By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
Note: To honor the memory of Rev. Luis Aoas, chairman of the Kalinga Anti-pollution Action Group from 2012 to his death on January 23, 2022, I will serialize this story on how the open dump site of the Bontoc LGU along the Chico River was eventually closed after decades of operation and serving as irritant in the relations of Kalinga and Mt. Province. The article first saw print in the Tabuk Life magazine of the Tabuk City LGU.
In the first two months of 2011, five personalities in Tabuk City namely Anglican Bishop Renato Abibico, Rev. Luis Aoas, chairman of the Kalinga-Apayao Religious Sector Association, Ryan’s Farm owner Corazon Ryan, Dr. Jaime Almora and this writer held a series of meetings to organize a group that would fight against the re-entry of large scale mining in the province. The motivation of the group was the information that negotiations were going on for the entry of a mining company to reopen the old Batongbuhay Gold Mines, Inc. (BBGMI) in Balatoc, Pasil, Kalinga and likewise the ongoing exploration by the Makilala Mining Corporation of another area in the same ancestral domain.
All over 50 years-old, the five were personal witnesses to the environmental destruction wrought by the operation of the BBGMI when it first operated in the 80s. The irrigation water which flowed to the farmlands in the Tabuk Valley through the Chico River Irrigation System which went into operation in 1983 was murky and left sediments which hardened the surface of the paddies stunting the rice plants and eventually, decreasing the yield of the farmlands to such levels which alarmed and angered the farmers. The tension between the farmers and the public officials of Tabuk rose as the management of the mining company dealt with the latter in bad faith so that it came to a point when the farmers considered violent means of stopping the mining operation. Mercifully, certain circumstances led to the closure of the mining operations in 1985.
The convenors were united in the resolve that that unpleasant episode in the life of residents of Tabuk Valley should not be repeated for the sake of its residents. They were also aware that the retention of the agricultural capacity of the Tabuk Valley is also vital for the whole country it being one of its most reliable rice bowls. With the looming impact of climate change on the irrigation sources of the country, areas which still have reliable irrigation systems such as the Tabuk Valley should be preserved at all cost for the survival of the Filipino race.
With its more or less 10,000 hectares of irrigated ricelands, Tabuk City is the acknowledged rice granary of the region and is among the important bread baskets of the country. It’s surplus rice production known in Northern Luzon markets simply as “Tabuk Rice” feeds hundreds of thousands outside its borders and ensures steady income for Tabuk farmers which in turn fuel the economy of the city. Indeed, the economy of Tabuk City practically depends on the yield of its ricelands as an estimated 80 percent of the economic activities in the locality is agriculture-related. This means that when the farmlands of this city for one reason or the other fail, then its economic life and that of its residents is at risk.
The group strongly felt that the defense of Tabuk’s farmlands require vigilance and appropriate action from the citizenry and saw that to be effective, the response of the stakeholders could not be sporadic but must be coordinated and organized. In the mind of the group, that is where the body they were contemplating form would come in.
When it was time to come up with the name of the group, Bishop Abibico suggested a resurrection of the name of the group which coordinated the multi-sectoral response to the operations of the old BBGMI of which, as a young priest, he happened to be a member of: Kalinga Anti-pollution Action Group (KAPAG). The group adopted the idea on the ground that it perfectly suited the objective of the group as stated in its Constitution which is as follows:
“To stop any activity that would lead to the pollution and siltation of the Chico River affecting the life of plants and inflicting harm to the health of humans and animals in the Tabuk Valley.”
The name embraced all the unwanted activities, not just large scale mining. **
(To be continued)
