Mine firm accused of shortchanging tribe

IN THIS file photo, workers at OceanaGold Philippines Inc.’s gold-copper project in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya province, undergo routine security checks before entering the mining site in the village of Didipio. MELVIN GASCON/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Members of the Ifugao community in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya, have assailed the alleged betrayal and deceit by an Australian mining company, which is operating a gold-copper mining project there, for the firm’s refusal to pay more for their lands.

A group of Ifugao residents in the upland village of Didipio said OceanaGold Philippines Inc. continued to ignore their plea for additional compensation for the lands that they gave up in favor of the company 15 years ago.

“We are not asking for so much,” Lolita Nicano said. “What we are asking for is additional payment to make things fair and just for all of us in Didipio who sold our rights to the company. After all, that is what they promised us,” she said.

Since last week, the Inquirer has been trying to get an official statement from OceanaGold.

But a top company official here declined to issue a statement as he was not authorized to do so by the OceanaGold board based in Melbourne, Australia.

P50,000 per hectare

The 5.5-hectare property, formerly owned by the Nicano family, is part of an area in the subvillage of Bacbacan that sits on the Didipio project’s main gold and copper deposit.

The claimants are 12 landowners who were the first set of Didipio residents to yield their rights over their land to Mamparang Foundation, which was composed of officers of Climax Arimco Mining Corp. (CAMC), OceanaGold’s predecessor.

In 1999, the 12 families supposedly received P50,000 per hectare as lease payment for their lands from Mamparang Foundation as compensation. Members of the families were also given jobs while their children were given scholarships, Nicano said.

“Our families were much hated by the community back then because we were the most vocal and strongest supporters of the [mining project]. Now, we are being ignored by the company for which we gave our loyalty for the past several years,” said Marilou Nablol, a former village council member.

But the group soon felt they were shortchanged after they discovered that other landowners were paid as much as P10 million per hectare, she said.

“The disparity is so great that we believe we deserve more than what we had received,” Nablol said.

Feb. 1 letter

The complainants are basing their claim on a Feb. 1, 1999, letter from Robert Gregory, then CAMC vice president for mine development.

“Allow me to assure you, in writing, that any further benefit that is related to selling of land to landowners who, in the future, sell their land will be offered to you,” the letter said.

The group said it has relayed their appeal in a joint sworn statement sent to OceanaGold’s headquarters in Melbourne last month but they have not received any response since.

In a statement, the group said OceanaGold violated their “right to residence, to adequate housing and property rights” when the firm evicted them from their lands without a valid court order and without provision for adequate relocation.

Erenio Bobbola Sr., former village chair, said he rejected the firm’s “final offer” of P1.4 million for his 7-ha property. The offer was made in a letter by Brennan Lang, OceanaGold’s operations manager at the Didipio site.

‘Like a beggar’

“I calmly talked to [Lang], hoping to bargain for a higher price, but he told me that was all he can give me. He treated me like I was a beggar,” Bobbola said.

The group had resolved to reject Lang’s final offer, which, they described as “unfair compensation.”

“Some of these lands, which used to be hills with rice terraces, were already leveled … and therefore no longer fit for agricultural use by the time [OceanaGold] reverts the lands to their original owners,” they said.