LA TRINIDAD, BENGUET — A local court has dismissed a petition that sought to cancel a mining agreement between Itogon-Suyoc Resources, Inc. (ISRI) and an indigenous group in Itogon, Benguet.
In a decision dated Oct. 7, Judge Leody M. Opolinto of Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 62 ruled that the complaint had serious legal issues and could not move forward. It had no authority, the court said, to overturn the decision of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), which had already approved ISRI’s project.
It also found that the petitioners committed “forum shopping” by filing similar cases in different courts and submitted false certification to hide this.
This ruling supports the agreement between ISRI and the Itogon Indigenous Peoples Organization (IIPO), which was approved by the NCIP through a Certification Precondition (CP).
The CP is a key requirement for ISRI’s Application for Production Sharing Agreement (APSA) 103, which allows the company to continue its mining operations in the area.
Five residents of Sitio Dalicno, Ampucao, earlier filed the petition, claiming the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) process was not properly done. They said the community was not given enough information or time to agree on the project and that no proper meetings or validations were held.
They also questioned the legitimacy of the IIPO, saying it did not represent all Indigenous Peoples (IPs) in the area.
They also accused ISRI of influencing the selection of the Council of Elders and claimed the entire agreement was unfair and invalid.
However, the same issues had already been tackled by the NCIP in two earlier cases, which were both dismissed in 2024. These involved similar complaints from community members and organizations about the FPIC process and ISRI’s actions.
The NCIP accordingly found no violations and allowed the project to move forward.
With the court’s recent dismissal, the path to securing final approval for its mining operations is clearer, ISRI said. — Artemio A. Dumlao