KABAYAN, Benguet—Concerned land owners and influential indigenous peoples leaders in different barangays here are challenging officials of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples to uphold their rights over their domain.
This is in connection with the free and prior informed consent process for the 45-megawatt Nalatang hydro project of the Hydroelectric Development Corporation Inc., instead of staying neutral on the matter.
While it is true the NCIP is the lead agency in the FPIC process, the sources, who requested anonymity for security reasons, claimed the first step that should be undertaken by the agency is to inform and educate the IPs on their rights over their ancestral domain.
The IPs’ leaders said this would help the indigenous peoples to become aware regarding the extent of their leverage in demanding equitable share from the exploitation, utilization and development of the resources within their domain.
The affected land owners pointed out the NCIP must also be transparent in the processes to be undertaken by the agency.
“We call on the NCIP to stop the preliminary activities for the FPIC process and first resolve the legal issues surrounding the water rights obtained by Hedcor from the Philippine National Oil Co. which secured the service contract for the hydro project,” the sources stressed.
The sources also called on government agencies and the Commission on Human Rights to help the IPs in the town get their rights guaranteed.
The IP leaders challenged the NCIP FPIC team not to show their bias in favor of the proponents for the hydro project.
They said it should uphold the preservation and protection of their rights over their domain because it is mandated by law to make sure IPs and indigenous cultural communities would not be left behind and forgotten with the entry of developers in their ancestral domain.
According to the sources, the hydro proponents had been hiring relatives of influential IP leaders and promising them lot rentals to ensure their full support.