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By Katrice R. Jalbuena, Reporter
A fact-finding team from the
United Kingdom criticized the Philippine government on Thursday for
looking the other way when mining firms fail to comply with national
and international safety and environmental standards.
Alyanse Tigil Min (ATM) a bared
the results of a fact-finding mission on the Philippine mining
sector at the University of Santo Tomas Social Research Center. ATM
was part of the mission, with the Missionary Society of St. Columban,
Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy, Irish
Center for Human Rights, Triocaire and the Philippine Indigenous
Peoples Links.
The report, “Mining in the
Philippines: Concerns and Conflicts,” was written by a team from
the United Kingdom, led by MP and former UK Minister for
Development, Clare Short.
The report was launched
simultaneously in the Philippines and the UK with the UK launch held
at Westminister Hall, London. Minister Short addressed the assembled
at the Manila launch via a previously taped video interview.
‘Shocked’
“I was deeply shocked by the
negative impact of mining in the Philippines. During our visit we
found scant evidence of mining benefiting the local people of the
country’s economy,” said Short.
“I hope that the findings of
this report and the recommendations will force the Philippine
government to assess their stand on mining as well as encourage
investors in the United Kingdom and worldwide to think before making
a bad investment in an activity that is so exploitive of the
Philippines and its people.”
The team visited three mining
sites in Mindanao and conducted a series of dialogues and interviews
with representatives of the local government and civil society from
four other mining sites—including the controversial Rapu-Rapu,
Albay, site under the Australian company Lafayette.
The gold mining activities in
Rapu-Rapu were shut down in 2005 after a tailings spill. It has been
issued a provisional permit to restart operations.
“The claimed economic benefits
of mining are too short-term,” said ATM national coordinator
Jaybee Garganera. “They cannot compensate for the social
displacement, cultural conflicts and environmental degradation that
might happen. Large-scale mining endanger what existing sustainable
livelihood and cultural development is already present in the
area.”
Violations
The report found several other
instances in which the Philippine government allegedly demonstrated
a willingness to circumvent its own laws on protecting the
environment and human rights.
The government, it added, has
tried to loosen standards in a bid to encourage foreign investors.
The fact finding team responsible
for the report spent the months of July and August 2006 visiting
three local communities affected by mining in Mindanao—Midsalip,
Zamboanga del Sur; Mount Canatuan, Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte; and
Barangay Libay in Sibutad, Zamboangal del Norte.
According to tribal leaders in
Midsalip and Mount Canatuan, applicants for mining permits routinely
fail to get the indigenous people’s informed consent, a violation
of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act and the Mining Act.
“Mount Canatuan is our
ancestral domain and our sacred mountain,” said Subanon tribal
leader, Timuay Jose Boy Anoy. “We do not need the development
promised by mining. We need peace. We need our land to continue our
way of life.”
In Mount Canatuan, Canadian
mining company TVI reportedly evicted families despite their
Certificates of Ancestral Domain. Local farmers and fishermen also
reported damage to their livelihood and health that they traced to
pollution wrought by mining activities.
Slow recovery
In the third site, the barangay
of Libay in Sibutad, which was subject to large-scale mining from
1997 to 2002 by the Canadian company Philex Gold, the land and
people have still not recovered.
Though Philex Gold still remains
in control of the land, no restoration efforts have been put in
place.
From 1997 to 2004, tailing dam
overflows and mudslides destroyed rice fields, mangroves and corals,
the report said.
Due to toxicity and siltage,
fishing in no longer viable in the nearby Murcellagos Bay. While the
team was in the area, a landslide blamed on deforestation destroyed
14 houses.
“As the only senator from
Mindanao, and an author of the Local Government Code, I can attest
to the veracity of the claims of tribal groups in Mindanao who are
being oppressed by government policies relating to mining,” said
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., who was a guest speaker at the launch.
“The history of mining in the
Philippines has shown that they have little positive results in the
actual area where they operate,” said Pimentel. “The resources
of the nation must be utilized, but not at the expense of the local
communities.”
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