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By William B. Depasupil, Reporter
A Supreme Court ruling has inevitably paved the
way for government to negotiate with controversial Chinese firm ZTE
Corp. for a mining exploration project in the 8,100-hectare Mount
Diwalwal Gold Rush Area in Mindanao.
Court records, citing proceedings before the
Senate investigation on the controversial national broadband deal,
pointed out that the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) with ZTE for mining operations in Diwalwal on July 12, 2006.
The memorandum came barely a month after a June
23, 2006 ruling by the High Court’s First Division which turned
down a suit by local firms pursuing their own mining claims.
A portion of the High Court ruling penned by
Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario literally gave the Palace
blanket authority to rescind subsisting mining contracts with local
firms.
“It is now up to the Executive Department
whether to undertake directly the mining operations of the Diwalwal
Gold Rush Area. As already ruled, the State may not be precluded
from considering a direct takeover of the mines, if it is the only
plausible remedy in sight to the gnawing complexities generated by
the gold rush. The State need be guided only by the demands of
public interest in settling on this option, as well as its material
and logistic feasibility,” the High Tribunal, in its 2006 ruling,
said.
ZTE favored over local firms
One of the local mining firms, the Southeast
Mindanao Gold Mining Corp. said the government’s deal with ZTE was
signed nine days after they received a copy of the High Court
decision against them.
In a seven-page motion filed Monday, March 31,
2008, the mining firm asked the High Court en banc to take a second
look at the 2006 decision of its First Division and schedule the
case for oral arguments to get to the bottom of things.
“What is even more disturbing is the timing of
the execution of the MOU vis-a-vis the issuance of the decision by
the former First Division of this Court. Thus, the decision of the
former First Division was issued on June 23, 2006 . . . and
according to [Trade and Industry] Secretary [Peter] Favila, the MOU
with ZTE Corp. was entered into on July 12, 2006,” the mining firm
said.
“The proximity of the date of the decision and
the execution of the MOU is such that the MOU could not have been
executed if not for the decision rendered by the Honorable Court
twenty days earlier,” the mining firm added.
In his testimony given before the Senate, Favila
remained elusive and unresponsive in naming the other contracts
entered into by ZTE in the country, but had provided the date of the
MOU signing for the Diwalwal mining operations.
“It comes as a surprise that while the status
of the 8,100 hectares in Mount Diwalwal is still unsettled, the
government has already entered into an MOU with the ZTE Corp. for
the exploration, development and operation of mining areas in
Diwalwal,” the firm told the High Court.
The disputed area, a rich tract of mineral land,
is inside the forest reserve located at Monkayo, Davao del Norte,
and Cateel, Davao Oriental, consisting of almost 5,000 hectares.
This mineral land is encompassed by Mount Diwata,
which is situated in the municipalities of Monkayo and Catee. It is
now known as the “Diwalwal Gold Rush Area.” Since the early
80’s, the area has always been the center of conflicts brought
about by numerous mining claimants.
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