A MINING and energy firm eyeing potential coal deposits in Lake Sebu in South Cotabato recently said it has never employed deceit in obtaining the consent of residents in the area.
MG Mining and Energy Corp. senior consultant Rufino Bomasang insisted they "obtained the approval of villagers in Barangay Ned to explore the area without deceit."
MG Mining was granted a coal operating contract by the Department of Energy to explore 7,000 hectares of land in Barangay Ned last year. The four-year exploration stage will cost the company at least P34 million.
Ned residents, backed by the local Catholic Church, have opposed the coal projects in their village, which is also being pursued by Daguma Agro-Minerals Inc. and its sister company Bonanza Energy Resources Inc.
Hundreds of residents claimed the coal mining companies failed to consult them properly and that the other signatories who were attached for the firms to pursue explorations were dubious.
Orestes Salon, MG Mining senior vice president for communication development and external affairs, vehemently denied his firm employed deceit to get the consent of residents.
He decried the apparent generalization of the anti-mining advocates to all the coal-mining firms in the area as having duped the residents to get their consent for exploration activities.
"MG Mining has four or five consultations facilitated by the NCIP (National Commission on Indigenous Peoples) with the residents. The assemblies were documented in nine claim books'" said Salon, who was with Bomasang.
However, when asked if MG Mining would be willing to repeat the process to erase perceptions deceit in getting the nod of the villagers, Salon said they are rejecting the proposal.
"The process is very costly and it will be very difficult to return to it. [But we can assure you] that the process has been very transparent," Salon claimed.
