NCIP ‘abuses’ killing Phl tourism – investor

MANILA, Philippines - Abuses allegedly committed by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) are turning foreign investors away amid the government’s renewed efforts to promote tourism, a local investor said yesterday.

“They are a republic by themselves,” said Orlando Sacay, who helped develop Boracay but later transferred his investments to Coron in Palawan.

Sacay said the NCIP has allegedly been using indigenous peoples to extort money from owners of resorts and tourist spots.

He said in 2013, local residents – Tagbanuas – were allegedly demanding P10 million for the issuance of a free and prior informed consent (FPIC), a permit required from a local investor to develop his own property.

The IPs reportedly required investors to first secure an FPIC although they have yet to obtain a certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT), which shows they owned the property.

“I bought my property from the Tagbanuas for millions of pesos,” Sacay said, noting that he was puzzled why they wanted payment done in front of an NCIP official when he was willing to deposit the money to their cooperative.

“This is clearly a legalized extortion,” he told The STAR.

A letter has been sent to Undersecretary Ma. Victoria Jasmin of the Department of Tourism in January this year about the alleged abuses.

Sacay said he smells something fishy over the incident, noting several investors have allegedly been victimized by such a scheme.

He said one of the victims was an exclusive resort in the area whose owner was forced to shell out P2.5 million in front of an NCIP official.

Residents are reportedly aware of the incident, according to 74-year-old Ted Sablada, who was told that investments would pour in if the IPs wouldn’t make such demands from local and foreign investors.

“The local tourism industry is reeling as they (IPs) treat tourist destinations as their own. Worst, they would first let the resort be developed and midway, they would make demands,” a resident told The STAR.

Defying the SC

Among the abuses the NCIP reportedly committed was its defiance of a Supreme Court order that allowed the Baguio City government to remove squatters and illegal structures at a watershed.

On Feb. 19, the high court cited the NCIP-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) for contempt for issuing a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the demolition of illegal structures at the Busol watershed.

 NCIP-CAR hearing officer Brain Masweng was found guilty of indirect contempt and fined P100,000.

Sacay, who is seeking a repeal of some of the provisions in the Indigenous People’s Rights Act, expressed alarm on how the NCIP could easily issue a TRO on request of one alleged claimant.

 On March 5, Sablada said around 200 Tagbanuas held a protest-rally when the NCIP issued a TRO against Hikari SSP Demo Farm after its water lease agreement was questioned.