Lepanto folks oppose grant of exploration permits to mine firm

MANKAYAN, Benguet – Residents and cause oriented groups urged Malacanang to intercede in their behalf  saying moves of  government agencies to grant mining permits here at Lepanto over ancestral lands would further destroy the environment and destroy farm lands where they derive their livelihood.     

They said Lepanto Consolidated Mining Corp., the government’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples were attempting to “convert the Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of the people into Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) over  82,000 hectares in Lepanto.”

Voting on conversion of the FPIC to FTAA commenced at the municipal hall of Mankayan yesterday (July 27) wherein residents with people’s organizations opposed the granting of an FTAA to the mining company.

These included KAIABANG, Cordillera People’s Alliance Benguet, Bileg ken Urnos Dagiti Agtutubo y Benguet (BUDAY), Save Mankayan Movement (SMM), Mankayan Youth Movement (MYM), Save Tabio Organization (STO) and MADIPO (Mankayan elders organization).

            

They insisted the voting be moved until proper consultations with the people are done. Discussions on the matter were ongoing at press time.

“The people of Mankayan are concerned on impacts of the FTAA because this will grant the LCMC a mining exploration permit on the 82,000 hectares in Lepanto,” said Vijone Colaling, of the Mankayan Youth Movement. “In particular, the people of Barangay Balili and Barangay Bedbed are concerned with their collective land rights and their environment if the exploration will commence.”

According to residents, severe environmental degradation and countless human rights violations have been effects of corporate mining in Mankayan.

“The people of Mankayan will never forget the sinking of Barangay Colalo and Poblacion and the rape of Isabel by Capt. DaniloLanin of the 86th Infantry Battalion,” Colaling said.

The FPIC on the MPSA001 and MPSA151 areas is a temporary permit reportedly not approved by the community.

“Despite this, the NCIP and the MGB have considered the temporary FPIC as grants to the LCMC to conduct mining activities in the area. The bogus and anti-indigenous people’s permits in Lepanto have not undergone proper processes. MPSA001 is the application grant to the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Corporation in 2000 and the MPSA151 was the permit given to the mining corporation by the NCIP itself in 1990. The conversion of the FTAA into the FPIC will involve converting these bogus permits into mining exploration.

According to oppositionists to mining exploration “attempts to convert the FPIC into FTAA considering the FPIC has not undergone constitutional processes.

“This is a clear violation to the collective rights of the Mankayan community. It seems as if the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Corporation, the MGB and NCIP are stupefying the people,” Colaling said.