WE WERE DETAINED, VIZCAYA DELEGATION INSISTS	June 12 , 2008

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya - Provincial Administrator Manuel Tabora said they were definitely detained inside the “mining compound” during the June 7 visit to Brgy. Didipio, Kasibu of four house representatives including Congressman Carlos Padilla, Governor Luisa Loren Cuaresma and other provincial officials.

In an interview, members of the Vizcaya delegation that joined the visit claimed they had to wait for more than 20 minutes before they were allowed entry by the police officers in checkpoint at Brgy. Burgos , Cabarroguis, Quirino province.

Tabora said, after having been accosted for more than 20 minutes at the police checkpoint “and not five minutes as claimed by the police”, they were allowed to get inside. “On our way through, we were not allowed to pass another barricade that was padlocked and the guards refused to unlock it.”

Tabora said the incident at the police checkpoint is a separate situation from that which transpired inside the so-called mining compound. “That is where we were somehow detained because we were already inside and not allowed to get through the barricade.”

One provincial security officer who requested anonymity said that when they were inside the compound, they discovered their tents transferred from their original set-ups but the security guards of Oceana Gold Philippines, Inc. who were there, allegedly carrying long firearms, denied having transferred those tents supposedly to be used by the provincial employees.

In the June 9 issue of The Manila Times, Rep. Padilla complained that he and his three colleagues, Rep. Solomon Chungalao of Ifugao and Party-list Representatives Teodoro Casiño and Luzviminda Ilagan were “detained” for almost half an hour inside the police checkpoint while on their way to Brgy. Didipio, Kasibu for a congressional committee inquiry on alleged abuses of the foreign firm conducting the large-scale mining operation in the area.

“This is a direct affront on the House as well as on the duly-elected officials of this province. If they can do this to members of Congress, if they can do this to the governor and other provincial officials of Nueva Vizcaya, they can do this to anybody,” said Padilla, describing their being held up by the police as an act of “illegal detention.”

The solons, all members of the House Committee on Cultural Communities, passed Resolution 594 seeking an inquiry over alleged abuses committed on tribal villagers by Oceana Gold in their operation of the Didipio project, one of the only two large-scale mining ventures approved since the enactment of the 1995 Mining Act.

Chungalao, Casiño and Ilagan vowed to bring the “horrible experience” before the House plenary.

In his report to Police Director General Avelino Razon Jr.,  Police Chief Superintendent Ameto Gil Tolentino, Regional Director of Police Regional Office 02, said that the PNP personnel manning the checkpoint stopped the convoy of Rep. Padilla for five minutes and not 30 minutes as alleged. “They may have been delayed but definitely was not detained,” Tolentino said.

“The police checkpoint was conducted in a regular manner and the party was afforded not only security but also respect for no rude behavior was manifested by the personnel manning the checkpoint,” Tolentino added.