Veronico “Nico” Lapsay Delamente, 27, was shot dead at around 12:20 noon last Friday in Punta Naga, Brgy. Caagdianao, according to Kalipunan ng Mga Katutubong Mamayan ng Pilipinas.
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — A large-scale nickel mining firm based in Caraga region clarified that Veronico “Nico” Delamente, the Mamanwa tribal leader, who was killed by unknown motorcycle riding gunmen last Jan.20 was not an “anti-mining activist.”
“Delamente had not been associated with any anti-mining group being a beneficiary of the various programs and projects from TMC,” Nissi Aline S. Alvarez, the information, education and communication officer, of Taganito Mining Corp. said in an emailed statement on Thursday.
Alvarez said that the cause of Delamente’s death that is circulating “point to misleading links to mining industries in the area.”
Delamente was a council member of the Asosasyon nan Madazaw na Panaghiusa ng Tribo nan Mamanwa sa Taganito ug Urbiztondo (AMPANTRIMTU), an NCIP-recognized organization of the indigenous people in Claver, Surigao del Norte.
His death came as the Lumad-Mamanwas gathered in Punta Naga on Jan. 20 for the Indigenous People’s Survey called for and to be attended by representatives from the National Commission on Indigenous People, according to a statement from the IP group Kasalo in Caraga.
“The assembly was allegedly being held to discuss the conflicts between Lumad groups in connection with the large scale nickel mining operations within the ancestral lands of the Lumad Mamanwa,” the group said.
But TMC, one of the country’s leading exporters of nickel ore, said that as of December last year, AMPANTRIMTU has already received P378-million as IP Royalty from the nickel mining firm.
“Since the full implementation of the IPRA Law, TMC has complied to the requirements negotiated by the Mamanwas on top of the one percent royalty deposited annually to AMPANTRIMTU since 2008,” the mining firm pointed out.
Alvarez said that sometime in June 2006, the Mamanwas of CADT-048 entered into an agreement with TMC and the NCIP “after a series of consultations and meetings leading to the AMPANTRIMTU submitting their Free-Prior and Informed Consent.”
She also added that AMPANTRIMTU was a recipient of TMC’s Corporate Social Responsibility projects such as the P20 million-worth housing project for the 120 households of the Taganito and Urbiztondo Mamanwa tribes, the establishment of the P5 million-worth hydraulic ram pump water system, the construction of and continuous support to the Punta Naga Elementary School, and other infrastructures and support to the Mamanwa community. (davaotoday.com)
