LA TRINIDAD, Benguet—The Cordillera office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples has questioned the Mines and Geosciences Bureau office here for allowing a mining company to explore portions of the Baguio-based Philippine Economic Zone Authority compound, the Loakan airport, and parts of Itogon town.
Atty. Roland Calde, NCIP-CAR regional director, said issuing an exploration permit to the Golden Era mining firm is considered illegal because it failed to pass through the free and prior informed consent process of the affected indigenous peoples.
Calde said the company must have first secured the consent of the affected IPs and ICCs before it was issued the permit, and his agency was obviously bypassed when it the MGB permit was issued.
“We were not aware of the conduct of the FPIC process, that is why we were surprised to know that it was issued a permit by the MGB-CAR,” Calde stressed.
NCIP-CAR, in coordination with the city government, will proceed to nullify the issued permit because it was invalid from the start, he added.
Golden Era applied for an exploration permit over a 444-hectare area covering several barangays in Baguio City, particularly some parts of PEZA, the whole Loakan airport, and Itogon in Benguet.
Under Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act, companies intending to explore, utilize and develop the resources of the State that falls within the ancestral domain of indigenous peoples must first secure an FPIC from the affected indigenous peoples.
Calde said his office was preparing for a field-based investigation on Golden Era’s application for an exploration permit when they were informed the company was already issued the permit, which caught NCIP-CAR by surprise.
Engr. Fay W. Apil, MGB-CAR regional director, said it was clearly stipulated in their permit that Golden Era was required to secure the consent of the affected communities within six months from its issuance, and present the matter to the local government units concerned.
Apil said the company is “obviously rushing” to comply with the conditions of the permit because it is about to expire. The matter on the company’s compliance to the FPIC was already endorsed to the NCIP, and that there was no intention on MGB-CAR’s part to evade the requirement.
If the company will not be able to comply with the conditions of the exploration permit, it would automatically expire, thus no exploration-related activities can push through, the MGB-CAR official explained.
