A little article I found Saturday - February 19, 2005
Mining divides Mindanao groups
2/4/2005 8:47:00 AM
Source : Business World
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Despite their high biodiversity and abundance, seagrass habitats are still poorly understood in our country -- marine biologist. The owners of the mining companies will become millionaires, billionaires but the people living in the area will suffer more. Ellen P. Red, Correspondent
Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte residents are divided on the mining issue.
A "No to mining!" poster can be seen in one barangay, while a "Yes to mining!" is posted in another barangay.
Based on data from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, which is under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), a total of 28 mining companies were issued mineral production sharing agreements (MPSA) covering 66,247 hectares in the two Surigao provinces alone, as of the first quarter of 2004.
As defined in the Mining Act of 1995, an MPSA is "an agreement where the government grants to the contractor the exclusive right to conduct mining operations within a contract area and shares in the gross output. The contractor shall provide the financing, technology, management and personnel necessary for the implementation of the agreement."
The MPSA of Philnico Mining and Industrial Corp. covers 25,000 hectares at Nonoc and Awasan islands in Surigao del Norte for the mining of nickel and "associated minerals."
Residents and political leaders of the municipalities of Carrascal, Cantilan, Madrid, Carmen, Lanuza, Cortes and Tandag, all in Surigao del Sur, have openly opposed the entry of the mining companies in their area.
To strengthen their position, residents of these areas have bonded to form the CarCanMadCarLanCorTan-Lanuza Bay Development Alliance (LBDA).
Lanuza Bay encompasses the municipalities of Carrascal, Cantilan, Madrid, Carmen, Lanuza, and Cortes. Although located outside the bay, the municipality of Tandag is considered significant, taking into account its influence on the bay's catchment.
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During a forum on mining held last December in this city, Ranulfo Arreza, program manager of CarCanMadCarLanCorTan-LBDA, said the alliance opposes mining due to the proximity of the mining area to the coastal area, a distance of less than one kilometer.
He said that if mining companies would be allowed to operate, five kilometers of siltation would be formed in the municipal waters of Lanuza Bay.
"The owners of the mining companies will become millionaires, billionaires. But after these mining companies exhaust the needed natural resources, the people living in the area will suffer more, left without livelihood and left with environmental destruction," he said.
For his part, Surigao del Norte Governor Robert Lyndon Barbers, in a statement, said he plans to develop the mining industry to create employment.
In sitio Canatuan, Barangay Tabayo, Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, the issue of mining has also divided the people in the area.
WORKING GROUP
Representatives for and against the mining operation in Canatuan even travelled to Geneva, Switzerland to ventilate their positions before the 22nd session of the United Nations working group on indigenous populations held on July 22, 2004.
In a statement read before that body, Noval Lambo, chief of the Subanon, the indigenous community in Canatuan, protested that their sacred mountain (Mt. Canatuan) and watershed in Canatuan are in danger from a mining project of a Canadian mining firm, TVI Pacific, Inc. He said the community of Canatuan is divided and suffering from harm as a result of the conflict over the TVI project.
In another statement sent to the same body, Pablo Bernardo, himself a Subanon in another district in Zamboanga del Norte, said other members of the Subanon indigenous community support the TVI project.
Mr. Bernado said the company provides job opportunities, observes mining regulations and environmental protection, and has committed to provide and assist the Subanons with sustainable livelihood programs and activities.
Based on DENR data, an MPSA was issued to Benguet Corp., which was later assigned to TVI Resource Development Corp, in the 1990s, covering 508.34 hectares in Canatuan for gold, silver, and copper mining.
As of the first quarter of 2004, DENR records showed 10 mining companies were issued MPSA covering 32,439 hectares in Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga del Norte alone.
In the whole of Mindanao, a total of 60 mining companies were granted MPSA for 135,093 hectares as of the same date.
Meanwhile, the financial and technical assistance agreement (FTAA) of Sagittarius Mines, Inc., formerly known as Western Mining Corp. Philippines, covers 30,490 hectares, overlapping portions of North and South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and Davao del Sur.
An FTAA, under the mining law, is "a contract involving financial and technical assistance for large-scale exploration, development and utilization of mineral resources."
On Oct. 11, 2002, advocates against mining from church organizations, nongovernmental organizations, entertainment industry, and the academe gathered in Dapitan City and signed the document, "The Dapitan Declaration." The document called for the scrapping of the Mining Act.
The declaration states: "We have witnessed the destructive effects of mining on human and other life forms-violations of peoples' rights, fish kills, environmental destruction, pollution, and dreaded diseases-which are glaring in the cases of Canatuan in Zamboanga del Norte and the communities in Marinduque. This cannot go on. There are alternative ways of organizing and understanding our world and how we want to live."
In a statement, Catalino Corpuz, campaign officer of the Tebtebba Foundation based in Baguio City and one of the signatories of the declaration said the Mining Act "opened the country's doors to large multinational corporations in order to mine the country... especially the ancestral domains of indigenous peoples."
In a response to the issues raised against mining, the DENR issued a statement, which stated, "[The] protection of Indigenous Peoples is guaranteed by the revised implementing rules and regulations' conformity with the three requirements provided in International Labor Organization Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples."
"The prior informed consent required from areas recognized or claimed as ancestral land is our way of recognizing the Indigenous People's rights to their land. Should [they] grant the consent and the area later warrant development, [they] shall receive their share from economic opportunities arising from mining operations through royalties in the amount equivalent to at least 1% of the annual gross revenues," the DENR said.
PROTECTION
On the issue of environmental protection, the DENR said the revised Implementing Rules and Regulations "ensures that environmental conditions are sustained over the life of the mine."
The agency said while much of the attention is focused on environmental incidents involving mines, tailings dams has been transformed to grazing lands, to vegetable farms or to a mini-golf course and underground mines were also converted to an eco-tourism site.
"It has been done in the past and we have no reason to doubt that with technology, innovation and ingenuity, the concept of 'resource multiplication', that is, the transformation of mining disturbed areas to productive uses, will become an industry standard," the agency said.
Meanwhile, the regional MGB office in Eastern Visayas has admitted that illegal sand and gravel extraction is rampant in Leyte.
MGB Eastern Visayas legal officer Pastor Salazar told BusinessWorld in an interview that they have already identified some of the illegal operators in the coastal towns of Leyte.
"Most [of the illegal operators] have no jobs and can hardly feed their families. Unless they get jobs, they won't be stopped," he said.
Leyte Governor Jericho Petilla has requested MGB to deputize anew a 15-man team called the Task Force Sand and Gravel to neutralize illegal gravel and sand extraction in the province.
Some local government employees and policemen were also deputized for this purpose in the following municipalities in Leyte: Palo, Tanauan, Alang-alang, Javier, Baybay, Albuera, Hindang, Hilongos, Bato, and Julita.
At present, MGB-Region 8 is the only agency in the region that has the authority to deputize people who may apprehend illegal gravel and sand extraction operators because the provincial government of Leyte has yet to formulate an ordinance on this, Mr. Petilla said.
Sand and gravel extraction without permit is punishable under the Mining Act, or Republic Act No. 7942. -- with a report from Sarwell Q. Meniano in Leyte