Tension mounts between Nueva Vizcaya tribal folk, mining company

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – Tension mounts in the remote mountain town of Dupax del Norte as tribal villagers opposed to a mining project have put up barricades along the road leading to the exploration site.

A national environmentalist group, Kalikasan-Peoples’ Network for the Environment (PNE), said hundreds of Bugkalot, Kankanaey, Ifugao and Kalanguya folk man the barricades along an alternate route to Barangays Pao and Kakiduguen, leading to the exploration site of the Australian firm Royalco Philippines.

Royalco is now using the route via Barangay Yabbi in Dupax del Norte to go to its exploration site after some Church-backed anti-mining villagers blocked its original route from Barangay Pacquet to Pao.

According to Kalikasan, it has received reports that Royalco, armed with an exploration permit from the national government, would try to force its way to Barangay Pao through Yabbi after it was prevented from using the route via Barangay Pacquet despite a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the court ordering the anti-mining villagers to allow the mining firm’s equipment to pass through.

“Tension and confrontation may ensue if the mining firm insists on bringing in its drilling equipment into the ancestral lands of the indigenous tribes in Kasibu,” said Kalikasan-PNE national coordinator Clemente Bautista,

Meanwhile, Royalco said it would not force its way into its exploration site, saying the anti-mining groups were the ones preventing its legitimate operation.

Royalco holds a government permit to explore deposits of gold and other metals in Barangays Pao and Kakiduguen.

The company earlier filed a case against several anti-mining proponents, including former Pao village chief Mariano Maddela, for obstructing its exploration, resulting in losses amounting to millions of pesos.

Royalco also filed a contempt case against Kasibu Mayor Romeo Tayaban, a known anti-mining advocate, for his refusal to assist court officials in serving the TRO.

Earlier, the regional office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) affirmed its ruling that Royalco’s entry into the mining site had the endorsement of Bugkalot residents.

The NCIP disputed claims by anti-mining villagers that the endorsement did not reflect the real sentiments of the entire community.