NCIP halts gold exploration over 16,000 hectares of ancestral lands in Abra

Gold exploration by the London-based FCF Minerals Corporation subsidiary Yamang Mineral Corporation i(YMC) n Sallapadan town in Abra has been halted by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples-Cordillera Administrative Region (NCIP-CAR).

This after the people of Sallapadan, Abra via town mayor Fernando Alafriz Semanero via a letter on November 4, 2024 to Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Abra, and NCIP raised why they were not consulted on the MGB-approved exploration activities of YMC within their ancestral lands.

The IPs or the Indigenous Cultural Community (ICC) of Sallapadan, including Mayor Semanero, himself an IP as he said, were not properly consulted before the MGB granted an Authority to Verify Minerals (ATVM) to YMC.

Abra IPS, including Abra lawmaker Menchie Bernos, were earlier startled upon learning that on October 31, 2024, YMC announced it has received final approval for its exploration drilling activities in Manicbel that will affect Sallapadan, Licuan-Baay and Lacub towns.

Rep. Bernos vowed to launch a congressional inquiry on what she considered, “a serious matter among her people, considering the vastness of the coverage of the exploration that may cause a lot to the IPs, the environment, including ecological balance in (Abra).”

National President of the League of Municipalities in the Philippines (LMP) JB Bernos, also Mayor of La Paz, Abra, also aired concern after learning about the sentiments of the IPs in Sallapadan.  He said, “before anything else, priority should always be the rights of IPs on their ancestral lands.”

NCIP Cordillera Regional Director Roland P. Calde in his letter to YMC Country Manager Luke Bowden, aside from ordering the latter to “Cease-and-Desist” its activities in Sallapadan reminded YMC that it has not yet secured from the NCIP the legally-required Certificate of Pre-Condition (CP) because its exploration activities are within the ancestral domains of the IPs. 

Mayor Semanero earlier claimed that prior to the MGB’s issuance of the ATVM to YMC, the IPs or ICC observed that the mining firm already performed certain activities even without their consent. 

Calde thus stressed that under Section 59 of Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), all government agencies concerned before granting permits or any agreements must first have a certification from the NCIP.  The certification will only be issued if there is a Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of the affected IPs and ICCs.

Section 59 of Republic Act 8371 also provides that IPs/ICCs shall have the right to stop or suspend any project of a company that has not complied with the consultation process.

Calde urged Bowden of YMC to argue before the NCIP “why no legal action should be undertaken against (them)”.