NIA chief meets Bugkalot tribe, eyes ‘win-win’ solution
CABANATUAN CITY – National Irrigation Administration (NIA) Chief Benny D. Antiporda met with leaders of the Bugkalot Tribe at the Casecnan Multi-purpose Irrigation and Power Project (CMIPP) in Nueva Vizcaya to iron out a “win-win solution” on the latter’s ancestral domain rights claim in their area.
“First time in history that the Bugkalots talked to somebody who would really like to help them, and with the guidance of UPRIIS Manager Engr. Rose Bote and our lawyer, nakipag-usap tayo sa mga Bugkalot, very light ang naging usapan, whatever is meant for them kailangan ibigay natin based on law, whatever will be their share we will give it to them based on law, iyan po ang stand ng NIA,” Antiporda told mediamen in an interview during last Wednesday’s holding of the 2022 Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems Irrigators’ Association Congress at the Mavins Events Center in San Leonardo, Nueva Ecija.
“I think we can come up with a win-win solution on this, just like what I have told them (Bugkalots); we have to meet halfway on this,” the NIA chief stressed.
Antiporda’s meeting with the Bugkalot Tribe, headed by its designated leader Daniel Pasigian took place at the NIA Farmers Training Center at the regional office in San Rafael, Bulacan, on Oct. 4 (Tuesday).
The Bugkalots who were affected by the CMIPP have been asking for their rightful Indigenous People (IP) percentage share derived from the gross income of the said multi-billion project, which they said would be of big help to their group.
The NIA chief said he would also talk with top officials of the Power Sector Assets and Privatization Management Corporation (PSALM) and is looking forward that the latter would also heed the call of the Bugkalots.
Last December 2021, the NIA and the PSALM signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA), transferring to PSALM the 60% ownership share of the completed P33.75-billion CMIPP, with NIA getting the remaining 40%.
The CMIPP, which involved the construction of two diversion weirs in Casecnan and Taan Rivers in Nueva Vizcaya, was built under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) agreement between the NIA and Cal Energy Casecnan Water and Energy Company on Nov. 13, 1994.
Earlier, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. raised the issue of securing the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) by the Bugkalot Tribe during an NDRRMC briefing on Super Typhoon Karding on Sept. 26, 2022.
“What happened in Casecnan, may nagpadala ng tao para i-control ang spillway doon. For whatever reason, an IP group blockaded it. So hindi sila makapasok,” said the President.
