IMPOVERISHED DIDIPIO COMFORTED BY NUEVA VIZCAYA GOVERNOR STRONG-WILLED ORDER	June 3, 2008

Political repression has indeed invaded a very simple local tax problem of Nueva Vizcaya against Oceana Gold Phil. Inc. with its large- scale gold/copper project at Didipio, Kasibu despite a Cease and Desist Order (CDO) issued by Nueva Vizcaya Governor Luisa Lloren Cuaresma.

The local problem has now reached the Office of the President. In response to Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs Manuel B. Gaite, who sought explanation on the issuance of the CDO, Governor Cuaresma came out with a well crafted response that dealt with the legalities of issuing the CDO defining among others the enforcement of a Tax Ordinance that can be subjected to reprieve by any aggrieved party to the Secretary of Justice, who by his power to review can declare if an Ordinance is contrary to law.  It can also be further referred to the Court if the decision of the Secretary of Justice is confounded. Meantime that the Ordinance is under review, it is in full force and effect.

It can be recalled that when Governor Cuaresma issued the CDO on April 9, 2008 against the foreign firm for refusing to pay their quarrying obligation to the province, it was Secretary Jose L. Atienza of the Department of Natural Resources (DENR) who came to their rescue, refuting the LGU contention on OceanaGold tax obligation citing among others that the on-going activities under the Financial and Technical Agreement (FTAA) between  OceanaGold and the national government are part of the development works in accordance with the Project’s Approved Declaration of Mining Project Feasibility and that the firm has the right to extract and remove quarry materials without need of a permit from the Provincial Governor.  Secretary Atienza gave the go signal for OceanaGold to resume its activities and threaten the filing of charges against liable provincial officials. 

Despite the threats, Governor Cuaresma stood adamant on her stand that OceanaGold quarrying activities fall under the context of RA 7160 or the Local Government Code where the Provincial Revenue Code (Tax Ordinance 2003-001) was enacted. She further emphasized the real intent of devolution and local autonomy of LGUs as enunciated by the Local Government Code. She however articulated that the tax issue is secondary with the real problem of human violations, illegal demolition social and economic dislodgement of several indigenous people affected and the continuous rampage to the environment not to mention the false development promises of OceanaGold that lured the community that once formed life risking human barricade to dodge the entry of the mining firm in their ancestral domain.

In the case of OceanaGold, Governor Cuaresma said that instead of seeking relief to the Secretary of Justice, the firm erroneously sought the intervention of the DENR Secretary who does not have the power to resolve the issue having no legal authority to declare unconstitutional or unlawful the said Tax Ordinance.  Mere clarification from the DENR Secretary will not bind the province and will not have the effect of declaring the Provincial Tax Ordinance to be invalid.

Governor Cuaresma further said that she stood defiant to Secretary Atienza continues aide memoir for “us to abide by the law when his own actions are in themselves contrary to law. And if there is chaos at Didipio, it is because of his own doing. At this point, what needs to be done is to ask Secretary Atienza to explain why he interferes with the actions of a local government unit when he knows that there are other appropriate offices that can settle the matter”.

“It is my legal duty as Governor to enforce all laws and ordinances relative to the governance of the province and to call upon the appropriate national law enforcement agencies to apprehend violators of the law.  Therefore, it goes without saying that whenever the occurrence of an illegal quarrying comes to my knowledge, it is my lawful duty to abate such quarrying either by issuing a Cease and Desist Order or by closing down the illegal activity by all means, lest I be charged with neglect of duty.”#nequita castro