BAGUIO CITY — Abra Rep. Ching B. Bernos on Tuesday asked the House Committee on Natural Resources and Committee on Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICC) and Indigenous Peoples (IPs) to investigate the gold exploration activities in her home province.

Ms. Bernos filed House Resolution No. 2073, seeking intervention in a bid to protect the ancestral lands of the Tingguians along the northern towns of Abra — Sallapadan, Licuan-Baay and Lacub.

This comes as an exploration permit was already awarded by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to a mining company without getting the consent of the IPs in the area as a legal requisite.

Rep. Bernos also said the firm’s disregard of the rights of the Tingguians over their land should be stopped as the IPs and the ICCs should be consulted first because it is their ancestral lands

“The controversy must be probed so that truth will come out, in the name of the welfare of the Tingguians of Abra,” she said. — Artemio A. Dumlao

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