The cyberlibel complaint against Santos comes amid continuing opposition to NLMRC’s exploration activities, with residents maintaining a barricade to protest the company’s operations.
By Trisha Nasam
MANILA — A lawyer representing anti-mining residents in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya faces a cyberlibel complaint from mining firm North Luzon Mineral Resources Corporation (NLMRC) over his criticism of the company’s exploration activities.
The complaint dated July 2 stemmed from a Facebook video in which lawyer Fidel Santos allegedly suggested that NLMRC “failed to comply with mandatory legal processes” in obtaining an exploration permit.
The exploration permit covers 4,456 hectares of land which residents stressed is part of their ancestral domain and a source of livelihood.
In the complaint, the mining firm disputed allegations that the documents it used to establish community consultation were taken from a “mushroom production seminar,” claiming that they “voluntarily conducted separate consultations with the affected communities.”
“The area covered by the complainant’s Exploration Permit is non-ancestral land, as officially certified by the Certificate of Non-Overlap issued by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), which confirms that the permit area does not overlap with any ancestral domain or ancestral land,” the complaint read. “Consequently, the requirement of obtaining Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), which applies only to ancestral domains and ancestral lands, is wholly inapplicable to the complainant’s Exploration Permit.”
Santos said that the complaint is “nothing but a SLAPP [Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation] suit meant to prevent me from choosing the difficult path of defending the poor and the environment.”
The cyberlibel complaint against Santos comes amid continuing opposition to NLMRC’s exploration activities, with residents maintaining a barricade to protest the company’s operations.
The barricade led to a separate forcible entry case against the residents involved and church leaders involved in the protest, including the bishop of Bayombong. The Municipal Trial Court of Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya, dismissed the case on June 24.
Read: Court dismisses forcible entry case vs Bayombong bishop, anti-mining advocates
Santos is directed to submit his counter-affidavit to the complainant within 10 days after receiving a copy of the complaint. (AMU, DAA)
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