Conflict among Tagbanuas in Berong rises due to royalty share

By Cheryl A. Galili

INTERNAL DISPUTE due to alleged misappropriation of around P15 million turned over to them by Berong Nickel Corporation (BNC) as 1% royalty share from its large scale mining operation in barangay Berong, Quezon is threatening to break the relationship among members of the Berong Aramaywan Tagbanua Association (BATA).

The information was disclosed by Vice Governor David A. Ponce de Leon during the session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan last week. He said leaders and members of the BATA are quarreling with one another because of alleged illegal withdrawals and irregular disbursements of a large portion of the royalty fund released by the BNC from 2007.

The BATA is composed of Tagbanua families from barangays Berong and Aramaywan, recognized by the BNC as rightful IP communities living near the area it is mining.

Ponce de Leon said he has also obtained documents from reliable sources that can prove the leaders of the BATA have set up their own mining corporation, registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the name West Coast of Palawan Mining Corporation (WCPMC) without consulting the general membership of the BATA.

The mining corporation, according to the documents, has an investment totaling to P2.5 million which might have allegedly come from the royalty fund.

Ponce de Leon told members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan that complaints have reached him that the BATA leaders are slowly depleting the royalty fund deposited in the Palawan Development Bank (PDB).

One million pesos, he related, was withdrawn from PDB to pay Virto Daso for 14,000 pieces of coconut seedlings. Daso, according to sources by Palawan Times, is formerly connected with the Palawan Tropical Forestry Protection Program (PTFPP) and has a farm in barangay San Jose.

Ponce de Leon is baffled why the BATA would choose to pay such large amount to an individual who is not accredited to sell coconut seedlings by the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) that is in fact, distributing them for free to encourage the sprout of more coconut tree farmers.

“The supplier is not accredited by the PCA and surprisingly, he is also an incorporator in this mining corporation that some of the BATA leaders have set up,” he said.

He is also curious, he said, by the fact that the personalities that set up the mining corporation is Efifanio Marcelo, a member of the board of BATA, and its manager is his son Mike Marcelo. Another daughter is reportedly holding an important position in the WSPMC.

“They must be able to explain why this (the mining corporation) happened without the members of the BATA being consulted,” he stated.

Ponce de Leon said that because of the current situation in the BATA, Governor Joel T. Reyes has already called on the Advisory Board (AB) and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to intervene. He has also requested the leaders of the association to submit their liquidation, as well as receipts of their incurred expenses.

“Illegal withdrawal is like estafa,” Ponce de Leon, who is himself a lawyer, said.

During the last meeting of the Advisory Board (AB), a body that was created to guide and assist the BATA in its development decisions and management of their royalty fund, the leaders reportedly denied the establishment of the WCPMC which was contrary to the documents he obtained.

When inquired about how much money they still have in the bank, the leaders claimed they still have around P9 million in PDB. But unverified information reaching Palawan Times claimed that the BATA’s fund has been reduced to a mere P4.5 million.

On July 16, Quezon Mayor Ronilo Caputilla called a general assembly for the BATA members to hear their grievances. From this assembly, Ponce de Leon was allegedly informed that the members have signified intention to call for a new election to change the board members of the BATA.

Prior to the meeting, Caputilla, when interviewed by the media, said he called the meeting due to numerous complaints from members of the Tagbanua association who doubt the honesty and integrity of their leaders. He said his mediation was called to mend the conflict as all remain hopeful of future developments that can help them.

“The AB has ordered the leaders of the BATA to make a liquidation of their expenses,” Ponce de Leon furthered, saying that if they fail to do so, as per a supplemental memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed earlier, the BNC will not release their 2008 royalty fund.

Believed to be already amounting to P6 million, the royalty share from the current year can be instead deposited in a trust fund under the BATA.

Should intervention fail to repair the conflict within the Tagbanua association in Quezon town, the BNC, as a last resort, can initiate an action called “Interpleader” in order to compel two or more parties to litigate a dispute.

Interpleader is a form of action originally developed under equity jurisprudence. An interpleader action originates when the plaintiff holds property on behalf of another, but does not know to whom the property should be transferred.

In the case of BNC, if the conflict within the BATA takes long to resolve, it can choose to do this action so parties can fight over the royalty share in court.

“As a last resort, BNC can file a petition to the court, this is called interpleader, and deposit the money to a clerk of court so parties fighting over it can let the court resolve the issue,” he said.

“Illegal withdrawal is like estafa,” he said, claiming he is thoroughly disappointed about how the BATA has turned out following BNC’s release of their 1% share from 2007.

