IPs sue NCIP, Apayao officials for corruption

Cases filed with Ombudsman, prosecutor 

By Karlston Lapniten

BAGUIO CITY — Isnag villagers from barangays Lenneng and Poblacion of Kabugao, Apayao sued multiple officials of the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) and two local government officials before the Office of the Ombudsman and the Provincial Prosecutor recently.
    Filed separately, complainants from barangay Poblacion filed before the Ombudsman in Quezon City 54 counts each of estafa, falsification of documents, and use of falsified documents as well as for acts penalized by the Ombudsman Act and the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act on Jan. 25.
    A separate case for the same charges were filed before the Apayao Provincial Prosecutor was filed on Jan. 19 in Luna, Apayao.
    Villagers from barangay Lenneng filed 104 counts for the same charge also before the Provincial Prosecutor last Jan. 6. They filed same charges before the Ombudsman on December 28.
    Among those accused are NCIP Cordillera Acting Regional Director Atanacio Addog, Apayao NCIP Provincial Officer Agnes Gabuat, Apayao NCIP Provincial Legal Officer Geoffrey Calderon, Kabugao NCIP Acting Head Jezryl Inopia, and the NCIP FPIC team.
    Also named accused are Kabugao Vice Mayor Fabulous Tucjang, Municipal Indigenous People Mandatory Representative John Anthony Amid, and several individuals.
    The complaints stemmed from a December 2019 community resolution naming several persons as “representatives” in negotiating with Pan Pacific Renewable Power Philippines Corporation (Pan Pacific) over its proposed 150-megawatt Gened-1 Hydroelectric Power Project (HEPP).
    Pan Pacific, a hydropower firm, intends to build two mega dam facilities along the Apayao River, affecting the ancestral domain of the Isnag.
    Many of the complainants claimed their signatures were forged as they did not sign any resolution to that effect, while others claimed they were deceived into signing the document as a receipt for government aid.
    Several others who had signatures were also long dead. Some community elders even executed an affidavit denying having signed documents which agreed to the construction of the dam.
    The NCIP Regional Review Team, which reviewed the Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) process conducted, indicated in its observation the evidently falsified signatures, repeated signatories, and dubious signatures, among others.
    It also observed irregularities such as holding FPIC activities outside the ancestral domain, and failure to observe consensus-building processes, among others.
    However, the formal review and opposition of the community were brushed aside by the then-NCIP Regional Director Marlon Bosantog.
    The questioned resolution was then used to usher the processing of the FPIC which lead to the issuance of the Certification Precondition (CP), now also a subject of complaint at the NCIP Commission En Banc.
    The cases are primarily handled by Rene Cortes Law in cooperation with Jose Molintas Law, Christopher Donaal and Partners Law, Nelson Lidua Law, BMW Law, and the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG).
    Ryan James Solano of Cortes Law said the four cases filed by the two barangays are just the preliminary fire as there are seven more barangays who will be filing.
    The nine barangays are listed as the “directly affected” barangays by the construction of the proposed giant 150-megawatt dam.
    “We cannot just close our eyes to these injustices, more so that it is done by the people in the agency which is supposed to protect the Indigenous People,” said Solano, who is an Ibaloy from Baguio City.
    Interestingly, Bosantog, Addog, and Calderon, all lawyers, were declared Persona Non Grata through two community resolutions in 2021.
    Kurdel Paroy, also Cortes Law, said they also asked the Regional State Prosecutor to order the entire Apayao Provincial Prosecutor to inhibit from handling the case.  
    “The initial cases are not even a question whether the dam should be built or not, it is merely a question whether the community resolution was duly acquired,” said Paroy.
    Proposed right at the heart of Apayao’s capital town of Kabugao, Gened-1 and the 250-MW Gened-2 HEPP threaten to submerge the Kabugao and Tawit ancestral domains.
    Both are projects of San Miguel Corp. (SMC)-controlled Pan, one of the eight Philippine conglomerates and corporations that benefited from the $3-billion loan agreement the Duterte administration entered with China in 2016.
    According to a June 2021 FPIC report, the Gened-1 dam, if it pushes through, will submerge communities in the barangays or villages of Bulu, Magabta, Poblacion, and Waga in Kabugao town, and Lt. Balag in Pudtol town.     At least five other Kabugao villages will also be directly affected.
    Aside from displacing hundreds of village folks, Gened-1 will destroy the Isnag burial grounds and their traditional fishing grounds and farms, according to the complainants. It will also severely alter the biodiversity of the Apayao, dubbed the “last nature frontier of the Cordillera.”
    Apayao is listed as a “key biodiversity area” by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The province’s pristine biodiversity was brought to the spotlight in 2011 when sightings of Philippine eagles were confirmed in the forests of Kabugao, Calanasan, and Pudtol.