NCIP censures mining firm for IP law breach

BAGUIO CITY (November 17, 2024)—Tribal rights agency National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) in the Cordillera censured Yamang Minerals Corporation (YMC) a subsidiary of London-based miner FCF Minerals Corporation, for violating Republic Act 8371 (IPRA) when it failed to secure prior consent from indigenous communities before engaging in mineral exploration in Sallapadan, Abra.



NCIP-Cordillera said, the affected indigenous peoples whose rights over their ancestral land at stake, are the ones to give consent, not the agency, in response to the letter of YMC, which previously acquired an Authority to Verify Minerals (ATVM) from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) Cordillera.

The tribal rights body, which is now under the Office of the President (OP), strongly rued YMC’s defiance of the Cease-and-desist order (CDO) of the latter’s mineral exploration activities over the ancestral domain of the Tingguians in Sallapadan, Abra, because no IPRA-required Free Prior Informed and Consent (FPIC) from the affected IPs of Sallapadan was obtained.

The NCIP further told YMC it has no Certificate of Pre-Condition (CP) from the agency, which is a violation of IPRA.

Sallapadan town Mayor Fernando Alafriz Semanero earlier this month complained that YMC was able to obtain ATVM from the MGB without properly consultating with the affected communities, prompting Abra lawmaker Menchie Bernos to seek a House Inquiry this week, she said, “is concerning considering the vastness of the mining application and its eventual effect on Abra’s environment and the IPs.”

But YMC blamed the NCIP “caused the inordinate delay” of the issuance of a CP and FPIC. It insisted it undertook proper processes. “We reserve our right to any appropriate remedies should you insist on the implementation on the implementation of the Cease and Desist Order and your threat of imposing sanctions attached to the CDO," YMC argued. The miner also reiterated it did not violate the IPRA law.

But NCIP stood firm “the FPIC process consists of several procedures to obtain the 'consent' of the IP communities concerned on ancestral domains subject of the application. Such consent is not 'automatic', it added.

The NCIP further reminded YMC that the IP communities in the ancestral domains affected are the ones to give consent after series of negotiations between the company and the IPs, not the agency.

NCIP vowed it will challenge the legality of the issuance of the ATVM of the YMC and further reiterated its CDO, warning legal repercussions and possibly violent incidents within affected communties in Abra if the miner continues defying it.

Mayor Semanero and La Paz town Mayor JB Bernos, national president of the League of Mayors in the Philippines (LMP) hailed NCIP’s “firmness in standing up to its mandate of protecting the rights and welfare of the indigenous peoples.”

YMC’s ATVM is on an expanse of 16,200 hectares of ancestral lands in Sallapadan, Licuan-Baay, Lacub and Malibcong towns.