Mines Bureau affirms NVizcaya mines

QUEZON, Nueva Vizcaya: The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Region 2 (Cagayan Valley) denied issuing a certificate of non-overlap (CNO) for an area in Runruno village here being mined by a private company, saying it is not covered by an ancestral domain area.

Engineer Mario Ancheta, MGB Region 2 director, clarified that it is not the bureau that declares which area is covered or not covered by an ancestral domain but rather the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

“When the MGB said there was a certification issued of non-overlap over the area being mined by FCF Minerals Corp., the bureau was referring to a certification that was issued by the NCIP in 2007,” he said.

Ancheta cited a certification dated April 19, 2007, issued by then NCIP Region 2 Director Ruben Bastero stating, among others, that “[t]he project area of MTL Philippines/FCF Mining Corporation for exploration activities situated in Sitio Tayab and Sitio Malilibeg, Runruno, Quezon, Nueva Vizcaya do not fall within, contains the whole, nor overlaps a portion of an Ancestral Domain Area.”

With this, Ancheta said the FCF Minerals Corp. acquired a financial technical assistance agreement (FTAA) from the national government in 2009, now operating the government-approved Runruno Gold-Molybdenum Project.

The project is 205 kilometers north of Manila in the province of Nueva Vizcaya, an area that has been known to be prospective in gold and other precious metals since the early 1960s.

However, on Oct. 20, 2010, the mining area in Runruno also became the subject of a self-delineated Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) application by the Gaddang Indigenous Peoples (IPs) led by its head petitioner Engineer Santiago Bulan.

This was confirmed by lawyer Roderick Iquin, NCIP provincial officer of Nueva Vizcaya, who said that Quezon town, which covers the Runruno mine area, is included in the CADT application. The towns of Bayombong, Solano, Villaverde, Bagabag and Diadi has a total area of 75,000 hectares.

“This was the basis for our office to issue a certification that Runruno village where FCF Minerals has been operating is being claimed by the Gaddang IPs with their CADT application,” Iquin said, adding that the area applied for may be decreased due to the presence of some other claimants and opposition.

Reportedly, some individuals from the Ifugao IPs also claim some parcels of land within the Gaddang IPs CADT application in the name of Toledo Guillao and company, and Bella Guillao, with an aggregate total land area of 751,943 square meters (sqm) and 70,156 sqm, respectively.

The Guillaos are asking the NCIP central office to issue a cease and desist order against the mining company from conducting activities in the area they are claiming which they also regard as part of their ancestral domain but which is within the Gaddang IPs-delineated CADT application.

But the NCIP has said that under existing rules and regulations governing the ancestral domain of IPs, applicants for the conduct activities for the exploitation, utilization, and development of the government’s rich resources that are within an ancestral domain must first secure the free and prior informed consent of the domain holders.

Iquin said opposition to the Gaddang IP CADT application was also lodged by the local government unit (LGU) of Quezon which is now the subject of a dialogue between the IP group and the Quezon municipality.

“A dialogue is ongoing between the Gaddang IPs and Quezon LGU and, in fact, the latter has filed a verified opposition to particularly exclude Quezon town in the delineated Gaddang IPs CADT application,” Iquin said, adding “we are now in the process of settling this new development in the area with both parties.”