PAGADIAN City– The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) jointly issued a Cease and Desist Order (CDO) against mining operations within the Indigenous Peoples (IP) ancestral domain areas in this province.
Timuay Langhap Rio Olimpio Lingating, head of the Subanen tribes, said Monday that covered by the CDO are the mining operations in Barangays Deborok and Lourdes in this city; Barangay Mati, Tigbao; and in Barangays Langapod and Noboran, Labangan.
Lingating’s group is known as the Pikumpungan Subanen Gataw Tebed, Inc. (PSGT), which is a holder of a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT).
Alfredo Relampagos, MGB OICegional director, and Woy Lim Wong, NCIP regional director, jointly issued the CDO dated June 10 following complaints filed by the PSGT against massive intrusion by mining groups in their ancestral domain.
The complaints was coursed through MGB Director Leo Jasareno, who in turn ordered the MGB regional office headed by Relampagos to conduct an investigation.
Relampagos and Wong said the mining operations within the IPs ancestral domain are illegal and in violation of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) and the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 since there was no Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) given by the IP-CADT holders.
The Provincial Mineral Regulatory Board (PMRB) also did not issue permit to any individual to conduct mining operations within the ancestral domain of the IPs.
Lingating has expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the MGB and NCIP for taking the appropriate action putting a stop on all mining operations within their ancestral domain areas in this province. pna
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