The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said the mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) obtained by Ipilan Nickel Corp. (INC) remains in force and valid for two more years despite protests from locals on its operations at Brooke’s Point in Palawan.
Residents in the area have since protested, claiming the company is operating without a mayor’s permit.
The MGB said a valid MPSA allows INC to keep its exclusive right to conduct mining operations in the area covering 2,835 hectares with 260 hectares already partially declared as a mining area.
Glen Marcelo Noble, MGB regional director in Mimaropa, clarified this point in a letter dated February 21, 2023 to Brooke’s Point vice mayor Mary Jean Feliciano in response to a Sangguniang Bayan (SB) resolution questioning the mine’s Brooke’s Point operations.
The local government authorities claimed the mine’s ostensibly renewed MPSA in 2018 was without the endorsement of the municipality of Brooke’s Point, that it operates without a certificate precondition (CP) from the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and without clearance from the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB).
Noble explained the INC does not need to secure a CP as this requirement only applies to applications filed after the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 was enact.
It also said the NCIP itself in a letter dated March 31, 2006 declared the INC need not present a CP having previously been awarded an MPSA four years prior on August 5, 1993.
INC said it stopped securing a CP preparatory to the renewal of its MPSA in 2025, saying “an overwhelming number of indigenous peoples (IPs)” voted for their continued operations during a series of community consultations from June to August 2022 under the guidance of the NCIP.
The mining firm claimed that in total, 3,739 IPs from barangays Aribungos and Calasaguen voted in favor of their operations against 614 dissenters from barangay Aribungos.
“This led the IPs from Barangay’s Barong-Barong, Ipilan, Mambalot and Maasin to concede in favor of INC,” the company said.
The INC also said the MGB ruled out the need to secure a Protected Area Management Bureau (PAMB) clearance as the MPSA predates the proposed final boundary of the Mt. Mantalingahan protected landscape and remains protected under Presidential Proclamation No. 1815.
Despite the MGB clarification, Alex Arabis, resident mine manager at INC, opted to wait for the renewal of their mayor’s permit having already submitted all necessary documents “and having complied with all laws and regulations.”
The INC employs over 1,500 people 90 percent of whom are Brooke’s Point residents and where the IPs account for 28 percent of the total workforce of the company.
INC is a subsidiary of diversified conglomerate Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. which in turn, is currently the second-largest value exporter of nickel ore in the country.
