CHR orders probe on alleged rights violation in N. Vizcaya

MANILA, Philippines - Commission on Human Rights chair Leila M. De Lima has directed CHR regional office to check on alleged human rights violations in a mining area in Nueva Vizcaya. In a memorandum on Wednesday, De Lima directed CHR Region 2 to validate a fact-finding report concerning violations of the rights of indigenous people in the village of Didipio in Kasibu town in Nueva Vizcaya. The alleged violations were cited in a report prepared by the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) and Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM). Didipio is the site of a mining site owned by Oceana Gold Philippines Inc., which figured in a controversy with the provincial government of Nueva Vizcaya over taxes due to the local government. In a dialogue Wednesday, representatives of various non-government organizations (NGOs) such as the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan/Friends of the Earth-Philippines (LRC-KsK/FoE-Phils.), Task Force Detainees (TFD) and PAHRA, requested the CHR to immediately act on the issue of demolition of indigenous people’s houses being undertaken with neither court order nor ready relocation sites. PAHRA-ATM’s fact-finding mission report showed that 187 houses have been demolished. The team also requested the CHR to look into human rights abuses involving killings, forced negotiations and harassments, which it said were connected to forced eviction of indigenous residents. De Lima added that she ordered a follow-up investigation on the report as there is already an initial report on the issue coming from CHR Region 2 office. She also wants to verify a report that a Philippine National Police contingent is inside the property of the mining company, which she said, is a human rights violation in itself. - Ma. Fe Nicodemus, GMANews.TV