September 27, 2023 I Through the directives of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Chairperson Jennifer Pia Sibug-Las, the NCIP, National Irrigation Authority (NIA) and Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/Ips) of Bugkalot/Ilongot signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on the implementation of community-identified development projects under the corporate social responsibility of NIA and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM). The MOA signing took place at the NIA Matikas Multipurpose Hall, Ground Floor at NIA Central Office. 

 

When the contract of the former concessionaire California Energy (CE) of the CMIPP expired on December 11, 2021, the IPs and NCIP demanded from NIA and PSALM, co-owners of the facility, to undergo FPIC. The latter argued that they are not covered under FPIC since they will only be temporary taking over the facility in a transition period prior to the awarding of the winning bidder for the next concessionaire on the operations and maintenance (O&M) of the facility. They gave to a private entity, Soosan, a Korean company, the temporary O&M. This snag between NCIP and IPs on one side and NIA and PSALM on the other side, led to a series of barricades preventing the Engineers from NIA, PSALM and Soosan from entering the premises, and the arrest and filing of cases in the courts and generated media mileage. The prevention of ingress and egress of technical experts for the O&M threatened the power supply of Luzon and the irrigation of thousands of hectares of rice fields in Region 3. This episodal conflict reached Malacañang and NTF-ELCAC. 

 

A breakthrough came when in October 2022, NIA invited the leaders of IPs and NCIP for a meeting. It was offered that in lieu of FPIC, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) will be implemented in the IP communities and the conduct of FPIC shall be a requirement for the next concessionaire to comply.  This was accepted by the IPs and series of meetings followed. The negotiation of the Memorandum of Agreement took some time and was eventually approved. Workshops of NCIP and the IP communities were also held for the financial and operational plan, most especially the community development projects. It also set the rules and guidelines to prevent the abuse in the use of the funds and benefits accruing to the IP Community coming from the 1.5% of the annual net income from the operations of CMIPP.

 

The journey of this controversy came to its end through the MOA signing with the following signatories – Engr. Neil Gullien from NIA, former Chairperson and Ethnographic Commissioner for Regions XI and XIII Allen Capuyan for NCIP and IP elder/leader Antonio Pasigian from the Bugkalot/Ilongot ICCs/IPs. In the meantime, as part of bidding documents published by PSALM/NIA, for the next concession of CMIPP, indicates the requirement of a FPIC for the winning bidder.