CLARK FREEPORT—An amendment of the Joint Management Agreement (JMA) among the Clark Development Corp. (CDC), the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and an Ayta tribe, signed on December 6, 2007, is now being considered by the affected parties.
In a text message last Tuesday, the representative of the indigenous peoples (IP,) in the Mabalacat City council said they are open to an amendment of the JMA after the signatories conducted a mandatory review of the agreement last week.
“We are also open to an amendment. We will look into it in our next meeting with CDC,” Mabalacat City Councilor Ruvielane S. Margarito said.
CDC Communications Manager Noel G. Tulabut said: “As agreed upon in a meeting called by CDC, the JMA will be amended.”
Tulabut also said they are now awaiting the feedback of Ayta leaders as to who their legitimate representative will be.
Initially, Margarito said the Ayta tribe wants the JMA canceled because it was never valid right from the beginning.
A position paper signed recently by Margarito also called for the cancellation of the JMA.
“Our elders and chieftains want it canceled already, but we will still have another meeting for the final decision,” Margarito said.
Then-CDC President and CEO Liberato P. Laus initiated the signing of the JMA that called for a profit-sharing scheme where the Aytas get 20 percent while the CDC gets 80 percent of the profit.
The CDC will manage the development of about 10,684 hectares of Ayta ancestral lands for a period of 50 years under the JMA.
However, then-Rep. Carmelo F. Lazatin branded the JMA as “onerous”, considering its lopsided sharing scheme, and called for a congressional investigation.
Laus said he welcomed the investigation “because this will give us the timely opportunity to clear the air of any reservation or misinformation about the agreement and provide valuable inputs as well to our legislators that could be useful in their legislative agenda for the country’s indigenous people.”
In House Resolution (HR) 545, Lazatin said, the guaranteed income stipulated in the agreement, which was computed at P1 million per year for the whole area, was unfair to the Tribung Ayta composed of 13 tribes or about 3,000 families from the towns of Bamban, Tarlac and Mabalacat City, Pampanga.
However, as part of the JMA, the CDC turned over 13 special utility vehicles (Mitsubishi L-300 FB) to each of the tribes for their various transport requirements, particularly in moving products and peoples from the uplands to the lowlands.
Laus said the turnover was consistent with the spirit of the agreement that seeks essentially to improve the lives of the Aytas in the Clark hinterlands.