Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya—The Bugkalot tribe in this province has asked Governor Carlos Padilla to intervene concerning an officer of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples here who they claimed has been neglecting his duty to at least 11 tribal groups in the province.
In a letter received by Padilla on February 3, 2021, some 42 leaders of the Bugkalot tribe have signed a petition asking Padilla and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board) to call the attention of lawyer Roderick Iquin, officer in charge of the NCIP-Nueva Vizcaya provincial office, for not attending to the needs of the indigenous peoples in the province.
The Bugkalot leaders also asked Padilla to let Iquin explain and shed light on the issuance of a Certificate of Non-Overlap by the NCIP Region 2 office in favor and prioritizing OceanaGold Philippines Inc.’s renewal of its mining license than protecting the rights of the IPs.
“We, therefore, request the intervention of your good office and the Honorable Sangguniang Panlalawigan [members], to call this absentee OIC Provincial Officer Atty. [Roderick] Iquin so that he can explain why he is not reporting to his office, and [to] shed light on the CNO legality issue,” the letter to Padilla said.
OceanaGold’s Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement is set for renewal after the company acquired a CNO from the NCIP-Region 2, which the Bugkalots said denied their rights over Didipio village, where the company operates the Didipio Gold and Copper Project.
The Bugkalot have a pending certificate of ancestral domain title application with the NCIP. Their leaders also brought their concern to the NCIP Nueva Vizcaya in rejecting an OIC and would prefer a regular provincial officer to attend and fully- focused on the needs of the IPs.
In a memorandum dated January 6, 2021, NCIP Region 2 director Ronaldo Daquioag designated Iquin as officer in charge of the NCIP-Nueva Vizcaya. He had accompanied Daquioag from Cagayan province to formally assume as OIC of the NCIP provincial office in Bayombong on January 13, 2021.
However, the IPs said Iquin did not stay at his office but went back to Cagayan with Daquioag and has not yet returned to his office in Nueva Vizcaya since then.
In their letter to Padilla, the Bugkalots said these acts of both Daquioag and Iquin were both violations of the Civil Service laws and a “disservice to the ICCs/IPs [Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples] of Nueva Vizcaya.”
“We suspect that [NCIP] regional director purposely did this so that no one can talk about the Certificate of Non-Overlap issued by him,” the letter said.
The letter said since almost all the IPs in Nueva Vizcaya are against mining, they want to confer with Iquin, who is supposed to be at his office, why the NCIP Region 2 issued the CNO in favor of a foreign-controlled mining company.
“We have already read various articles of the questioned illegality of the issuance of the CNO to the detriment of the Bugkalots and other ICCs of Nueva Vizcaya,” the letter added.
In an online news article on ABS-CBN, lawyer Iquin, also legal officer of NCIP Region 2, was quoted as saying that they have “a presumption of regularity” of their duties and functions in the regional office for the CNO issuance.
Iquin said they cannot be questioned about that because the application is incomplete in form and substance and that they have no choice but to issue the CNO.
NCIP Region 2 also claimed their stance on the decision issued by their ancestral domain office on October 13, 2020 in which it dismissed the CADT application of the Bugkalot-Ilongot tribe was due to alleged lack of proof.
The NCIP took the position that the Bugkalots should be in occupation and possession since time immemorial and should be present in the area being claimed to be their ancestral domain.
However, the Bugkalots claims it is popular knowledge that the Bugkalot tribe is historically the native inhabitants and have traditional access in the areas subject of their CADT application.
They claim to have “more than a plethora of factual historical proof,” substantial enough to establish ancestral domain ownership over the mining host barangay of Didipio and its surrounding communities.