IP group opposes coal mining in South Cotabato

THE indigenous T'boli and Manobo tribes residing at the sitio (subvillages) of Tawan Dagat, Tuburan, Segowet and Datal Bonlangon in Barangay Ned, Lake Sebu town in South Cotabato have formed an alliance to oppose a coal mining project in their area.

Although the Daguma Agro-Minerals Inc. (Daguma) had been in the area for more than four years, the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) are still not convinced that the mining firm's presence in their ancestral domain is beneficial to the community, Sister Susan Bolanio, who heads the Oblates of Notre Dame and the Hesed Foundation, told The Manila Times.The IPs formed an organization called the T'boli-Manobo S'daf Claimants Organization (Tamasco). Their main goal is to reclaim their ancestral land domain and to oppose incursions of private companies like the large coal mining firm Daguma.