#isnag

[mankadavi]

isneg girl with a pearl earring

[pannaginip]

How 7 youths and a Facebook page grew the opposition in Apayao: Kabugao Youth and the contested Gened dams - Baguio Chronicle

In 2020, Jann Alexis Lappas got a call from his parents who told him that they received a sum of P700 pesos to sign documents.   The documen

(This story was was originally written as part of the 2023 Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship under Rappler.)

In 2020, Jann Alexis Lappas got a call from his parents who told him that they received a sum of P700 pesos to sign documents.

The documents were, according to Lappas’s parents, attendance sheets for a community consultative assembly (CCA) for San Miguel Corporation-owned Pan Pacific Renewable Power Philippines Corp.’s Gened dam projects, part of the crucial process to secure free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) permitting big projects in indigenous peoples’ ancestral domains.

This development came as a surprise to Lappas because prior to the incident, as early as 2019, the community had already thumbed down the project’s progression when 300 elders issued their first of many Resolutions of Non-Consent against the dams.

According to a June 2021 FPIC report, if the Gened-1 dam pushes through, will submerge communities in the barangays or villages of Bulu, Magabta, Poblacion, and Waga in Kabugao town, and Lt. Balag in Pudtol town. Some 7,465 out of Kabugao’s 18,782 recorded 2020 population would be affected by this flooding. Another 4,995 in Baliwanan, Kumao, Lenneng, and Karagawan are projected to be negatively affected by the project.

Lappas and his group of Isnag friends would continue to post updates about the dam negotiations on their personal Facebook pages, but Kabugao Youth would only be formed in December 2020, fresh off of the heels of Typhoon Ulysses.

Social media is a core source of information and connectivity in Kabugao, being comprised of 21 villages and communities, many of which are remote.

As the movement gained traction, the Kabugao Youth network gradually became a frontliner in the struggle to oppose the dam.

[National Commission on Indigenous Peoples or] NCIP FPIC guidelines state that no meetings, negotiations, or assemblies related to the FPIC process should be conducted outside of the affected ancestral domain.

At the same time, according to Solano, the NCIP is not supposed to conduct or facilitate activities to directly convince the IP communities of the merits of the projects [...]

In January 15 of 2021, 300 Kabugao Isnags passed another resolution opposing and banning the proposed hydroelectric power projects, but then-regional director of the NCIP Marlon Bosantog declared the resolution invalid as only 20 of the elders were “authorized” in accordance with a heavily contested December 23, 2019 resolution and proceeded with the issuance of the [Memorandum of Agreement or] MOA.

Said December resolution, which named 209 “authorized elders” to negotiate in behalf of the Isnag community, was found by the community, RA Cortes Law, and the NCIP’s own regional review team (RRT), to contain many irregularities including signatures of deceased individuals and duplicated signatures.

Many other irregularities have been reported by the elders of Kabugao in their resolutions and legal cases before the Office of the Ombudsman, as well as by Kabugao Youth in their regular postings to the local community.

The MOA would also generate much more opposition as the Isnag community was exposed to the exact terms of the dam and what they stood to lose, with individuals from the community claiming that they had their signatures and identities forged on the documents.

On May 18, RA Cortes Law also filed an electoral protest in behalf of the Isnag community and Isnag elder Roland Apilit to nullify the election of [John Amid] as [indigenous peoples mandatory representative or] IPMR for Kabugao, Apayao citing irregularities in the IPMR selection and the approval of IPMR selection guidelines without the approval and knowledge of the Isnag communities.

According to the NCIP on multiple occasions, the FPIC has been provided, allowing for the issuance of a certification precondition (CP), thus allowing Pan Pacific to continue with the project even through opposition.

As for the opposition of the Isnag community, the NCIP claims opposition is part of the agenda of the communist left.

On multiple occasions, the NCIP issued statements downplaying the opposition to the project as activity of the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army – National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).

NCIP Chairman Allen Capuyan is the executive director of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), while NCIP Regional Director Marlon Bosantog is the former spokesperson.

In order to proceed with the issuance of the MOA and the CP, NCIP higher-ups including Regional Director Atanacio Addog held efforts to advance the damming process using the forged documents with the individuals named as authorized elders in the December 2019 resolution instead of redoing the process amid staunch opposition from the local Isnag communities in Kabugao.

