LUNA, Apayao—Apayao Governor Elias C. Bulut Jr. has criticized the Cordillera office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples for not providing the needed technical assistance to the local officials and indigenous peoples in the province.
Bulit said NCIP-CAR favored the construction of renewable energy plants in identified growth areas to hurdle the tedious free and prior informed consent or FCIP process for the proposed hydro projects.
The governor said local officials and IPs already did their part in convincing their fellow indigenous tribes potentially affected by the proposed hydro projects to relocate to safer grounds, but the FPIC process “seems to be not in favor of the IPs and instead in favor of those who are against the projects, even without valid reason and even if they are not residents of the affected areas.”
“We are disappointed over the way the NCIP handles the FPIC process for our proposed renewable energy project. We invited potential hydro investors to help develop Apayao but it seems the present conditions of the FPIC process are not investor-friendly,” Bulut stressed.
The governor disclosed local officials are now being blamed by the IPs for their displacement from their previous to give way for the project and the IPs.
The tribes are now coming back to them to look for jobs, but the investors have yet to start their projects because of the delayed completion of the FPIC process, Bulut said.
The governor said the NCIP needs to review the guidelines of the FPIC process to make sure that the IPs will not be compromised, especially if they are in favor of the project to be introduced in their ancestral domains, “so that their desired growth and development can be realized for their own benefit and that of future generations.”
Bulut asserted the IPs of Apayao should not be affected by NCIP’s problems in other similarly situated provinces in the Cordillera, because the Apayao IPs “welcome the implementation of environmentally-friendly development projects that can contribute to improving their economic situation.”
He underscored the development of the province’s hydro potentials will definitely be a big economic driver for the province, because aside from having a reliable source of power, more jobs will be generated for the qualified residents, guaranteed income for the host communities and increased economic activities and sources of livelihood for the people.
Under Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous People’s Rights Act, companies intending to exploit, develop and utilize the rich resources of the State must first secure the FPIC of the affected indigenous peoples and indigenous cultural communities.
