LA TRINIDAD—The Cordillera office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP-CAR) ordered COHECO Badeo Corp. to shelve feasibility studies, drilling, boring tests and rock sampling in its project site in barangay Badeo. Kibungan for its proposed 500-megawatt pump storage hydro project.
The commission said these preliminaries require a free and prior informed consent process under Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act supplemented by NCIP Administrative Order 3, series of 2012, and the customary laws of indigenous peoples and cultural communities.
NCIP-CAR regional director Roland Calde lambasted How on Kim alias Larry, chairman of COHECO Badeo Corp., for reportedly intruding into the ancestral domain of Kibungan, Benguet and planning to conduct geo-technical works for its proposed hydropower project without the consent of the affected communities.
“This office reserves the right to bring necessary civil and criminal suits and actions for any and all causes of action arising from unlawful or unauthorized intrusion into any of the ancestral domains. Failure and refusal to comply with this cease and desist order shall likewise prompt this office to file any available action, including actions to the offices of the Department of Energy, Department of Foreign Affairs and the Bureau of Immigration,” Calde stressed.
However, the NCIP-CAR official admitted that COHECO Badeo Corp. had applied for a certificate of pre-condition for the proposed 500-megawatt pump storage hydro power project situated in Badeo, Kibungan town before it was told to stop its feasibility work.
The commission obliged the company to submit endorsements from regulatory agencies, a profile of the project proponent, a report on the nature and purpose of the project, a complete feasibility study including systems design, solar layout plan, location of the proposed project with an indicative map showing the names of sitios and barangays that will be affected and an indicative map of the route of transmission lines from sub-station to grid, tapping points, required right-of-way, sub-station layout, and capacity load.
Paul Bagano, COHECO Badeo Corp. chief executive officer, said their personnel will close their campsite in Badeo and will move the drilling machines in Bacnotan, La Union to Badeo, Kibungan.
Concerned villagers expressed their gratitude to the NCIP-CAR for the timely issuance of the cease and desist order.
