Tribal leader: Rally vs geothermal plant in NCotabato politically motivated

KIDAPAWAN CITY — The three-day rally staged starting Monday by Lumads here against the Energy Development Corporation (EDC), owner of the geothermal power plants located at Mount Apo, was politically-motivated, according to a tribal chieftain. Datu Lucio Serrano, member of the Council of Elders of the Manobo Apao Descendants Ancestral Domain of Mount Apo, has alleged that Vice Gov. Manny Piñol, who is running for governor, was behind the protest action led by a group of Manobo natives from this city's Barangay Balabag, which they claim as part of their ancestral domain. "Some of the natives that I’ve talked with do not know why they were invited to join the rally. They thought they were going to attend a political rally of the Piñols," said Serrano. Serrano is among the claimants of the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) that covers the villages of Balabag and Ilomavis and a village in nearby Magpet town in North Cotabato. The protesters who barricaded the entrance to the Mindanao Geothermal Production Field of the EDC were led by Barangay Balabag chairman Datu Eduard Umpan, also a claimant of the CADT. Umpan, according to Serrano, is a known political ally of Piñol. Ephraim Umpan, chair of the Sangguniang Kabataan of Barangay Balabag and son of Datu Eduard Umpan, had admitted Piñol was supporting them in their protest action. "We are here waiting for any instructions from vice Gov. Piñol. He supports our move," said the younger Umpan in an interview. In last Tuesday’s session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of North Cotabato, Piñol, who chairs the legislative council, said he and his brother, Rep. Bernardo Piñol Jr. (2nd Dist., Cotabato), have been supporting the natives and the people’s cry for a separate power line for the province from the geothermal plant. "We are supporting the move in our capacity as private individuals and as taxpayers," Piñol said. Some 300 natives from Barangay Balabag set up a barricade at the entrance of the EDC that prevented the employees from entering the plant. They demanded a separate line for North Cotabato and a subsidy for the natives of Barangay Balabag from the income of the EDC. As host of the geothermal plant, only Barangay Ilomavis benefits from the royalty payments of the EDC. The village gets 35 percent of the share from the royalty tax. Kidapawan as host city gets 45 percent, and North Cotabato as host province gets 20 percent. Barangay Ilomavis chairman Damaso Bayawan said the sharing is based on Section 294 of the Local Government Code of 1991. "If we cite the Local Government Code as basis, the Barangay Balabag has no right to claim subsidy from the EDC," Bayawan said. — Malu Cadeliña Manar/LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV