Doming Go to I-KAPANGAN TAKO!

May 20, 2013 ·

COHECO PROJECT HYDRO OR MINING?
by Jimmy Laking
Elders representing the Pudong Indigenous Peoples Organization (PIPO) in Kapangan, Benguet last week
called on the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples to assist them in the enforcement of their rights in
relation to its bid to develop mini-hydro plants along the Amburayan River.
In a letter addressed to NCIP Chair Zenaida Brigida Pawid, nine PIPO elders led by Segundo Marcelo said the
enforcement of their prior right is threatened by a separate hydro power project of the Cordillera Hydro
Electric Power Corporation (Coheco).
They said Coheco’s plan to put up a 60-megawatt hydro plant with a diversion tunnel system will deprive the
PIPO of its planned use of the river for its own mini-hydro project.
“Coheco’s plan sought to deprive us of the estimated yearly income of P200 million that we stand to earn from
the mini-hydro development,” they added.
But Coheco’s legal counsel Jingboy Atonen said its project is located far from PIPO’s area. “We are on an
opposite area and PIPO’s territory is outside of our coverage.”
The Coheco has taken off with the free prior and informed consent process for the project in 15 barangays of
Kapangan and in the seven barangays of Kibungan as required by the new guidelines of the NCIP.
The PIPO elders said the enforcement of the exercise of prior rights should be undertaken first before the
implementation of the FPIC process of Coheco.
They added that Coheco’s planned tunnel system will affect aquifers as well as the stability of the mountains.
Lawyer Cruzaldo Bacduyan reiterated there is a possibility that high concentration of mineral deposits in the
area will be exposed to exploitation once Coheco proceeds with its tunnel system.
Atonen reiterated the community can monitor daily the construction of the tunnel to ensure that no mining is
done on the sides.
He added its contract with the Department of Energy was to set up mini-hydros along the Amburayan River
and not to do mining.

Lourdes Joaquin Angel to i-Kapangan & Friends

June 25, 2013 ·
THE FPIC RESULT OF THE DIFFERRENT BRGYS OF KAPANGAN
OFFICIALS of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) upheld the result of the free prior and
informed consent (FPIC) on the proposed project of Cordillera Hydro Electric Corporation (Coheco) in
Kapangan despite several complaints from an opposing group.
Lawyer Severino Lumiqued of the NCIP-Cordillera and NCIP-Benguet Officer Nora Ramos shed light on the
official result of the FPIC during Monday’s meeting. They said Kapangan folks accepted the proposed project
with nine out of 15 villages voting “yes.”
The FPIC consensus gathering was conducted sequentially in the fifteen villages of the town namely: Balakbak
(March 26); Beleng-Belis (March 27); Datakan (April 1); Gadang (April 2); Labueg (April 2); Pongayan (April
2); Sagubo (April 3); Kapangan Central (April 5); Gaswiling (April 10); Cuba (March 27); Paykek (April 1);
Pudong (April 1); Cayapes (April 3); Taba-ao (April 4); and Boklaoan (April 12).
The nine villages which voted for the project are Balakbak, Beleng-belis, Datakan, Gadang, Labueg,
Pongayan, Sagubo, Kapangan Central, and Gaswiling.
During the Provincial Board's meeting, several members and leaders of the opposition group attended the
gathering eager to listen to the presentation of the NCIP.
Lumiqued said prior to the voting schedule, the people decided on what system will be applied to determine
the consensus. He added the people decided simple majority is enough; this means, 50 percent plus one based
on the number of villages and not from the individual votes.
"We will uphold the documented consensus-building process result. We are merely upholding the decision of
the people; we are not causing the division (amongst them). The result is a decision from the people and we
have to abide by this," Lumiqued said.
The opposition earlier blamed the NCIP for the people's divisive action on the proposed project.
Bial Palaez, one of the leaders of the opposition, said no formal announcement was ever made by the NCIP on
the real result of the FPIC which made the confusion even worse, but Lumiqued countered this saying they
formally announced the FPIC result during a community assembly on April 22 at the multi-purpose hall of
Lumon in Kapangan. He said the assembly was attended by different community elders and leaders from the
15 barangays.
Palaez accused NCIP on the irregularities of the FPIC process conducted in Kapangan. He claimed some
barangays did not follow the FPIC guidelines as mandated under the revised FPIC policies.
Lumiqued and Santos denied the accusation saying they followed the FPIC guidelines in gathering the
consensus of the people.
During the early months, the pro and anti groups had been releasing news which made the situation more
confusing. The proponent had been claiming the people accepted the project while the opposition said the 'no'
votes prevailed over the 'yes' votes through the total number of individual votes.
Amidst this dilemma, the NCIP office kept its silence until the Provincial Board called its officials to clarify
these concerns.
Several board members scrutinized the FPIC process and aired different complaints from the people. With the
issues surrounding the result of the FPIC, they questioned NCIP if it will still uphold the result.
Lumiqued and Ramos said NCIP will, indeed, uphold the result of the FPIC.
‘Take it slow’
Board Member Rogelio Leon asked the NCIP to “take it [Coheco project] slow.”
"We should go slowly on the process," the board member added.
Leon, a former three-term mayor of the affected town of Kapangan, said the nod of consent of 60 percent of
residents does not merit a full go of the project. "We should know why there are people who are opposing the
project," he said.
Leon said the people of Kapangan are not anti-development. "It is just the fears of the people have been
cured," he explained.
Leon said Kapangan folks are open to the thought of having a hydro project as evidenced by the blessing they
gave to hydro company Hedcor in the past. The company, however, decided to shelve the project in the
meantime.
Kapangan elders also endorsed Hedcor to Department of Energy (DOE) pushing for the release of the
endorsement. The Kapangan project is a 120 megawatt (MW) plant.
A split decision has resulted to the squabble over the Coheco project with 6 out of 15 elders opposing the
Korean led project.
Leon said, "We can never start a big project with people opposing."
Coheco is set to install a run-of-river mini hydro power plant by tapping the waters of the Amburayan River. It
plans to build a weir at Barangay Cuba, with the water to be conveyed by a 7.5-kilometer tunnel passing
through parts of barangays Pudong, Sagubo then to Gaddang.
Leon said, "The people will never agree to tunneling."
People are concerned on the loss of water in the area, an effect; the tunneling is feared to create.
The entire provincial board heard the lament of the opposition of Kapangan folk during their Monday regular
session.
Coheco officials are set to face the board in the next meeting.

