IPs deny supporting firm: press Cayat's resignation

By March Fianza

National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Commissioner for Cordillera Administrative Region and Region 1, Gaspar Anuman Cayat and Chairperson Allen A. Capuyan are the bad apples inside the government agency that need to be weeded out to restore the good name of the NCIP for the good of the Indigenous Peoples nationwide.
    Recently, members of the IPs in Sison, Pangasinan filed an administrative and criminal case against the Cayat-Capuyan duo before the Office of the Ombudsman. 
    Complainants in the case pointed to Cayat and Capuyan as the ones liable in disenfranchising the Bag-o IPs from their due rights under the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) or RA 8371 for illegally issuing a Certificate of Non-Overlap (CNO) in favor to the National Cement Corporation (NCC). 
    Resultantly, their actions stripped the IPs of Sison Ancestral Domain (ADO) of their rights for Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC).
    A CNO is an instrument issued by NCIP attesting that a certain project does not overlap the IPs’ Ancestral Domains and/or Lands (ADLs). Said instruments, once issued, will not compel a certain corporation to FPIC.
    Under the IPRA further supplemented by prevailing FPIC Guidelines or NCIP AO 3 S 2012, a CNO is issued only after the mandatory conduct of an on-site inspection of the land or Field-Based Investigation (FBI), and when the findings thereof yield that the project does not overlap or intrude inside the IPs’ ADLs.
    Complainants of the case argue that the Cayat-Capuyan duo wittingly and deliberately undermined the IPRA and the FPIC Guidelines when they issued an unnumbered CNO in favor of NCC.
    Complainants likewise underscored that the duo purposely closed their eyes to the recommendations of the NCIP personnel on the field who reported that the subject project of NCC overlaps the Sison Ancestral Domain, and that it must undergo the mandatory FPIC process before any renewals of permits can be made.  
    Said unnumbered CNO now bearing the signature of Gaspar Cayat, while illegally issued, was used by NCC to secure for renewal of its Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) which expired last March 15, 2023. 
    The renewed MPSA, as the fruit from the poisonous tree, bound the IPs of Sison Pangasinan to NCC for another 25 years, without the benefit of an FPIC.
    Complainants disclosed that Cayat even bribed them in exchange for their support for the issuance of the CNO but to no avail. They instead, as members of the Sison Federated Tribal Council, issued Community Resolution No. 06 entitled; “Resolution vehemently denying the alleged unanimous support given by the ICCs/IPs of Sison, Pangasinan for the issuance of a certification of non-overlap (CNO) to Northern Cement Corporation/San Miguel Northern Cement INC. (NCC/SMNIC) for its application for issuance of a certification precondition (CP) re Line A, Line B Cement Manufacturing Plant located at Barangay Labayug, Sison, Pangasinan.”
    As for Capuyan, the Complainants surmised that he is likewise and equally accountable for the case due to his malfeasance as the highest official of NCIP for not lifting a single finger against Gaspar Cayat.
    This case against Cayat is not his first and will certainly won’t be his last. It can be recalled that the IPs of Tabuk of Kalinga last 2021 filed an administrative case against Cayat due to his undue interference to the pending FPIC process of hydroelectric power project.
    In the case, a newly acquired property of Cayat, like one gasoline station at KM 5 La Trinidad, Benguet was mentioned. The controversial projects that Cayat sponsored for approval at the NCIP Commission En Banc namely, the Pan Pancific Renewable Power Philippine Corp and NCC are also owned by the same owner of Petron Corporation.
    These cases against Cayat on top of the recently passed resolution from the City of Baguio, the birth place of IPRA, inviting Cayat to explain his rebuke against the “Igorots”, and a letter signed by members of the city council supporting the application of Atty Pablito “Sonny-Boy” Sanidad are clear tell-tell signs that the IPs have lost its trust and confidence.
    More importantly, these are clear manifestations of the establishment of a ‘just cause’ which merits his removal from office which is warranted under Section 42 of IPRA. 
    As an unsolicited advice, from one IP to another: Mr. Commissioner Cayat, if there’s any ounce of IP value left in your system, you can save yourself, your office and more importantly your family from further humiliation, just resign because it's “inayan.” Among indigenous folks, “inayan” generally means it’s bad to hurt people.