MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/28 September) – Indigenous peoples need to know and should demand full disclosure of the impact of mining projects on their environment, culture, and economic conditions before deciding on the proposed entry of such projects in their communities, Commissioner Janette Serranoof the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) said.

“What is imperative is equitable benefit sharing,” Serrano-Reisland said.

The commissioner, who spoke at the First Mindanao Tribal Summit here over the weekend, also said it is imperative to educate the indigenous communities on climate change.

“We must make sure they are afforded an informed decision to give consent,” she stressed in an interview with MindaNews, adding at least a hundred of some 200 certificates of precondition issued last year by the NCIP were for mining activities.

A CP is proof of the conduct and granting of a free and prior informed consent, which allows a proponent to proceed with a project in an indigenous community.

She added that many of these mining-based CPs covered areas in Mindanao, mostly in Region 10 and the Caraga region.

Though the rate of issuances has slowed down there is no assurance the Lumads really gave an “informed consent,” she said.

NCIP serves as third party facilitator in FPIC processes but it could not exercise full control and assure the processes were not rigged, Serrano-Reisland explained.

“The process we follow is really stringent. But since FPIC is also on the community building side, much of the deliberation does not depend on us,” she added.

She said that while they try to ensure that the Lumads fully understand the project proposed there would always be attempts by mining firms to manipulate (the process) by offering bribes to tribal leaders.

She cited as one problem the proliferation of tribal dealers.

The tribal elders either lead in the conduct of the process or let their communities decide, but in both cases it is easily manipulated owing to lack of safeguards, she said.

Many tribal dealers and even leaders are attracted to such perks as acquiring cellular phones and motorcycles and even being treated to meetings in expensive hotels, she said.

She said this had caused divisions and conflicts in IP communities undergoing an FPIC process.

But Serrano-Reisland admitted that even NCIP officials have been party to the problem, with many of them influencing decisions of the IPs.

“Some of the IP leaders unfortunately depend on the NCIP for their decisions,” she said.

The commissioner presented the issue of environment in relation to FPIC processes which had been posed to the NCIP commission en banc.

“We have no jurisdiction on environment; we know it’s with the DENR,” she said.

But it should be a major consideration when talking about culture, as there is no boundary between environment and culture among indigenous peoples, she added.

Lack of education would often force the IPs to decide based on short-term returns not on sustainability, she said.

Universal education for the IPs and an education system fit for them has been among the advocacies of Katutubo, a party-list group led by Serrano-Reisland.

She said the NCIP and non-government organizations have a duty to educate the IPs on the effects of mining.

“We need to tell the people that mining is an unsustainable path to development as it brings more problems on climate change,” she said.

She added mining undermines the IP’s role as gatekeepers of the environment. She cited that abaca, an absorber of carbon dioxide and a traditional crop, has been replaced by other crops such as jathropa.

She said that while there is an Indigenous Peoples Rights Act that provides for the FPIC there is also a law that has made the country a haven for mining.

The summit was convened by Dr. Estrella Abid Babano, Northern Mindanao regional director of the Department of Education on September 26 to 27. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews).