Abra lawmaker seeks probe into 'unconsulted' exploration on ancestral lands

BAGUIO CITY — Abra lawmaker Menchie Bernos is initiating a congressional investigation into how a permit was issued to a London-based mining company’s subsidiary to explore minerals in  Sallapadan town in Abra without first consulting affected indigenous communities.

“There is a growing concern of the indigenous peoples of  Sallapadan as their ancestral land is at stake," Rep. Bernos raised after the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department Environment and Natural Resources (MGB-DENR) granted Authority to Verify Minerals (ATVM) to Yamang Mineral Corporation (YMC).

On 31 October 2024, YMC, a subsidiary of London-based FCF Minerals Corp., announced it has received final approval for its exploration drilling activities in Manicbel that will affect the lands of the Tingguians of  Sallapadan and also in Licuan-Baay and Lacub towns.

“We have to go into the bottom of things because this is serious, considering the vastness of the coverage of the exploration that may cause a lot to the IPs, the environment, including ecological balance in the province,” the lady lawmaker stressed after seeking detailed information from Sallapadan town Mayor Fernando Alafriz Semanero, who wrote the MGB, DENR Abra, and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) seeking why the IPs or the Indigenous Cultural Community (ICC), including him, were not consulted before the permit was approved.

“Following the grant of ATVM to YMC, there is a significant number of members from the indigenous people (IP) or indigenous cultural community (ICC) not only from the affected areas of  Sallapadan, but also from the rest of the barangays in the Municipality who are now airing their concerns and disapproval of mining in of Sallapadan," Mayor Semanero claimed in his letter to the NCIP and MGB on 4 November 2024.

Semanero had stressed that as the highest leader in Sallapadan and as an IP himself, it is his duty to air the sentiments of his people and bring them to the attention of concerned agencies.

IPs and the ICC of  Sallapadan seek to suspend the ATVM awarded to YMC since NCIP’s Administrative Order No. 3 series of 2012, or The Revised Guidelines on the Exercise of FPIC and Related Processes, was not complied, Semanero explained.

Semanero further complained that prior to the MGB’s issuance of the ATVM to YMC, the IPs or ICC observed that the mining firm already performed certain activities even without their consent.  He said that because of this, the people cannot help but question the intentions and methods of YMC.

He stressed that people should be consulted and their consent be sought to avoid conflicts and misunderstandings between the IPs, the ICCs, and the mining firm.

FCF also has an existing metals exploration operation in Runruno, Quezon, Nueva Vizcaya.

The Manicbel project, aside from Sallapadan, also covers Licuan-Baay and Lacub towns. Its tenement area, with a strike length of approximately 20 kilometers, covers an area of 16,200 hectares.

It has reported that it has completed pre-exploration activities, including geochemical soil analysis, mapping, and airborne geophysics in Manicbel. It added that drilling will start within the next three weeks when the drill pads and other pre-drilling activities are completed.

A second diamond drill rig has also been prepared and is ready to mobilize, subject to confirmation of mineralization and a decision to extend the drill program, YMC reported.

FCF also claimed before the year-end, it is planning four initial drill holes with the aim to complete this drilling program," the company said, adding that the drill program's objective beyond the identification of mineralization is to compile an initial resource estimate by the third quarter of 2025.

The National President of the League of Mayors in the Philippines (LMP), JB Bernos, and also the mayor of La Paz, Abra, expressed deep concern over the issuance of the YMC exploration permit, even if there are negative sentiments from the IPs. A no-nonsense probe must be launched because “(our) priority are the rights of the people on their ancestral lands,” he stressed.