Wednesday, May 07, 2008 PB can't find Ibaloi families By Jane Cadalig
THREE Benguet board members are in quandary on the whereabouts of "iBenguets" who were relocated more than 50 years ago to Palawan.
Board Members Juan Nazarro Jr., Rogelio Leon and Bernard Waclin are adamant in locating Ibaloi families who were displaced and relocated to Palawan, saying initial "inventory" revealed that the displaced families could not be found in the province.
Displaced families from Itogon and Bokod, which host the Binga and Ambuklao Dams, respectively, were transferred to Palawan.
Waclin said a contact person from the province told them not a single family from these two municipalities could be found among the members of the Igorot association in Palawan. The organization is composed of individuals coming from Benguet.
"There are families from Benguet but they came from Kapangan and Buguias, not from Itogon and Bokod," Waclin said.
This information, he said, came from Severino Gatt, president of the Igorot association in Palawan who serves as the Provincial Board's (PB) contact person in its effort to locate the long displaced constituents of the province.
About 14 families from the two towns stayed in the province after their relocation there. They are among the 50 families whom the government transferred during the construction of the Binga and Ambuklao dams in the 1950s.
Vice Governor Crescencio Pacalso earlier said the Provincial Government has no information as to where the rest of the 50 families transferred after their relocation in Palawan.
Nazarro said the PB is puzzled on why no family from Itogon and Bokod could be found in the list of members of the Igorot organization.
"It's a big puzzle for us, the families we expect to be there (in Palawan) are not," he said.
Leon meanwhile asked the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to help locate the displaced Benguet families.
Waclin said a canao would be performed in Palawan in order to ask the assistance of the gods in order for the PB to locate the missing families.
The PB's move to find the province's long-gone constituents came as the two giant dams are set to be managed by the SN Aboitiz Power, which won the bidding for the operation and maintenance of the power facilities.
The National Power Corporation (Napocor) -- former operator of the dams -- could not assure yet assistance to the displaced families as well as the settlement of their demands.
Napocor claim the relocation of the displaced families is not within its jurisdiction but with the Bureau of Lands.
Heirs of the displaced Ibalois laid their claims -- financial settlement and return of their lands anew with the impending Aboitiz takeover of the dams' operations and maintenance come June.
Pacalso said all possible angles are being explored for the settlement of the claims.
