August 14, 2023/Parañaque City – Ipilan Nickel Corporation (INC) urgently calls on Chairperson Allen A. Capuyan of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) for the swift withdrawal of the Cease and Desist Order (CDO) recently issued by NCIP-MIMAROPA. The company expresses its deep concern over the immediate issuance of the CDO by the Regional Director, citing an alleged deficiency in INC’s Certificate Precondition (CP), despite the company’s fruitful partnership with the indigenous community and its sincere efforts to address royalty concerns in consultations with NCIP.
In separate letters dated March 31, 2006, addressed to the Mines Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and Celestial Nickel Mining Exploration Corporation (CNMEC), the NCIP itself confirmed that the CP was no longer necessary. This affirmation comes from the understanding that CNMEC, the predecessor to INC, entered into an agreement with the government for a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) in 1993 or four years before the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) was enacted in 1997. The IPRA and its implementing rules state that existing contracts for the exploitation of natural resources within the ancestral domain continue until they expire.
While not explicitly bound by the IPRA, CNMEC engaged with the Palaw’an Indigenous Peoples/Indigenous Cultural Communities (IPs/ICCs) through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed on December 18, 2008. Building on this precedent, INC and the Palaw’an IPs/ICCs solidified their commitment through a second MOA on September 1, 2022. These agreements were meticulously administered by the NCIP, ensuring the free and prior informed consent of the indigenous peoples (IPs) to the company’s existing operations and its future MPSA renewal in 2025. In exchange, the IPs were to benefit comprehensively from their partnership with INC. The trajectory of events reflects INC’s acceptance of NCIP’s ruling that the company is exempt from CP prerequisites until the MPSA’s expiration. INC displayed its commitment by offering fair compensation, befitting royalties, or equivalents to the IPs. Unfortunately, the NCIP fell short in addressing the 2008 MOA and further complicated the approval process for the 2022 MOA.
The imposition of the CDO, amidst widespread IP support for the MOAs and the company’s operations, impedes the initiatives designed to uplift the indigenous community, spearheaded by INC. These initiatives encompass an array of essential services: scholarship grants across all levels of education, honoraria for PARA-Teachers, medical and funeral assistance, livestock allocation (goats, cows, and pigs), provision of solar panels and generator sets, and financial support for senior citizens, PWDs, and solo parents. INC has allocated over six million funds to sustain these programs. A significant thirty percent of INC’s workforce constitutes the IP community, whose livelihoods, along with their families, hinge on the company’s uninterrupted operations. Concurrently, the government benefits substantially, reaping hundreds of millions in contributions and taxes from the mining sector.
Hence, the pivotal question arises: Who truly advocates for the rights and well-being of the IP community?
INC remains actively engaged with all stakeholders, seeking a resolution of the prevailing issue while adhering to the tenets of responsible mining.