultivation with long fallows that, even nowadays, last up to 15 years, and so enable the extensive regeneration of forest as well as soil micro-ecosystems on land that had been farmed. Combined with occasional hunting in forests and seasonal fishing in rivers, their rice and vegetable production on shifting swiddens has afforded the Isnag food security. At the same time, the Isnag have been producing cash crops on fields that they have managed similarly with their rice and vegetable swiddens. In olden days, the crops were tobacco and coffee; for the past ten years or so, it has been yellow corn. The cash crops have afforded the Isnag access to formal education, medicine, salt, cloth, and other goods that they do not produce themselves.
Isnag villages are among the few places in the interior Cordillera where there is surplus production of rice (even though there is little, if any, irrigation). And Kabugao, in particular, is among the few places in our region where the commercial production of yellow corn has, so far, not resulted in the degradation of the soil or the general environment.
Thick-canopy forests still cover the mountain slopes in Kabugao and Calanasan, and those parts of Pudtol which are traversed by the Maton and Apayao rivers. If the dams are built, these forests, too, and their 105 species of flora will be submerged. Some 96 species of fauna will lose a precious habitat. (These numbers are based on the EIA for Gened 1.) Among those displaced will be the Philippine eagle.
Call
It is but right for the Isnag to stubbornly oppose the large dams planned for construction on the Apayao river and its tributaries. It is but right for them to defend their ancestral domains, the resources here, and the way of life these have supported. They are but exercising their self-determination. We hope they continue to assert this before capitalist corporations, government officials, and even state forces.
In recent months, elements of the police and the military have told some of the Isnag that if they persist in opposing and obstructing the dam projects, which are deemed a priority of the government, they will be no different from terrorists. We hope that they recognize this as mere propaganda. Theirs is a resistance to projects that threaten to obliterate their land, livelihood, and very lives. It is a legitimate resistance.
APIT TAKO
Alliance of Peasants in the Cordillera
Cordillera Peoples Alliance
Alliance of Peasants in the Cordillera
Cordillera Peoples Alliance
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