Tuba, Benguet– The decade-old conflict among the seven factions of the indigenous peoples organization (IPO) of Alapang, Pukis, Sta. Fe, Oliba and Luacan (IPO-APSOL) was finally resolved after the contending families and clans decided to unite as legitimate partners of investors in the utilization of the resources within their ancestral domain.
Commissioner Gaspar Cayat of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) said that took more than a year for him to painstakingly mediate among members of each of the factions to inculcate in them the need to unite for their communities to avail of benefits under their 25-year memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Philex Mining Corporation as the same had been stalled for at least ten years.
“We have to give credit to the members of each of the factions of the organization for getting their acts together and put to work the conditions of their agreement with the mining company for the benefit of present and future generations of their people in their communities,” Commissioner Cayat stressed.
He disclosed that ‘apsol’ or ‘aphol’ in Kalanguya means unity and the IPO that will be revived will not focus on the acronym of the six sitios but will be an IPO for peace, unity and development.
The NCIP official claimed that based on the structure of organization agreed upon by the contending factions, there will be a council of elders as the highest decision-making body of the group with 12 standing committees under it, aside from executive officers, pursuant to the indigenous political structure to ensure check and balance in contrast to the previous set up where the executive officers were also the policy and decision-makers.
In 2008, IPO-APSOL entered into an agreement with Philex Mining Corporation giving its consent for the company to conduct mining operations within its ancestral domain in exchange for a 1.25 percent annual royalty to be deposited by the company in the official account of the group and that the disbursement shall be pursuant to standing rules and regulations and that the projects will translate to the benefit of the communities.
However, the conflict-marred organization was eventually delisted from the accredited associations with the NCIP after its certificate of registration was cancelled.
Cayat stated that the NCIP en banc approved in principle last week the intention of the unified organization to re-apply, thus, it was granted the reinstatement application pending the submission of the documentary requirements.
According to him, it was the primacy of customary laws and practices that prevailed in the said case because the members of each of the factions adhered to the principles and process of the so-called ‘tongtongan,’ an age-old and time-honoured tradition among IPs for the settlement of disputes that will end up beneficial to all those involved.
Commissioner Cayat pointed out that it is important for the IPs to be given the fresh start and a new mandate to deal with investors with the emphasis that the IPs should serve as partners of investors in the exploitation and utilization of resources within their domain. By Hent