LOVE OF LIFE ECONOMIC development is always at the forefront of the Chambers of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) in pushing more extractive projects in the country. The basis often insinuates parallel development for the foreign investors and the local stakeholders. However, this remains to be but a barren ambition, if not, a very biased accomplishment. Yet again, economic gains still indicate higher scale in capturing success of COMP, while outscoring other factors that directly distress the involved community. It should be noted that mining is not just an issue of maximizing the use of mineral deposits; in many instances, to do such, the country and its contracting mining bodies will have to destroy forest lands, displace communities and indigenous peoples groups, exterminate living organisms and defile water forms. Unfortunately, mining in the Philippines appears as a root to many wrong doings. The scenario is drawn when the government chooses money (economic gain) over life (biodiversity, civil society, IP). July 28, 2014 Love for life and the environment In the dawn of the millennium, David Korten, an American economist, wrote a reflection, “for the love of life.” He pointed out that those in positions in formal power have created institutions that are destroying life to the sole end of making money. This must be very true in the mining industry. Respect for life and property appears to be the least in the guiding principle of the mining operations, more so the “care for others.” An unimaginable fate happened in the morning on the October 3, 2007 when hundreds of anti-mining advocates in Sibuyan Island in Romblon picketed in Sitio Olango to stop the mining activities of Sibuyan Nickel Properties Development Corp. (SNPDC). Armin Marin, a local official and a known anti-mining advocate, was gunned down to death at about 10:30 a.m. while in confrontation with SNPDC employees; the bullet entered in his mouth and went through to the back of his head. The more poignant part is — it is not just the life of the anti-mining activists and people in the mining-affected communities being at risk, but the danger also extends to a scale that only nature can determine. The Typhoon Sendong tragedy in Cagayan de Oro, which killed more than a thousand, is just one of the natural catastrophes the country experienced in 2011, which many experts claimed to be an indicator that our environment is in its collapsing capacity. Mining is among the many factors being looked at as culprit in all of these. This goes to show the depressing parody, that at the start of a mining project, the government is so much concerned in calculating revenues to be generated for the country, but on the hindsight, Filipinos end up counting corpses and damaged properties. The trails of terrible accounts of mining companies do not just end in assaults, harassments and murder. In some cases, it starts and revolves in the massacre of other life forms and the environment. The assessment of the London Working Group on Mining in the Philippines led by Dr. Robert Goodland and Clive Montgomery Wicks revealed that the Tampakan Mine Project in Mindanao, covering provinces in South Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat and Davao del Sur, has high potential for loss of life and environmental damage. Goodland and Wicks were questioning the intentions of Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) in building a mine, and dams on a ring of volcanoes, and a bed of fault lines. The two experts gave a forewarning that if a failure on the dams or rock storage facilities occurs, water catchment and shallow aquifers that provide water for agriculture and many towns will be damaged. According to Goodland and Wicks, this can be caused by the seismic activities in the area that might also be induced by the mine drilling activities. In one of the dialogues with the executives of COMP, Wicks asked SMI officials, “How many people will be killed on this project?” Unethical it may seem for COMP, but it’s true and valid, according to Wicks. Respect for human rights The documentary Bakas ng Pagbangon (Traces of Awakening), produced by Philippine Human Rights Information Center in 2011, details the pressing issues of the Aetas in Sitio Maporac in Cabangan, Zambales and one of them is the operation of the Maporac Mining Corp. (MMC). National Commission of Indigenous People (NCIP) in Zambales noted that Sitio Maporac in Barangay San Juan in Cabangan is covered by the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT). This, however, seems to be not clear to Dan Juan Alvez, one of the shareholders of MMC. In the discourse, MMC remains business-as-usual while the rights of indigenous people are not fully recognized, and environmental protection is being denied. It is very apparent that many mining companies, such as MMC, demonstrate either a poor understanding of the Indigenous People’s Right Act (IPRA), or they just deliberately disregard this for high profit. In some cases, they even deceive IP groups just to get Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC).This fact has also been identified by Norwegian Contact Point (NCP) regarding its investigation on the complaint against the Mindoro Nickel Project of Intex Resources ASA (Intex). In the NCP report of the investigation, Intex denied the allegation that the FPIC process that they received in 1999 and 2008 was unsound. Intex claimed that the indigenous peoples, who are rightful owners of the land, were not the legally eligible to participate in the consultations. NCP found out that there was no proof that the IP groups, Kabilogan and Sadaki, who issued the FPIC to Intex, have been chosen as the representatives of the affected IP groups—in any dialogue or decision-making process. FPIC should have been obtained from the Alangan and Tadyawan Mangyans, whose Ancestral Domains will be covered by the mine site. Dandelita Palay, 44, is one of the Mamanuas who continues to fight against the entry of MRL Gold Philippines Inc. in Sitio Dinarawan in Barangay San Pablo, Jabonga, Agusan Del Norte. Dandelita knew exactly the griming scenarios should a mining company begin digging their mountains. She personally witnessed what happened to another Mamanua tribe community in Taganito, Surigao Del Norte. Her brothers and sisters were displaced from their community and were forced to live under a bridge. Suddenly, the whole community lost their access to clean water and source of food. With so much hunger, some members of the said community went outside the mountain to beg in the city market and other areas. One of Dandelita’s cousins died on the pavement with empty stomach. Choosing the right deal Every time there is a protest against mining in the country, the call is not just centered in stopping mining because of “mining” per se. In many cases, it is linked with the violations of human rights, disrespect to the Indigenous Peoples, degradation of natural resources, displacement of people and many other societal problems including public health. Then, there are also questions on bribery and dishonest transactions. With so much issue to resolve in the current trend and systems in mining in the Philippines, the call for moratorium on large-scale mining appears to be a significant deal for the country as of the moment. On February 3, about a 180 participants of the 2012 International Conference on Mining in Mindanao released their appeal to revoke the Mining Act of 1995 (Republic Act 7942) and called for the enactment of the Consolidated Alternative Minerals Management Bill, which is now pending in the House of Representatives. The message is clear; we need positive transformation in our extractive industry, even if the proposed actions of the anti-mining activists are unacceptable in the point of view of the COMP, a time when we prioritize ecology over economics, life over money. (EDEL GARINGAN) This article was first published in Manila Times in 2012.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 17:31:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015