What the people truly want

The 30-member strong Brooke’s Point Tribal Leaders Federation (BPTLF) from Palawan has found an ally in the True Alliance of Reporters and Lawyers Against Crime (TARLAC), which has volunteered its legal services for the tribal leaders representing some 3,000 indigenous people from five barangays in Brooke’s Point to help fight for their cause.

The BPTLF led by Renila Dulay and Agustin Bacosa is filing charges against officials of the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) for unreasonably sitting on the issuance of a certificate of pre-condition (CPC) which would pave way for the mining operations of MacroAsia Corp. in Brooke’s Point.

TARLAC through its Chair Atty. Oliver Lozano and Vice-Chair Atty. Vic Millora came to the rescue of the BPTLF upon learning that the tribal leaders had to come to Manila the other week, stayed for five days and held a vigil in front of the NCIP office just to be able to talk the NCIP officials, Commissioner Dionesia Banua in particular, to discuss their problem.

 The CPC serves as the social acceptance document for the mining project which should be issued 15 days upon submission of the report dated April 28, 2010 on free and prior informed consent (FPIC) undertaken in March 2010. The FPIC report has been gathering dust at the office of Banua, a known anti-mining advocate from Palawan before she was appointed to the NCIP last November.

To resolve questions raised on the conduct of the FPIC, NCIP Chairman Roque Agton, composed and sent a validating team to the area. The validation report dated May 5, 2011 which confirmed the earlier FPIC report was submitted to the commission on the second day of the five-day vigil of the tribal leaders who moved to the lobby of the Camelot hotel where NCIP was holding an en banc meeting.

Among the members of the validation team was Arestico Banua, husband of Commissioner Banua, who refused to sign the validation report obviously in line with his wife’s stand.

The tribal leaders say that Banua is working for the interest of an anti-mining group in Palawan rather than pushing for projects which would benefit thousands of indigenous people.

 According to TARLAC president and spokesperson Pepz Guerrero, NCIP officials could be charged for violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standard for Government Employees (RA 6713) and the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019).

Aside from the unjustified and doubtful delay in the issuance of the CPC for MacroAsia, some 100 high school and college students failed to enroll this year due to extreme poverty and more than 250 grade school students were not given their school supplies for this year since MacroAsia’s commitment to send the students to schools through a scholarship program starts upon issuance of the CPC.

Earlier, the BPTLF trooped to the Department of Justice to seek help on building up charges against the Banuas and the NCIP officials linked to the much-delayed issuance of the CPC. DOJ prosecutors told the group to seek legal assistance from public interest lawyers who could render pro-bono services for them.

The Office of the Legal Aid of the University of the Philippines has also expressed interest in providing free legal services to the tribal leaders.

Meanwhile, House Rep. Teddy Baguilat who chairs the committee on minorities said he would look into conflicting claims of tribal groups to resolve the issues in Palawan on the legitimacy of representation.

 It has been alleged that 10 indigenous people claiming to be tribal chieftains but who have failed to present accreditation from the NCIP provincial office in Palawan have been misrepresenting tribal groups in Palawan against mining.

Decisive head badly needed

For a long time, the body tasked to investigate erring public officials seemed to be in a stagnant mode.

Now, there is a chance for the government to recover some P55 million worth of unexplained wealth of former military comptroller Lt Gen Jacinto Ligot and his family after acting Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro ordered the holding of forfeiture proceedings against the former.

The forfeiture proceedings will allow the government to repossess the numerous bank deposits and investments which were allegedly part of the Ligots’ unexplained wealth.

At least now, we know that someone is really in charge in the Office of the Ombudsman.

Just days before his assumption, Casimiro ordered the dismissal of his colleague deputy Ombudsman Emilio Gonzalez III, in line with President Aquino’s orders. It will be recalled that former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez refused to take cognizance of Aquino’s order and even acquitted Gonzalez.

Also, the Office of the Ombudsman finally acted on the case of Local Water Utilities Administration chair Prospero Pichay who was meted a six-month preventive suspension for his alleged misuse of LWUA funds in the acquisition of a troubled thrift bank in 2008.

Also recently, the said office filed criminal charges against former governors of Nueva Ecija and Camarines Norte and other ranking provincial officials.

 Former governor Tomas Joson III, incumbent Bongabon Mayor Amelia Gamilla, and former Mayor Eduardo Basilio Joson were charged with two counts of violation of the anti-graft law for giving unwarranted benefit or preference to municipalities whose local chief executives were allies of Joson.

 The acting Ombudsman also ordered the filing of charges against former Governor Jesus Typoco, Jr., provincial health officer Arnulfo Salagoste, general services office OIC Noel Reyes, GSO Buyer II Aida Pandeagua, and Angelina Cabrera, owner-representative of Cabrera’s Drugstore and Medical Supply in Daet, Camarines Norte, for violation of RA 3019 and for falsifying public documents.

With 21 years of dedicated government service tucked in Casimiro’s belt, we can now expect more from the Office of the Ombudsman under his helm.

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