Dalicno IPs Decry Itogon Mining Expansion Project, Condemn NCIP Exec Over Fraudulent FPIC

In a press conference held today, February 13, 2024, the Indigenous community of Sitio Dalicno, Brgy. Ampucao, Itogon, and Benguet registered their opposition against the Application for Production Sharing Agreement 103 (APSA 103) of Itogon-Suyoc Resources, Inc. (ISRI), a company owned by Enrique Razon’s Apex Mining. The community also condemned the violations of the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). They accused the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) of manipulating the proceedings.

Last January 29, 2024, the Dalicno community filed a petition assailing NCIP-CAR’s dismissal of their complaint on the observed irregularities in the process. In their October 9, 2023 submission, the residents raised the lack of information on the community assemblies and the September 20, 2023 Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signing.

NCIP Regional Director Atanacio Addog issued the dismissal order on January 3, way past the prescribed period under the FPIC guidelines of 2012.

“We disagree that our complaints lack merit. It is disappointing that the NCIP Regional Director blatantly disregarded the glaring irregularities, more so that we only received his resolution months after a series of follow-ups. We are distressed over his statements that it was impossible for us to be uninformed about the community assemblies and that they followed a decision-making process with Itogon elders claiming that it has been our practice even before. Dalicno is the most affected area. Our voices should matter”, Regina Sidor, Secretary General of the Dalicno Indigenous Peoples Organization (DIPO) said. The NCIP Central Office promptly responded, also on January 29, recognizing that the petition “yields merit” and thus subjecting Addog’s resolution for review and evaluation.

In previous FPIC processes, such as the Binga Dam project and the Sal-angan Hydropower project, the decisions of the Itogon Elders were based on the decisions of the affected areas. However, with the APSA 103 FPIC, only the NCIP-authorized elders from the Itogon Indigenous Peoples Organization (IIPO) made the decision without considering the stand of the community that could directly experience the negative impact of the project.

The issue has divided the people of Itogon. The Dalicno community, who organized themselves as DIPO, is dismissed as a breakaway group and treated with spite by the so-called authorized indigenous organizations. Dalicno, however, asserts that they should not be reduced to a matter of legal jargon and authorization gymnastics, but as a legitimate stakeholder especially since their land, life, and livelihood are on the line.

“We call on our kailian to hear us out and to see way beyond the written rules of the FPIC. These have always been manipulated, as we see in our previous experiences. We should understand the FPIC based on its core principle of respecting our indigenous peoples right to ancestral land and self-determination. Our home, our heritage, our lives are being threatened here, and yet we are sidetracked. We can all quote the law and express our legal arguments, but the fact that we say no to APSA 103 is already, in principle, a declaration that there is no FPIC”, Sidor added.

APSA 103 will affect 581 hectares of land covering barangays Ampucao, Poblacion, and Virac in the municipality of Itogon, Benguet. The company’s legal representatives are also that of Pan Pacific, the project proponent behind the controversial Gened Dams in Apayao. Meanwhile, Apex Mining, which owns ISRI, is under fire for the killer landslide that occurred last February 6, 2024, in Maco, Davao de Oro, one of their areas of operation. (PR)

For Reference:

Regina Sidor

Secretary General

Dalicno Indigenous Peoples Organization (DIPO)

Email: dalicnoipo2023@gmail.com