“The BATA could have been part of history because this is the first time in Palawan that an indigenous group of people has received shares that’s mandated under the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act,” he said.

 

Puerto Princesa encourages use of LPG and enviro-fit tricycles

MAYOR EDWARD S. Hagedorn is encouraging tricycles in Puerto Princesa to use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or the enviro-fit device to save on gas whose price increases almost every week and to reduce air pollution.

Philip Bustamante, TRIKE program manager, said the use of LPG and the enviro-fit contraption on tricycles can help drivers and operators save on gas, and can downgrade any possibility of more air pollution.

Currently, he said the city has 289 units of tricycle that use LPG, while 157 have already been retrofitted with enviro-fit devices.

A tricycle that regularly spends P350-P400 a day on gasoline will only use P120 daily on LPG, he explained. The LPG does not emit black smoke and will not destroy the tricycle as long as maintenance is strictly observed.

The enviro-fit or retrofit gadget, on the other hand, is direct injection of gasoline. Tricycles that are not retrofitted easily lose 30%-worth of gasoline by mere black smoke emission. If tricycles are retrofitted with the enviro-fit device, no gasoline is wasted because they all go to the combustion chamber to be used.

Bustamante said Hagedorn has encouraged all tricycle drivers and operators in Puerto Princesa to use both with the city government offering to shoulder half of their expense under a loan scheme that can be paid on a weekly basis. The other half will be paid for by the city, he said.

The use of LPG and the enviro-fit device is under the TRIKE program of the city government. (PR)

 

Provincial solons want nickel mining strictly monitored

By Cheryl A. Galili

SOME MEMBERS of the Provincial Board (PB) want to strictly keep an eye on the shipments of millions of tons of unprocessed nickel ores outside Palawan, not just to monitor the province’s income but to be vigilant about large scale mining operations.

This newest development came following a letter from Roland de Jesus, the officer-in-charge regional director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Mines and Geosciences Bureau (DENR-MGB), that reports about Ores Transport Permits (OTPs) issued to three large scale mining companies operating in southern Palawan: Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation (RTNMC), Coral Bay Nickel Corporation (CBNC) and Berong Nickel Corporation (BNC).

In the PB’s regular session last week, the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, chaired by Board Member Gil P. Acosta; and the Committee on Ways and Means, chaired by Board Member Leoncio Ola, according to Vice Governor David A. Ponce de Leon, should be part of the multi-partite monitoring team (MMT) for the provincial government to determine the accuracy of the volumes of nickel ores and their value before they are transported to China, Japan and other countries.

The RTNMC, CBNC and BNC located in the towns of Bataraza and Quezon are the only large scale mining companies operating in the province.

Keeping tabs on every shipment of raw nickel ores also came about due to a proposal from board members Vicky de Guzman, Modesto Rodriguez III and Joselito Cadlaon to impose a 25-year mining moratorium in the province to avoid the possibility of destruction of the environment.

“We should be vigilant, not only because of the income aspect, but also to be cognizant of the frequency of their transport of nickel ores outside Palawan,” De Guzman said.

 

Korean investors to manufacture e-tricycles in Puerto

By Alex S. Villanueva, Jr.

SOUTH KOREA-based investor Leo Motors, Inc. assured Mayor Edward S. Hagedorn and the City of Puerto Princesa that the electric-powered tricycles they want to manufacture here are going to be environment-friendly, economical and durable.

Making this promise was Dr. Lee Jong Yong, chief engineer of Leo Motors, who presented the e-tricycles to Hagedorn and to the members of the City Council last week.

The Korean said his company decided to invest in a manufacturing company for their products in Puerto Princesa to support Hagedorn’s strong concern for the environment.

Jong also said part of their investment in the city is to teach residents on how to operate and learn the mechanics of e-tricycles. Leo Motors specializes in electrical technologies that are engineered to inspire and influence a clean, green, zero-emission approach to transportation in line with the mayor’s desire for the city to utilize e-transport in Puerto Princesa.

The Korean manufacturing company is interested to supply the transportation needs of Puerto Princesa and the country in general, through a first class product design and development process of continual improvement.

Officials of Leo Motors introduced in the city the electric scooter model “Leo 1000,” which has all requirements of the performance standards test used by the Ministry of Environment of Korea.

The Leo 1000 is equipped with a lithium polymer battery that can run 100 kilometers (a little over 62 miles) on a home plug-in charge.

