Global Ferronickels Inc. (FNI) subsidiary Ipilan Nickel Corp. (INC) has asked the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to rescind the cease-and-desist order (CDO) recently issued by the agency’s Mimaropa regional office.
INC said the order was released due to an alleged deficiency in the company’s certificate precondition (CP) despite a fruitful partnership with the indigenous community and efforts to address royalty concerns.
“In separate letters dated March 31, 2006, addressed to the Mines Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and Celestial Nickel Mining Exploration Corporation (CNMEC), the NCIP itself confirmed that the CP was no longer necessary. This affirmation comes from the understanding that CNMEC, the predecessor to INC, entered into an agreement with the government for a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) in 1993 or four years before the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) was enacted in 1997,” FNI said in a statement.
The IPRA and its implementing rules state that existing contracts for the exploitation of natural resources within the ancestral domain continue until they expire.
FNI said while not explicitly bound by the IPRA, CNMEC engaged with the Palaw’an Indigenous Peoples/Indigenous Cultural Communities (IPs/ICCs) through a memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed on Dec. 18, 2008.
The company said that INC and the Palaw’an IPs/ICCs had a second MOA on Sept. 1, 2022 which was also administered by the NCIP to ensure the free and prior informed consent of IPs to the company’s existing operations and its future MPSA renewal in 2025.
“In exchange, the IPs were to benefit comprehensively from their partnership with INC. The trajectory of events reflects INC’s acceptance of NCIP’s ruling that the company is exempt from CP prerequisites until the MPSA’s expiration. INC displayed its commitment by offering fair compensation, befitting royalties or equivalents to the IPs,” FNI said. -Jed Macapagal
