BY LEANDER C. DOMINGO
QUEZON, Nueva Vizcaya (June 13)—A national government-sanctioned British mining corporation in Barangay Runruno here over the weekend said it has suffered losses and is on the verge of losing $6.2 million (P328 million) more this month as a result of its failure to access part of its contract area claimed by “surface occupants” and others tagged as “illegal settlers.”
FCF Minerals Corp. said it cannot fully operate and exercise its mining rights over the mining contract area as the company is being prevented by occupants who claim to have a right over the area and are entitled to just compensation.
“Also because the company does not have full access to the area due to resistance from surface occupants, there is already an instability against the slope of the remaining knob, which might fail both sides of the slope due to lack of buttressing and anchoring,” FCF Minerals said in a statement.
These and other factors, according to the company, are also creating a threat to the safety of the people working within the area.
As surface occupants of the mine contract area, some members of the Guillao family in Runruno and other illegal settlers also claim to be holders of a tenurial instrument as members of an indigenous cultural community.
They said FCF Minerals should secure the free prior and informed consent (FPIC) of the tribal migrants of the village.
The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), however, noted that the project area of MTL Philippines or FCF Minerals Corp. which is situated in Runruno village, particularly in the sub-villages of Tayab and Malilibeg, “does not fall within, contains the whole, nor overlaps a portion of an ancestral domain.”
As early as Nov. 16, 2007, the NCIP has already decided in a case filed by the Runruno Landowners Association Inc. against FCF Mining Corp. that an FPIC is not applicable as the mining contract area is not part of an ancestral domain of any tribal group in the area.
The association then petitioned the NCIP for injunction and prohibition with preliminary injunction with prayer of temporary restraining order against respondent FCF Minerals, among others, but was dismissed for lack of merit.
“Respondent [FCF Minerals Corp. et. al] cannot be directed to secure the Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) of the tribal migrants of Runruno, Quezon, Nueva Vizcaya, who [do] not own an ancestral domain,” the NCIP stated in its decision.
This was also confirmed by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources sub-office in Bayombong town in this province, which issued a certification dated March 22, 2022, that the subject property in the mining area claimed by the Guillao family members and others is found to be within timberland, and thus, owned by the state and not private property.
According to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Region 2 (Cagayan Valley) headed by Director Mario Ancheta, FCF Minerals Corp. is a holder of a financial or technical assistance agreement (FTAA) issued in 2009 giving it the exclusive right over the mine contract area consisting of more than 3,000 hectares located at Runruno village.
Ancheta explained that the FTAA, which FCF entered into with the government as a mining contractor, gave the company the right to enter the subject property for purposes of mining for the government.
Meanwhile, FCF Minerals said because the company is now in the commercial operation period of its FTAA, it needs to use additional portions of the contract area for the expansion of its mining operations.
It added that as early as 2015, it commenced negotiations with the Guillao family members, among others, for the compensation of their improvement and their other surface rights in the area but they demanded exorbitant values for the property they occupied.
Because of the failure of the negotiations, FCF Minerals in the same year requested the MGB Region 2 to allow its entry into the subject untitled property to conduct its mining operations.
It also applied for the bond to enter by posting the amount of P500,000, and on Jan. 8, 2019, MGB Region 2 approved the company’s application for bond to enter public land, allowing FCF entry to operate within the subject forest land occupied by the Guillao family and other illegal settlers.
Based on the MGB’s Mine Management Division assessment report dated Aug. 3, 2015, which provided that the value of the property found in the subject area is worth P320,010, the approved bond amounting to P500,000 shows that it is more than enough to cover the possible damage over the improvements.
FCF Minerals said despite compliance with all the requirements by the company allowing it to enter the lands within the contract area under its FTAA, the Guillao family, among other settlers, still refuses to vacate, thus delaying an economic development project of the government of which it is the contractor.