“ENHANCED” FPIC Guidelines?

It’s IPRA Commemoration Month, but we have no updates on the proposed revisions of the Free, Prior and Informed Consent guidelines. In June 2024, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance signed a unity statement initiated by Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI) that outlined a general critique on the proposed “enhancements” of the existing FPIC guidelines. The statement also called out NCIP’s attempts to fast-track the process and the obvious lack of genuine and extensive consultations.

The proposed revisions, packaged as “enhancements”, will endanger indigenous communities in favor of large corporations with vested interests in our ancestral territories. For instance, the exemption of large-scale economic activities, including mining exploration, from FPIC requirements, will undoubtedly encourage companies to use this to their advantage. This will only formalize what has already been happening with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, notorious for issuing mining permits even without the FPIC such as the case of Crescent Mining, Philex Corporation, and Cordillera Exploration Corporation, Inc. (CEXCI).

There is more to be unpacked from the proposed revisions, but our central concern is clearly the scarcity of information and consultation. Only one stakeholders consultation is recorded, and if there were more, why is it not widely circulated? Will the NCIP just suddenly announce the implementation of the new guidelines and catch indigenous communities dumbfounded?

NCIP still needs to address the numerous cases of FPIC violations across the country and hold its officials accountable for their involvement and complicity. Otherwise, it is useless to Indigenous Peoples and a mere rubber stamp for companies with destructive renewable energy and mining projects. (PR)