BANGUED, Abra – The Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs of the Office of the President has suspended Abra Gov. Dominic Valera over the complaint filed by the spouse of Sangguniang Bayan member Juan Palcon of Bucay town who died due to illness last year.

VALERA (FB)

Also suspended was Abra Vice Gov. Joy Bernos. She was earlier suspended for 18 months after she was found guilty of oppression, abuse of authority, conduct unbecoming of a public official, and disobedience to government policies due to imposition of a community lockdown that affected hospital services during the pandemic in 2020.

DESLA Anna Liza G. Logan signed the suspension of Valera for 60 days in accordance with the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991 and takes effect upon receipt of the order. 

Febes Alzate Palcon filed the complaint after another person instead of her replaced her husband.

She said that she should have taken over the position of her late husband. Valera installed another person in violation of the LGC, Febes said. She also said that the person who took over the position was endorsed by Bernos.

Logan stated that since Bernos is also serving an 18-month suspension issued by the DESLA, "the requirement that her continuance in service company could influence or pose a threat to the safety and integrity of the records and other evidence in the instant case is not present, in so far as she is concerned."

Meanwhile, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples in the Cordillera denounced Yamang Minerals Corp., a subsidiary of London-based miner FCF Minerals Corp., for allegedly violating Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 after it failed to secure prior consent from tribal communities before engaging in mineral exploration in Sallapadan, Abra.

The NCIP said that the concerned indigenous peoples whose rights over their ancestral land at stake, are the ones to give consent, not the agency, in response to the letter of YMC, which previously acquired an Authority to Verify Minerals from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources-Cordillera.

The IP agency strongly rued YMC’s defiance of the cease-and-desist order issued against mineral exploration activities over the ancestral domain of the Tingguians in Sallapadan because no IPRA-required Free Prior Informed and Consent from the affected IPs of Sallapadan was obtained.

The NCIP further told YMC it has no Certificate of Pre-Condition (CP) from the agency, which is a violation of IPRA.

Sallapadan Mayor Fernando Alafriz Semanero said that YMC was able to obtain an ATVM from the MGB without properly consulting affected communities, prompting Abra Rep. Menchie Bernos to seek a House Inquiry.

Bernos said that she was alarmed over the vastness of the mining application and its eventual effect on Abra’s environment and the IPs.

YMC said the NCIP “caused the inordinate delay” of the issuance of a CP and FPIC. It insisted it undertook proper processes.   

“We reserve our right to any appropriate remedies should you insist on the implementation on the implementation of the cease-and-desist order and your threat of imposing sanctions attached to the CDO," YMC said.  The miner also reiterated it did not violate the IPRA law.

But NCIP stood firm. “The FPIC process consists of several procedures to obtain the 'consent' of the IP communities concerned on ancestral domains subject of the application. Such consent is not 'automatic,' it added.

The NCIP reminded YMC that the IP communities in the ancestral domains affected are the ones to give consent after series of negotiations between the company and the IPs, not the agency.

The NCIP vowed it will challenge the legality of the issuance of the ATVM of the YMC and further reiterated its CDO, warning legal repercussions and possibly violent incidents within affected communities in Abra if the miner continues defying it.

Semanero and La Paz, Abra Mayor JB Bernos, national president of the League of Mayors in the Philippines (LMP), hailed NCIP’s “firmness in standing up to its mandate of protecting the rights and welfare of the indigenous peoples.”

YMC’s ATVM is on 16,200 hectares of ancestral lands in Sallapadan, Licuan-Baay, Lacub, and Malibcong towns.