'Tampakan project a big boost to tribal folk'

TAMPAKAN, South Cotabato, Philippines – The chairman of the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) has expressed support for the ongoing exploration and eventual operations of mineral development firm Sagittarius Mines Inc. on the $6-billion Tampakan copper-gold project.

Lawyer Roque Agton, NCIP secretary, said his office fully supports the undertaking aimed at developing tribal communities, adding that the Tampakan copper-gold project is one venture that will bring progress and development to tribal communities not only in Tampakan but in other provinces as well.

“This is what our tribal people in Tampakan have been waiting for long and it must be realized,” Agton told newsmen after ceremonies marking the first provincial tribal summit in South Cotabato recently.

The summit, attended by hundreds of tribal leaders and residents, also featured the passage of two resolutions vital to the tribal residents of South Cotabato and the turnover of a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) to the Blaan tribe in Tampakan.

Agton said he was happy to see unity among the tribal communities in the province even as he bewailed the continued exploitation of many indigenous people.

“Dili kita magpadaugdaug. Mosukol ta (Let us not allow ourselves to be oppressed. Let us fight for our rights),” he said.

He said indigenous people should always practice and show their good nature – mean to those who exploit, but grateful and kind to those who do well.

Blaan chieftain Dalina Samling, who received the CADT in behalf of the Blaan tribal community in Tampakan, said they were happy that after years of waiting and working for the CADT, they finally received it.

The CADT covers three tribal communities, representing over 2,000 Blaans in Danlag, Pulabato and Tablu villages in Tampakan.   

Samling said without SMI, which provided the necessary assistance in securing the CADT, they would not have the determination to pursue on getting it.

“SMI have always been around and helping us with our life, sending our children to school, keeping us healthy, giving us jobs,” Samling said.

She said they hope to see more progress and development once SMI starts operating and tapping the Philippines’ largest copper deposit and perhaps the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposit in Southeast Asia.