Tribal families ‘displaced’ by Vizcaya mine project seek compensation

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya , Philippines– Twelve families from the Ifugao indigenous tribe have called on concerned authorities for intercession in their pursuit for compensation for their land, which a foreign mining firm now occupies. 

Marilou Nablul, daughter of one of the 12 Ifugao landowners who first leased their land to Climax Arimco Mining Corp., now OceanaGold Philippines Inc. (OGPI), alleged that the company has yet to settle their financial obligations to their families.

OGPI, a local subsidiary of the Melbourne-based OceanaGold Co., was contracted by the national government to undertake the multibillion-peso Didipio gold-copper project along the mountain border of Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino.

The Didipio project, one of the first two large-scale mining ventures approved by the Ramos administration under the 1995 Mining Act, started commercial operation in May last year following nearly two decades of exploration and construction activities.

Speaking for the “displaced” families, Nablul said that for more than a decade they have yet to fully realize the economic benefits the company had promised them when it leased their “precious land” which has now “become either chunks of boulder or deep pits.”    

Instead of fulfilling its promises, the company, she alleged, was employing “fear and intimidation” against the families, whose only plea was for “equitable” and “just compensation” for their land, which the firm is utilizing under a leased agreement.

In their manifesto, the landowners said they agreed to have their agriculture and residential land leased for the project after the firm made them believe that they would be properly financially compensated, including decent housing and livelihood.

“Instead, those who put their faith in (the company) were betrayed and even made to suffer for trusting them… We are not asking for much. We are only asking for what we deserved, for what is right,” Nablul said.

A source from the company, who requested for anonymity, said though the matter is now the subject of negotiations with the affected families. The source said they would come out with an official statement soon.

Another company insider said only six of the 12 landowners were the only remaining claimants, who have been asking for additional compensation although they were supposedly given financial assistance based on the agreed leased contract.     

Some of the claimants’ children, the insider said, were even employed with the company or its contractors providing services for the Didipio project as part of its commitment when it entered into a leased contract with the landowners in 1994.

What the landowners have been asking, according to the insider, is additional financial compensation. 

The source also denied the company has resorted to fear, harassment, intimidation and other forms of human rights violations against the claimants and other residents in the mining communities.

Such allegations, according to the source, were “baseless and unfounded,” as the company has been known for its adherence “to the rule of law and individual’s rights.”