Relief of Kalinga police chief sought

Tabuk City, Kalinga – The fate of PSS Maximino Valiente as police director of this province is now up to Camp Crame as Cordillera Police Regional Director Eugene Martin has endorsed the call of majority of the officers of the Kalinga police force and the local clergy for his immediate relief due to alleged lack of concern for the peace and order situation in the province, among other complaints.

In a phone interview, Martin said that he has recommended to the Philippine National Police (PNP) national leadership the relief of Valiente on the grounds cited in the petition signed by 15 of 18 subordinate police officers in the province and the letter of the Kalinga and Apayao Religious Sector Association (KARSA) backing the police officers’ petition.

In their petition, the police officers said that Valiente “does not seem to be concerned about the peace and order situation in the province. He holes up in his quarters and does not even ask his subordinates what is happening. The situation in the provincial office is now to each his own because there is no effective supervision and management.”

The officers also alleged that Valiente “relieves and reassigns personnel without any cause which greatly affects the morale of the PNP organization in the province.”

The officers also claimed that the exact amounts of maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) and gas allocations intended for lower units do not reach them and that the additional MOOE of stations were not given without any explanation.

In their letter of support to the police officers, the KARSA expressed deep concern over the allegation that Valiente does not seem to care about the peace and order situation in the province.

The letter quoted the police officers who approached them as saying that “they cannot work well with the kind of leadership their commander is exhibiting.”

The KARSA took note of the incidents of broad daylight murders right in the heart of the city adding that the public is crying for an end to the violence and the solution of the crimes committed.

The clergymen said that they see no hope for the situation to improve if the police force is saddled with an ineffective leadership and asked Martin for the replacement of Valiente as soon as possible “in the interest of addressing peace and order issues in the province.”

Asked for his side, Valiente who was attending a command conference in Camp Dangwa, Benguet October 3 sent a text message claiming that the petition of the police officers has been resolved as early as April and that the few who signed it have already apologized to him for signing the document.

He added that the officer who has initiated the petition is now relieved for poking a gun on a provincial board member and that his case is now pending with the Ombudsman and the Regional Internal Affair Service (RIAS).

In an earlier interview, Sangguniang Panlalawigan Member Antonio Bakilan scored Valiente’s habitual absences in the Provincial Peace and Order Council (PPOC) and the Kapehan sa Kapitolyo which he said is unusual because his predecessors religiously attended these forums.

Bakilan said that Valiente did not even attend the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) when it was held in the province and he was also a no show when the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) invited him to attend its session on September 16.

“How then could we ask questions and air our concerns directly to him? There are things that representatives could not answer. He should show up so that questions could be resolved on the spot and we could plan what to do,” Bakilan said.

Bakilan informed that the SP called Valiente and Tabuk City Chief of Police Alfredo Dangani on September 16 to ask them what they are doing with the spate of violence in the city. Only Dangani showed up, Bakilan said.

“According to Kalinga Provincial Police Office records, there were 10 murders from November 2007 to September 2008 with all the perpetrators at large and unidentified. Some of these murders were committed in broad daylight. Where is the protection the police was supposed to provide us?” Bakilan asked. **By Estanislao Albano Jr., ZZW

Geothermal exploration permit granted despite opposition

Tabuk City, Kalinga – The Department of Energy (DoE) has given the go signal to two locally based companies to prospect and tap geothermal energy in the province despite stiff opposition to the project.

Natividad Sugguiyao, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) provincial director here, informed the media that DoE Secretary Angelo Reyes has signed the geothermal service contract (GSC) in favor of the Aragorn Power and Energy Corporation (APEC) and the Guidance Management Corporation (GMC) to jointly explore for geothermal energy in some 26,250 hectares located in the municipalities of Pasil, Tinglayan and Lubuagan, all in Kalinga.

Sugguiyao clarified, however, that although the GSC covers areas in Tinglayan and Lubuagan, the exploration will only be made in Pasil until such time that the tribes in the ancestral domains affected in the two other towns will give their free and prior informed consent (FPIC) to the activity, if they ever will.

Regarding the fear raised by the oppositors that the inclusion of the tribal domains of the tribes which did not give their FPIC to the map of the project, Sugguiyao said that it is speculative even as she expressed confidence that the tribes will respect each other’s boundaries.

“Besides, there are safeguards in the MOA (memorandum of agreement) between the communities and the companies that in the event that exploration will be done in the borders with tribes who have not given their consent to the project, there will be consultations with the bodong holders (bodong enforcers) of the concerned tribes,” Sugguiyao said.

Sugguiyao said that they have conducted preliminary consultations with the affected tribes in Tinglayan and Pasil with Tulgao outrightly rejecting the project. The other tribes have yet to arrive at a consensus because in the case of Sumadel and Uma, they want to see an actual geothermal project first. As for Dananao, they said they want to consult among themselves further first.

“It’s not that they do not want the project. They just want to see if the project has no adverse effects on the community and be assured they are making the right decision,” Sugguiyao said.

The opposition to the project by members of the affected tribes in Lubuagan and Pasil centers on why the DoE included their ancestral domains in the GSC when they have not given their FPICs to the project.

“They have put the cart before the horse. Under the IPRA (Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act), an FPIC should first be obtained before any endeavor could be undertaken in an ancestral domain. The GSC should only have covered Pasil and not Tinglayan and Lubuagan,” Silverio Daluping of the Tulgao tribe of Tinglayan, one of the oppositors, told this paper.

He said that the approval of the GSC leaves them with no option but to take legal action.

“The Law Review Center of the University of the Philippines whom we have consulted said that the GSC violates the IPRA and that they will file the necessary case in court,” Daluping said.

“What the NCIP does not realize is that if the affected tribes in Lubuagan and Tinglayan will see that their lands are included in the project without their consent, they might make trouble with the tribes of Pasil who gave their consent. They might also disturb the flow of work in the project,” Daluping said.

In reaction to the statement of Sugguiyao that there are safeguards against possible misunderstandings between the tribes who gave their FPICs and those that did not in the MOA, Daluping commented that “we should not wait for something to happen before we act. Before embarking on the project, everything should be cleared first. The DoE should have altered the GSC accordingly.”

Daluping made it clear that they are not questioning the conduct of the FPIC process in Pasil but they are taking issue with the DoE for including the other ancestral domains where FPICs were not given and against NCIP for not advising the DoE accordingly.

Sugguiyao said that the GSC gives the APEC and GMC the right to explore for geothermal energy in the area and, if warranted by the results, produce geothermal energy. The two activities will have a maximum time frame of 50 years.

Sugguiyao called the project the biggest investment made in the province in recent years.

Pasil Mayor James Edduba told the media that if the estimated 60 megawatts potential of the area is realized, the geothermal operation will not only be the biggest in the country but it will make the Philippines surpass the United States as the foremost user of geothermal power in the world.

Aside from prospecting for geothermal energy, APEC is also involved in petroleum exploration in the Cagayan Basin while GMC also holds the GSC for the Amacan Geothermal Prospect in Compostela Valley and two Coal Operating Contracts.

Edduba and Sugguiyao informed that the entry of the GMC into Pasil in 2006 was attended with controversy because it started to explore without first undergoing the process required by the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA).

They said that because of the offense, the firm was fined by the Balatoc and Colayo tribes in the amount P1M in the form of community projects in 2007.

The process of obtaining the consent of the affected tribes was undertaken in 2007 and the Pasil tribes finally gave their FPICs for the project on February 8, 2008. **By Estanislao Albano Jr., ZZW