KIBUNGAN, Benguet – The Cordillera office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples is scouting for a replacement of the head of the agency’s free and prior informed consent FPIC team before it will be able to schedule a special community consultative assembly or CCA in barangay Badeo in relation to the proposed 500-megawatt pump storage project of the Coheco Badeo Corp.
NCIP-CAR regional director Roland P. Calde said FPIC team leader Seferino Lumiqued was already relieved of his duties and responsibilities, following numerous complaints on his alleged bias in favor of the proponents during the conduct of the previous CCA in Badeo that serves as host for the project.
“We are still currently scouting for a replacement of our FPIC team leader before we will be able to schedule the conduct of the mandatory special community consultative assembly to put an end to the numerous issues being raised against the conduct of the previous assembly in Badeo,” Calde said.
“We are being prodded by the proponent to immediately schedule the conduct of the assembly, but we have yet to ascertain who will be the head of our FPIC team,” he added.
The NCIP-CAR official said the indigenous peoples in Badeo will be invited to actively participate in the special assembly to air their views and have their votes counted on whether to allow the project to push through.
Earlier, the NCIP-CAR was able to uncover alleged discrepancies in the conduct of the previous CCAs because Coheco Badeo failed to present to the barangays the economic benefits of the project, and that the assemblies were even allegedly railroaded.
According to Calde, the FPIC head should be a lawyer or a chief of office of the agency pursuant to the qualifications enshrined in the FPIC guidelines crafted by the agency.
Concerned Badeo IPs claimed the previous FPIC team leader allegedly manipulated the results in the barangay because he facilitated the conduct of voting by the preselected members of the Council of Elders, amid the clamor of the participants of the assembly for the casting of votes whether they are in favor of the project.
The IPs also complained that during the selection of the composition of the Council of Elders, those who were identified to be against the project were allegedly excluded from being a member of the council. Barangay officials who were in favor of the project were the ones that were considered for the composition of the council.
The sources want the NCIP-CAR not to succumb to the alleged machinations being done by the management of Coheco Badeo in the selection of the next FPIC team and the schedule of the special assembly. They should consider the greater interest of the IPs in deciding to support the environmentally-critical project that could result in the massive displacement of residents from their ancestral domain.