oking for investors

August 29, 2018 HENT
KIBUNGAN, Benguet – Concerned indigenous peoples (IP) leaders and responsible barangay
officials of the remote village of Badeo revealed that personnel of the controversial Coheco Badeo
Corporation (CBC) admitted to them that the company is now aggressively looking for potential
investors who will allegedly takeover the implementation of its proposed 500-megawatt pump
storage hydro project because its present finances is not enough to bankroll the P35 billion power
plant.

Sources, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal from the company, disclosed that CBC
officials made the revelation during their meeting with barangay officials on the status of the
project’s implementation considering the need for the company to do drilling operations that will
allow them to get the needed data to support the company’s marketing strategy that will attract
investors to infuse the needed capital for the project.

“We were able to cull out the information from the horse’s mouth that the company will eventually
be sold to interested investors which means that they are obviously interested in only securing our
consent for them to be able to enrich themselves at the expense of our domain which we have
protected for decades,” the source stressed.

The alarmed IP leaders claimed that CBC will obviously follow what had happened to the proposed
60-megawatt run-of-river hydro project in nearby Kapangan town which was previously owned by
CBC chairman and Korean broker Larry Howon Kim who in turn allegedly diluted his shares from
the Cordillera Hydroelectric Power Corporation (COHECO) to justify the entry of Filipino investors
to become the majority shareholders and rendered him the minority shareholder.

According to the sources, the revelation of the CBC technical personnel on the prevailing
circumstances only shows that their contention from the beginning of the project that the company
will be sold to interested investors once the IPs will issue their consent is true because of the bad
experience that the IPs suffered in the case of the Kapangan project.

The sources argued that once the present composition of the company’s board will be side lined
because of their shares purchased by interested investors, their commitments to the IPs will unlikely
be fulfilled considering the impending change in company leadership.

The IP leaders called on residents in the village to be vigilant on the alleged illegal drilling operations
to be conducted by the company as evidenced by their previous attempts to do so but it was
eventually stopped by the concerned government agencies because of their failure to submit to the
Cordillera office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) pertinent documents
relative to the planned ambitious hydro power plant project.

The sources also questioned the reported geo-tagging to be conducted by the company in
coordination with the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) which
means that there are already trees to be cut to pave the way for the project even if the company was
not issued the required environmental compliance certificate (|ECC) for the project and other
activities that will be done in preparation for the realization of the put up of the power plant.

