The relatively peaceful municipality of Conner in Apayao was disrupted by the entry of corporate mining applications in the year 2005, particularly by the Cordillera Exploration Inc., a subsidiary of Anglo-American. This started when representatives from local and regional offices of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) conducted community consultations with regard to the Exploration Permit Application (EXPA #037) of CEXI covering a total of 9, 332 hectares of land in the barangays (villages) of Calafug, Puguin, Cupis and Karikitan in Conner including the Tawang and Buaya communities in Balbalan, Kalinga. The community consultations for information dissemination and acquisition of peoples’ consent started on April 2005.

Conner is one among the 7 municipalities of Apayao, which is composed of 21 barangays in three districts. Conner was originally inhabited by the Isneg and Kalinga ethnolinguistic groups until migration to the area allowed entry of other ethnolinguistic groups from the other provinces of the Cordillera and the nearby provinces of Cagayan and Ilocos. Agriculture is the main source of livelihood in the municipality.

On the province’s 11th founding anniversary, Congressman Elias Bulut welcomed the entry of large-scale mining, which he believes will uplift the Apaya’s economic conditions. Bulut is eyeing the mining potentials of the province. He believes that all seven municipalities of Apayao have mineral reserves that should be tapped.

SAPO, consultations, MOA signing
After its formation on July 2005, the Save Apayao People’s Movement (SAPO) now leads the crusade in Apayao province to protect the Apayao indigenous peoples’ ancestral domain and resources, and collective rights. The SAPO is a result of an educational seminar on the impacts of corporate mining which the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) provided when the people of Conner municipality requested for an input on mining education.

SAPO has documented the supposed consultations that took place with the concerned communities initiated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The third consultation with the community of Cupis was documented by representatives of the NCIP Provincial office. Cupis community members have claimed that they were not furnished with a copy of the third consultation’s documentation despite a request for such addressed to the NCIP from the provincial office of NCIP. It can be recalled that the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between Cupis Barangay and CEXI followed after the third consultation.

During the consultations with the three affected communities, representatives of NCIP and MGB presented the supposed benefits the community would be entitled to once the project commences, which included employment, schooling for the employees’ children, hospital access, and road construction and improvement. The communities were also promised to receive a total amount of one hundred thousand pesos (P100, 000) each.

In the second consultation on June 2005, the communities of Karikitan and Cupis officially registered their opposition to any mining activity in their area, particularly to CEXI’s mineral exploration. Copies of the petitions were submitted to the NCIP Regional Office in Benguet and to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Baguio City. Karikitan was then removed from the areas applied for by the company. However, the opposition of Cupis was not recognized by the concerned agencies.

Despite the opposition of Cupis, a third consultation followed, where selected barangay officials and individuals were the only ones invited to discuss with the DENR, NCIP, and the CEXI. The agencies upheld on this event that the rest of the community, which did not have representation at the third consultation, maintained a position of YES to the mineral exploration while the community people who did not attend the consultation claim that they wanted to boycott the activity and that their stand is NO. Thus, on October 29, 2005 a “Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)” was allegedly “forged” by the CEXI and the affected barangays of Cupis, Calafug, and Puguin.

The SAPO reported that one of the 14 signatories was recognized not to be resident of any of the communities involved. Furthermore, the names of the elders identified during the third consultation did not appear to be the same names in the written MOA. Furthermore, there was no venue for the MOA contents to be discussed with the rest of the communities.

The series of events only indicate that the MOA signing was a sham and not a collective decision of community members. This is contradictory to one of the specific provisions of the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act which states that consent from indigenous peoples should be in the form of a consensus.

Certificate of compliance
On February 10, 2006, a Certificate of Compliance was issued by the NCIP-Manila office to CEXI despite the opposition of the three communities. This was issued after CEXI was assessed by NCIP to have complied with the requirements for Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and Certificate Precondition. This was issued despite of the fact that the affected communities submitted their petition to the NCIP national office.

In the Compliance Certificate, it was stated that CEXI commits to the following:
? One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000.00) for every Barangay before the exploration activities begin and other P100, 000 on the second year whether or not the company will continue with their exploration on the second year.
? Environmental Consideration
? Cultural sensitivity
? Non-diminution / non-limitation of rights and obligations
? Just and fair compensation of affected individual land claimants / owners
? Provision of community benefits
? Payment of all damages for the loss of crops to each individual land owner
? Rehabilitation of irrigation system should the rice paddies of sitios Bassao and Mabanawag dry up or be directly damaged or indirectly by the exploration activities
? At the end of the two-year exploration period, CEXI should furnish the council of elders, LGU of Balbalan and the NCIP detailed technical data report and/or feasibility report on the results of its exploration activities.

In the SAPO Mining Forum and Special Assembly held from February 17 to 18 in Caglayan, Conner, some 200 participants from different sectors (local government unit, government employees, youth and students, professionals, religious groups, and peasants) in the municipality discussed ways to further oppose the exploration of CEXI. As result of the activity, a petition paper on the participants’ position on CEXI’s activities was drafted, while radio interviews with the local radio stations were aired.

During the assembly, SAPO member Inocencio Lopez said that CEXI called for a meeting on February 17 for the employment of local residents in Barangay Calafug. Here, it was announced that laborers will be paid P200 daily wage, and those who attended this meeting were given P100 each. The next day, February 18, laborers were promised P250 daily wages provided they bring their own packed meals. Prior to the hiring of laborers, exploration activities of CEXI have already started.

While the Certificate of Compliance was awarded to CEXI on February 10, the affected communities were only informed about it on March 26 after a news story was published in the Sunstar Baguio.

This development prompted the concerned individuals and communities to know more of their basic rights and welfare, especially with the account of how CEXI maneuvered its way into the concerned communities.

Through SAPO, a human rights orientation and paralegal training was conducted in Conner from March 17 to 18 with the DINTEG (Cordillera Indigenous Peoples Legal Center), Legal Rights and Resources Center (LRC), and the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA).

Mining history in the Cordillera has shown that human rights violations are bound to occur with the entry of destructive projects. There is looming danger with the presence of the CEXI and its continued operations. As such, more protests from the concerned communities are expected this year with the ongoing exploration of CEXI. # Sarah K. Dekdeken