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Responsible Mining Is An
Oxymoron
By Emma Y. Hotchkiss,
Baywatch Foundation President
Despite opposition from church groups, environmental groups, town
executives and irrigators, Surigao Governor Vicente Pimentel Jr. is
endorsing mining in the area. MarcVentures Mining and Development
Corporation (MMDC) owned by businessman Mario Vijungco, has an approved
Mineral Production Sharing Agreement to mine Cantilan town of nickel
with an area of 4,786 hectares is applying for an Environment Compliance
Certificate (ECC) before the DENR and Environmental Management Bureau (EMB).
At the MMDC Proposed Nickel Project Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
Public Consultation held on September 30, 2008 at the Cantilan Gym,
Governor Vicente Pimentel declared, “We should give mining a chance to
solve the unemployment situation in Surigao del Sur,” albeit tempered in
the presence of the Most Rev. Bishop Nereo Odchimar of the Tandag
Diocese. At the same company’s Public Hearingo on September 8, 2008 in
Brgy. Cabangahan, the governor openly attacked the church, while saying,
“I am not an enemy of the church, but our solution to the jobless
situation is in mining.” “The opposition and the church tell us we
should not.” “The church wants the people to be poor so that they will
constantly supplicate to them.” “We should not allow them to dictate to
us.” “How is the church going to solve unemployment?” He further
declared that in 10 years, there would be no more poor people in
Carrascal. “Everybody will have jobs.”
The governor operates a mining contract in his brothers’ mining company,
CTP Construction, which has three Mineral Production Sharing Agreements
(MPSA) in Carrascal. He also said that mining operations would not
damage the environment; government officials won’t allow it to happen:
“We are not stupid.” At the Consultation, he added, “We will protect the
environment at all cost.” Majority of the audience were not in favor of
mining yet were politely quiet unlike his audience at the hearing in
Cabangahan who were clearly generous with their applause.
Brgy. Cabangahan is an Indigenous People’s community of the Manobo tribe
and their barrio is inside the MMDC MPSA. It has 200 voters who are
mostly unskilled and whose livelihood depends on forest resources. The
mining company gave the barrio a school building and rehabilitated the
road leading to the town of Cantilan. They were also promised jobs in
the company. The company transported the barrio folks including
residents of sitio Lobo which has 100 voters to the EIA consultation. At
the gym, Pastor James Bat-ao, also a Manobo from Cabangahan told his
people that the company can offer them jobs and able to give them money
and things because they will get a lot of money from their ancestral
land. In a separate occasion, the Pastor addressed his people, “What
kind of jobs will the company be able to give you? Chainsaws? That is
the only skill you have. You won’t be able to cut trees anymore with
those chainsaws because the company will own them.”
Mayor Tomasa Guardo welcomed the attendees with her battlecry, “Motindog
an mga bolinao. [Anchovies stand up.]” Three quarters of the almost
3,000 audience stood up, shouting, “Bolinao, bolinao.” At a prayer rally
held by the church, the LGU, and Environmental groups on the 25th of
September, the Mayor asked her audience to come to the MMDC EIA
Consultation with all their relatives, like schools of bolinao to
overwhelm the patings (sharks), meaning the pro-mining groups. The mayor
was greeted with bolinao every time she ended a statement favoring the
farmers and the environment.
MMDC through their consultants briefly presented their Project and the
EIA Study/Findings Response to Issues and Concerns during scoping. One
of the concerns of the two barangays surveyed, Consuelo and Cabangahan,
was the issue of jobs. MMDC promised them job priority. According to
Vice President del Pilar, MMDC will only have 100 jobs initially then as
the operation progresses, 300 jobs at the most. Brgy. Cabangahan where
the mining operation is located didn’t raise any issue regarding the
environment except that they want responsible mining. Brgy. Consuelo
where the mineral stockpiling will be located raised the issue about
dust. MMDC’s answer was very simple: dust will be addressed or prevented
by the company. There was no technical information as to how that would
done. Madrid declared that their farmers do not want mining in the area
because it will destroy the irrigation systems and the Carac-an River.
They were also worried about landslides and damage to the environment.
MMDC’s response: hire qualified local residents for monitoring team;
make erosion and siltation facilities to protect the irrigation systems;
will pay for all the timber they will cut (which was met with derisive
laughs from the audience); and although they didn’t raise the issue of
jobs, priority employment. To the issues raised by the National
Irrigation Administration (NIA), Tandag Branch and the farmers
association regarding the irrigation systems, MMDC proposed mitigating
systems to protect them
Engr. Jun Banaay of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA)
responded with a presentation that showed the company’s mitigating
system’s (siltation pond) design “was inadequate and the mitigating
systems ineffective.” In planning the siltation ponds, MMDC’s
consultants used Surigao City ‘s daily maximum rainfall data of 140 mm
in calculating the ponds’ capacity. Surigao City is a typhoon prone city
but Cantilan is a flood prone town. NIA’s daily rainfall record shows a
range of 140-330 mm in the rainy months of December to March.
To Bishop Odchimar’s and Baywatch’s issues regarding damage to the
watershed and to coastal resources, MMDC responded: 1) the watershed is
not proclaimed that is why the MPSA was granted to the company, 2) the
mining operations will not affect the coastal resources because there
won’t be mine tailings because its not a processing operation. The NIA
for years, had been requesting the President of the Philippines and the
DENR to proclaim the Surigao del Sur area as watershed for their
irrigation systems.
Responsible mining was the theme of the company. Posters proclaiming it
were spread all over the gym. At the open forum, SB member Hon.
Jeannette Palang asked Edilberto del Pilar, Vice President of MMDC why
the company failed to mention the irrigation systems in their MPSA
application and at the Technical Conference where she was present, he
was heard to say “I didn’t know there was irrigation in Cantilan.” He
denied saying it and told the audience that he’s been a resident of
Cantilan for a long time and he knows of the irrigation systems. Hon.
Palang read MMDC’s Environmental Work Program stating that the area was
planted to coconuts, vegetables, “corn and rain-fed rice.” Dr. Dodo Olan,
Lovers of Nature President told the audience that he could not trust the
company because of its history as a logging company; that del Pilar
tried to stop him from reporting it as a monitoring team member by
offering him a share of the illegally cut logs which he refused.
Baywatch President, Emma Hotchkiss made a personal comment to Asec.
Jeremiah Dolino after his explanation of what responsible mining is,
“From our experiences with DENR officials and this company in regards to
its treatment of the issues that we raised, I can say that responsible
mining is an oxymoron.”
Two pro-mining persons were able to ask their statements, one was Brgy.
Captain Ampo of Cabangahan who exalted the company as a blessing to his
barrio; the other was a Pastor who asked a slightly threatening
question: “If the LGU will not issue a business permit to the company
once the Environmental Clearance Certificate is issued, is it legally
liable?” The LGU has been very openly saying it won’t issue a business
permit to the mining company.
The last speaker, Mr. Samuel Evangelio, President of the Student Council
at the Saint Michael’s College, asked the panel one question to which he
wanted each of them to answer: “Which is important to you, money or
life?” It was dismissed as a philosophical question.
Part of the ECC approval is Social Acceptability. The bolinaos showed
the EMB they don’t want mining in their area.
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