The IP leaders assured that they will do everything possible to prevent the implementation of the
environmentally critical project that will surely affect the state of the environment within their
domain.

By HENT

http://baguioheraldexpressonline.com

Ronald Cosalan questions gov’t agencies over

COHECO pump storage project contract
Aug 14, 2018 @ 16:45
+2
0

Benguet Representative Ronald Cosalan questioned the issuance of permits and contracts to the Coheco Badeo
Corporation (COHECO) for its 500-megawatt pump storage project.

The Benguet politiko said he does not understand why the Department of Energy (DOE) issued COHECO a service
contract when it failed to secure water rights over the Amburayan River.

Cosalan said COHECO must first comply with rules and regulations before being given a service contract.

He also asked if COHOCO Chief Larry Howon Kim, a South Korean, has legitimate documents to do business in the
Philippines.

“We do not want foreigners to use the consent of our indigenous peoples and our well protected natural resources to
enrich themselves at our every own expense which already happened in the proposed 60-megawatt run-of-river project
in Kapangan.,” Cosalan said.

Korea-backed firm to pursue P12-B hydro

project
By: Maurice Malanes - @inquirerdotnet
Inquirer Northern Luzon / 10:57 PM May 13, 2013

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet—Despite protests, a home-grown corporation has partnered

with two South Korean companies to develop a mini-hydro facility that is expected to
help provide clean and cheap electricity for the province.

“We are ready to invest P12 billion in building this mini-hydro facility,” said Jingboy
Atonen, legal counsel of the Cordillera Hydro Electric Power Corp. (Coheco).
ADVERTISEMENT

The Department of Energy awarded the project in April to Coheco, which intends to tap
part of the Amburayan River in Kapangan town for a 60-MW facility.

Coheco’s main office is based in Kapangan town in Benguet with satellite offices in La
Trinidad and Makati City. Coheco is 60-percent Filipino-owned and 40-percent South
Korean, said Atonen, who hails from Kibungan town.

Coheco’s partners are Daewoo Engineering, Procurement and Construction and

DAELIM Industrial Co. Ltd., which, Atonen said, have a track record in building
“high-end hydro projects.”

The P12-billion investment includes not only the cost of the facility but also access
roads, a potable waterworks system and reforestation projects, which the company had
promised to raise for the affected communities in Kapangan and Kibungan.

The facility is described as “a run-off river-type” plant because it does not entail
damming part of the Amburayan River.

Instead of a dam, engineers will build a seven-meter high weir in the villages of Cuba,
Beling-Belis and Balakbak in Kapangan. Impounded water from this weir is then
diverted to a nine-kilometer tunnel, which exits at the neighboring village of Badeo in
Kibungan where a surge tank and penstock will run two turbines in a powerhouse.

Addressing fears that the diverted water would dry up sections of the downstream river,
Atonen said engineers have designed the weir in such a way that it would not impede
the flow of at least 10 percent of the river during the dry months.

Despite what he described as a long and tedious process of consultation which began in
2010, Coheco, Atonen said, is optimistic it can start building the facility in the first
quarter of 2014.

“We can begin hiring during the last quarter of this year,” he said. “And as we promised
during past community consultations, the company will hire locals as workers.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Atonen based his optimism on the results of two consultative assemblies of Kapangan
and Kibungan elders gathered by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples
(NCIP).

On April 22, Kapangan elders consented to the project. Of the 15 villages in Kapangan,
nine voted for the project. The affected villages of Badeo and Tacadang in Kibungan
passed resolutions of consent on April 23.

Atonen said Kibungan officials and residents were encouraged by neighboring Bakun
town, which has been hosting a mini-hydro facility since the 1990s. He cited Bakun’s
share from national wealth tax and other benefits such as improved road access and jobs
for some locals.

But protests against the project continue. The opposition is headed by lawyer Cruzaldo
Bacduyan, counsel of the Amburayan Ancestral Land Owners Association Inc. He also
represents a company called the Green Indigenous Environment Development Corp.
(Giedco).

Bacduyan said even if more villages approved the project, the combined population of
the villages opposed to the power facility is collectively bigger.

He said they continue to oppose the project because the tunnel, which Coheco plans to
build to divert water to its surge tank, would disturb, if not destroy, vital water tables.

Giedco has expressed interest in building two mini-hydro projects in a tributary of the
Amburayan River.