Empowering the Tboli Tribal Council

Updated: November 11, 2016
Erratum: The original post suggesting a 4-point initial agreement between KTC and TMC has so far been corrected.

​A three-day workshop on effective governance of IP royalties from mining was conducted by Bantay Kita last May 20-22, 2015 in Tboli, South Cotabato.

Bantay Kita (BK) is committed to increasing capacity of local communities hosting mining operations and facilitating dialogue among stakeholders.  Recognizing that revenues from mining can translate to sustainable development when local communities receive a fair and equitable share, the Kematu Tribal Council of T’boli (KTC) sought the assistance of BK to renegotiate the terms of their Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Tribal Mining Corporation (TMC).

The KTC proposed that royalty payments be increased to 5% from 1%. An initial lump sum amount of twenty million pesos was also suggested along with the transfer of the management of social development programs to the KTC.
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Forty (40) participants coming from women’s organization, the barangay council, and the KTC attended the workshop.

On June 4, 2015, a meeting facilitated by Bantay Kita between the KTC and TMC to discuss the renegotiation of the MOA resulted in the following proposed agreements that was forwarded to the Board of Directors of TMC:

1. That the IP royalty share shall be 1% of the gross production in the first year of operation, 2% in the second year and 3% up to 5% in the succeeding years of operation;
2. That the Kematu Tribal Council shall be the contractor for the provision of non-technical / manual laborers for TMC;
3. That the social developments projects of the TMC shall be jointly implemented and monitored by the Kematu Tribal Council;
4. That a monthly meeting shall be conducted between the KTC and TMC.

No formal agreement has been signed by both parties.