|
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Be calm and patient, Diwalwal miners told
By Ben O. Tesiorna
DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte reiterated Monday his appeal to the small miners in Diwalwal for calm and a little patience.
This as he assured them that the National Government is doing its best to address their demands.
Duterte said anytime soon an official from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) would be coming over for talks with the miners.
"Maghintay lang sila. Wag nila akong apurahin," Duterte said.
Mt. Diwata barangay captain Franco Tito meanwhile said that they will just wait for any development on their demands. He said they trust Duterte that he could help them with their problems.
Duterte, Regional Peace and Order Council chair, earlier cautioned small miners in the gold rush mountain of Diwalwal to refrain from taking over the operation of the government-owned Natural Resources Mining Development Corporation (NRMDC).
Duterte said such a move would be counterproductive not just to miners but to government as well.
He also advised thousands of miners to correct their false notion that they have the exclusive right to mine the area.
He said for as long as "we are under one republic, all other Filipinos living outside of Diwalwal have also the inherent right to mine the area."
"Do not claim inherent right to the area since it is equally owned by Filipinos all over the country not just in Diwalwal," Duterte said.
He urged Diwalwal miners not to pursue plans to take control of the gold rush site from NRMDC. He said if ever he will be granted authority by the National Government to meddle, he will prevent the takeover from happening.
"Don't speak as if Diwalwal belongs solely to you," Duterte said.
He said government interest is paramount over the miners' interest.
Tito said their initial agreement with the National Government was for the NMRDC to take over operations in Diwalwal so it could legalize work there of small-scale miners and promote development in the area.
Since government took over the gold rush site, miners' production decreased, Tito said. He attributed this to the various limitations imposed by NRMDC, which is tasked to oversee mining operations in the area. He added that despite the 15 percent share collected by NRMDC from small miners, government is still losing millions from its operation in the area.
Tito said based on the documents he obtained, NMRDC collected P44.3 million from August 2002 until October 2004. Despite the collection, NRMDC is still reporting losses of P31 million for the period.
He said this is because of NMRDC's huge expenses of P73.2 million plus obligations amounting to P2.1 million.
Tito said their barangay filed a resolution ordering a stoppage of NRMDC operation in Diwalwal and for miners not to pay anything to the corporation.
The resolution also called for the revision of the sharing scheme between the National Government and the small miners and for the shares of the local government units, including that of the indigenous peoples, to be directly segregated and distributed to them accordingly.
Since the government takeover, the province, municipality, barangay and indigenous peoples have not received from the National Government their share in mining activities in Diwalwal, Tito added.
Tito accused government officials of having a hidden agenda saying, they have long been planning for the entry of multi-national mining corporations in Diwalwal contrary to earlier declarations that the mining site is exclusively for Filipino miners only.
He said that he even heard from highly reliable sources that some officials are planning to have an initial public offering of their business interests in Diwalwal especially when they learned that the gold reserves in the area amount to more than US$10 billion.
The miners sent President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo an open letter asking for her immediate action and for the implementation of developments she had long promised the more than 40,000 miners in Diwalwal.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (August 2, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
