Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya (November 10) -- The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) recently vowed to evaluate the issues and concerns raised by local officials and affected residents of the on-going mining project in barangay Didipio in Kasibu town, some 60 kilometers from here.

"We will evaluate these issues and in the course of our evaluation, expect the clashing of legal issuances that might have a bearing on the issues and concerns raised which will be embodied in our recommendations," said CHR chairperson Leila De Lima.

De Lima, along with commissioner Manuel Mamauag, local officials, civil society groups and several media practitioners also toured barangay Didipio last week and conducted validation on the several human rights violations allegedly committed by Ocena gold Mining Company, Inc. (OMCI).

OMCI officials, during a dialogue at the function room of the provincial capitol was also asked to shed light on the allegations made by the affected local officials and residents.

OMCI which obtained a Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) from the government in 1994 seeks to extract gold and copper deposits in the village.

De Lima also instructed OMCI officials to submit their relevant documents on various allegations made by local officials and affected residents.

Marilou Nablul, village chief of Didipio accused OMCI of closing roads used by the residents, resorting to burning of houses, unfair labor practices, unlawful stoppage on the transport of products by the residents, endangering the lives and properties of the villagers due to their tailings dam, use of policemen as security guards and the questionable social acceptability of the project from local officials and community residents.

Local officials and affected villagers earlier sought the assistance of the CHR over the growing tension in the village in the wake of the ongoing project exploration of OMCI.

But lawyer Joan Catiling, OMCI legal counsel dismissed all the allegations, saying that some of them are mere fabrications designed to malign the image of the company.

"We have all the documents to prove that we are always abiding with the law and we will be furnishing you with them," Catiling told CHR officials. (PIA Nueva Vizcaya)