Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino spar over gold site territory

CABARROGUIS, Quirino – A showdown between the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino is in the offing as local officials of Quirino are reviving claim for ownership of Didipio, a gold rich barangay of Kasibu which is part of several barangays located along the disputed boundary of the two provinces. Quirino Gov. Dakila Cua, a staunch supporter of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Monday that he would assert the province’s rights over the ownership of the area where a multibillion mining project is operated by a government backed Australian mining firm Oceana Gold Philippines. “We have old maps supported by documents and we intend to produce additional evidence as needed, to show that (Didipio) and other barangays belong to Quirino and not Nueva Vizcaya," he said. "We may also use modern devices like GPS (global positioning system) for satellite survey to show that it is indeed within the boundaries of Quirino." He added. Didipio is a mineral-rich mountain village and currently host to the first and only large scale mining project in Cagayan Valley. Its residents have been voting as part of Nueva Vizcaya even before the province was separated in 1971 by virtue of a Republic Act authored by then Senator Leonardo Perez and his younger brother Benjamin. The national government is expected to earn at least P30 billion in revenues from the said mining operation, millions more for the host local government unit and thousands of jobs for the local residents during its 15 year period of operation. Rep. Junie Evangelista Cua, expressed support for the move of the Quirino provincial government to reclaim ownership of the Didipio area. “I support the move of the provincial government of Quirino all the way, if money is needed to help advance its claim then I’ll make it available for them," said the elder Cua. But officials in Nueva Vizcaya are not about to let the challenge pass. “We should be circumspect about all these, there is a process we should observe, Quirino cannot just unilaterally declare that a certain area is part of their territory. If they have maps to show as they say, we also have maps showing Kasibu lies within our province," Nueva Vizcaya Vice Governor Jose Gambito said. Gambito also echoed Rep. Carlos Padilla’s statements saying that barangays that belonged to towns in the mother province before it was separated remain with Nueva Vizcaya. According to Padilla, the said boundary dispute had been previously taken up during the late Seventies or early Eighties and remained to be in status quo until now. This was corroborated by board member Patricio Dumlao whose mother was the provincial governor during that time. But Cua countered this saying that he would be amenable to a survey. “When the people in Didipio were surveyed several years ago which province they want to be part of, they chose Nueva Vizcaya because the road there were better before, but now its different, let’s conduct a survey now and results will show otherwise,"Cua said. Presently, the road to remote Didipio coming from an alternate route via Quirino has already been upgraded by Oceana Gold and can be used by both light and heavy vehicles including heavy equipments for use in mining operations. The improved road has of late, given a new boost to Quirino’s economy being the source of supplies needed by the mining company and by Didipio residents who are workers of the Australian mining firm. - Floro Taguinod, GMANews.TV