Let's Adventure to Mindoro!

By ROBERT A. EVORA

CALAPAN CITY — The indigenous people of Oriental Mindoro, speaking through the local office of the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), clarified reports that they were participants in a consultative assembly (CCA) held recently in Sablayan town, Occidental Mindoro.

"It (the consultation) is very misleading as far as the NCIP in Oriental Mindoro is concerned, and we have nothing to do with that FPIC (free and prior informed consent) consultation," said Reynante Luna, Oriental Mindoro NCIP provincial officer.

A statement issued by Intex Resources Philippines Inc., a mining company, said that the "Mangyans, an indigenous tribe, native to Mindoro, are now in the final stage of formalizing a memorandum of agreement that would allow a mining company to explore for nickel deposits in their ancestral lands."

"Di totoo yan (that’s not true)," Oriental Mindoro Gov. Arnan C. Panaligan said when he was informed of the MoA signing between the Mangyans and Intex executives.

"How can the Mangyans of Oriental Mindoro formalize an MoA for a free prior informed consent when they were not consulted by NCIP of the province? That consultation was held in Sablayan in Occidental Mindoro by that province’s NCIP provincial officer, and so it goes to show that our natives in Oriental Mindoro have nothing to do with that MoA the Intex people are bragging about," a local official said.

Oriental Mindoro, not Occidental Mindoro, is the impact area" of the 10,000-hectare Mindoro nickel project, operated by Intex Resources in Barangay Villa Cerveza, Victoria town, this province. "Di po namin alam ang nasabing consultation, at walang coordination sa amin (NCIP)," Luna said. "We are not questioning the process that they are undertaking, but we can’t be a part of the consultation process to protect the best interest of the indigenous people (IP) of Oriental Mindoro," Luna said.

He also said that the IPs of Oriental Mindoro were not told of that community consultative assembly held last July 12 in Occiental Mindoro.

The CCA is a process to get the FPIC as required by Republic Act No. 8371 or the Indigenous People’s Rights Act.

Mining companies are required by the law to secure FPIC before they can explore or exploit mineral resources in ancestral lands.

Earlier, Provincial Legal Officer Lorybelle M. Tanyag served a cease-and-desist order (CDO) to Engineer Narcisa Eder, Occidental Mindoro NCIP provincial officer. The CDO prevented the NCIP officer "from pursuing your consensus-building activities and any other activities in furtherance of and/or preparatory to all forms of mining operations within the territorial jurisdiction of Oriental Mindoro."