In Korea, the public procurement service plans to continue the purchase of electric scooters from Leo Motors as substitute for existing gas scooters in their effort to support an emission-free and lower-noise environment.

The gas scooters widely used for deliveries throughout South Korea were criticized by the public for their noise in the night and contribution to the Korean peninsula’s serious air pollution issues.

Leo Motors electric scooters are priced at about US$ 3,200 each - including US$ 1,000 of government subsidy. Government offices have already purchased over 500 electric scooters so far in their transportation reform.

They are continually brought into service as replacements for gas scooters.

It is estimated that this effort will help reduce carbon monoxide (CO) by eight percent and hydrocarbon (HC) by 7.4 percent of total vehicle pollution sources.

 

20 OSYs undergo environment workshop in Puerto

By Edilberto Magpayo

The writer (4th from left) with Atty. Grizelda Mayo-Anda (5th from left) and the OSYs being trained by the Palawan Conservation Corps.

IN AN endeavor to engender a feeling of love and responsibility for the environment on today’s young people, the Palawan Conservation Corps (PCC) has again opened its doors to 20 out-of-school-youths (OSYs) who will be trained on environmental conservation.

The training, which started on June 23, carries the theme Kapit-Bisig Kabataan” or Youth Arm-in-Arm, that means helping one another for a better environment. It commenced on June 23, 2008 and will coach OSYs from barangays Irawan, Salvacion, Bacungan, Mangingisda and Napsan.

According to PCC, the selected OSYs will undergo six training categories that shall include trainings on capacity building, technical skills, alternative livelihood, community organizing, spiritual values and environmental conservation.

On June 26, these OSYs went to Impapay village in barangay to practice what they have learned in their environmental restoration training. They helped the Puerto Princesa City Water District (PPCW) rehabilitate an area at Impapay where erosion is said to be causing the flow of milky-white water from the waterfalls to their infiltration gallery.

The OSYs assisted the PCC and the PPCWD to restore an area of the waterfalls from eroding in order for clean water to be filtered naturally before it gushes to the infiltration gallery.

Johnrid Masacal, an OSY from Irawan, said he was happy by what he learned through the experience. “I wasn’t interested to join this kind of activity before. But now, I am enjoying it because of the PCC and I am glad to be able to help the environment as a youth,” he said.

Another OSY, Rose Ann Dorotheo, said she has gained new friends through the PCC program and that she is slowly honing her leadership skills. Although she finds the training difficult, she said it is helping her a lot as a young person and to become a better citizen.

The PCC training program was started in 1999 by Marnee-Comer Chua and Jason Selwitz, Peace Corps volunteers who were assigned in Palawan. It is being continued by the PCC for OSYs, hoping they could help protect Puerto Princesa and the province’s unique ecological systems.

 

Ponce de Leon wants NAMRIA, DENR to end Roxas-San Vicente boundary dispute

By Cheryl A. Galili

IN ORDER to end the ongoing boundary dispute between the municipalities of Roxas and San Vicente, Vice Governor David A. Ponce de Leon and the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) have suggested to both towns’ local government leaders to hire experts from the National Mapping and Resource Information Agency (NAMRIA) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to do the relocation survey.

The suggestion came following a failure in identifying the agreeable basis that would determine the political territorial boundaries of the two towns

According to Ponce de Leon, the two can’t agree because Roxas is relying on the DENR while San Vicente is depending on the NAMRIA.

In this case, the vice governor said the two can just hire the services of technical people from the DENR-MIMAROPA and the NAMRIA to settle the dispute once and for all.

“I’m almost sure that the NAMRIA and the DENR have an experience regarding this kind of situation, and they will be able to guide us,” Ponce de Leon said.

Councilor Saidel Borris said the municipality of Roxas is traditionally claiming almost 124,000 hectares but its existing area is only 117,000. The town of San Vicente is 65,000 hectares before, but now, it wants 140,000 hectares.

“From 65,000 hectares it bloated to 140,000 hectares something. This is what we want to define, the traditional claims of the municipalities, including all the boundaries which are under protest,” Borris said.

The areas whose boundaries are under dispute are Magara, Tagumpany, Abaroan and Dumarao. They were ordered by the SP to remain as part of the municipality of Roxas pending the holding of the plebiscite.

Ponce de Leon notified the two municipalities to each prepare P50,000 for the relocation survey, which will finally put an end to the ongoing boundary dispute.

Another administrative hearing was scheduled on the first week of August by the SP for both towns, hopefully with representatives from the NAMRIA and the DENR.