NCIP says FPIC for Mankayan investor resumes this month The regional director of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples last week said the free, prior, and informed consent process to determine the consensus of Mankayan communities towards the Far Southeast Gold Resources Inc. will resume this June. “It is now or never,” said NCIP Regional Director Sancho Bocquing, as he appealed anew to the affected communities of Mankayan to allow the FPIC process to be implemented. “It is an important requirement we have to undergo to determine once and for all the consensus of town folk towards the project,” he said. “If the people would eventually say yes, then let the project proceed but if it is rejected, so be it.” by Jimmy Laking He said the resumption of the FPIC process will be done in consultation with incoming and outgoing local officials as well as with the FSGRI. At the same time, he said a relocation survey that was supposed to be conducted by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in April was suspended due to the opposition of some residents. The relocation survey was supposed to start first with the boundaries of Barangay Balili. He said the survey will remain suspended despite an appeal from the Mankayan Ancestral Domain Indigenous Peoples Organization to resume it. Bocquing said the resumption of the FPIC will involve more personnel and more resources to speed up the process. The FSGRI had requested for the relocation survey of the areas covered by a portion of Mineral Production Sharing Agreement 001 consisting of 305 hectares and portions of MPSA 151 comprising of 82 hectares. The FSGRI has sought to merge parts of MPSA 151 with MPSA 001 in its application for a Financial Technical Assistance Agreement that would enable the entry of Goldfields to invest in Mankayan. The conduct of the FPIC has been stalled several times as groups and individuals opposed to the drilling resorted to activities that prevented government agencies from pushing through with the process. Last year, protesters have set up picket lines that barred the company from conducting drilling operations in its Madaymen property. Violence errupted in September last year when protesters threw rocks and stones preventing sheriffs from implementing the writ of preliminary injunction, even if members of the provincial police escorted them. To protect both camps, the sheriffs and the police called off implementation of the order.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 21:38:58 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015