Kabugao elders share the sentiment [to keep fighting], writing their desire to keep the waters clean: “(We) would rather let the Apayao River flow freely and the same be inherited by the youth and those Isnag of Apayao yet unborn rather for their enjoyment and appreciation, rather to pass on an ancestral domain buried beneath a reservoir coupled with kilometers-stretched on filth brought by siltation and sedimentation.”

2023 Sept. 14

[christianchild]

The Fruit of the Spirit (ISNAG: Bible NT, Partial OT)

Galatians (Galacia) 5:22-23

22 Ngamay daya mà-màwa daya tolay gapu kiya Ispiritu ne Dios nga ittu ya mangitur-turáy kaggída, ay tú dedi. Maramminya da kadaya kasittolay da, ay maganggam da, se napiya ya aggur-uray da. Ay naánus da, se nindù da, se akkan da pe ya natagàna. Ay akkan da nga magbus-busid nu magkari da.

23Ay natulù da pe se meturayán da ya baggi da. Ay áwan wayya nga lintag nga akkan…

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[ccmlbv]

The Fruit of the Spirit (ISNAG: Bible NT, Partial OT)

Galatians (Galacia) 5:22-23 22 Ngamay daya mà-màwa daya tolay gapu kiya Ispiritu ne Dios nga ittu ya mangitur-turáy kaggída, ay tú dedi. Maramminya da kadaya kasittolay da, ay maganggam da, se napiya ya aggur-uray da. Ay naánus da, se nindù da, se akkan da pe ya natagàna. Ay akkan da nga magbus-busid nu magkari da. 23 Ay natulù da pe se meturayán da ya baggi da. Ay áwan wayya nga lintag nga akkan…

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[christianchild]

The Armor of God (ISNAG: Bible NT, Partial OT)

The Armor of God (ISNAG: Bible NT, Partial OT)

ISNAG: Bible NT, Partial OT

Ephesians (Efeso) 6:10-18

10 Ay ya muddi nga kagiyan ku kadakayu, ay kal-kaligdaan nu ya angngurug nu kaggína kiya akisissa nu kaggína, se gapu kiya naturáy nga pannakabalin na.

11 Atán da idde ne Dios nga bátug ippapatay tada, ta senu akkan tada maábà kadaya sírisírib ne Sairu. Ay díkod usaran nu lugud ngámin dayán.

12Ata ya kalínga tada, ay akkan wayya nga tolay, nu…

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[ccmlbv]

The Armor of God (ISNAG: Bible NT, Partial OT)

The Armor of God (ISNAG: Bible NT, Partial OT)

ISNAG: Bible NT, Partial OT Ephesians (Efeso) 6:10-18 10 Ay ya muddi nga kagiyan ku kadakayu, ay kal-kaligdaan nu ya angngurug nu kaggína kiya akisissa nu kaggína, se gapu kiya naturáy nga pannakabalin na. 11 Atán da idde ne Dios nga bátug ippapatay tada, ta senu akkan tada maábà kadaya sírisírib ne Sairu. Ay díkod usaran nu lugud ngámin dayán. 12 Ata ya kalínga tada, ay akkan wayya nga tolay, nu…

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[christianchild]

God's Love (ISNAG: Bible NT, Partial OT)

God’s Love (ISNAG: Bible NT, Partial OT)

ISNAG: Bible NT, Partial OT

John (Juan) 3:16

16 Ata gapu kiya abay pànang nga amminya ne Dios kadaya ngámin tolay, ay ittu ya nidde na ya sissa nga An-anà na, ta senu akkan na mesibna ke Dios oray iinna nga mangurug kaggína, nu di mepagbiyág kaggína ka áwan panda.

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[ccmlbv]

God's Love (ISNAG: Bible NT, Partial OT)

God’s Love (ISNAG: Bible NT, Partial OT)

ISNAG: Bible NT, Partial OT John (Juan) 3:16 16 Ata gapu kiya abay pànang nga amminya ne Dios kadaya ngámin tolay, ay ittu ya nidde na ya sissa nga An-anà na, ta senu akkan na mesibna ke Dios oray iinna nga mangurug kaggína, nu di mepagbiyág kaggína ka áwan panda.

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