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Thursday, July 07, 2005
Diwalwal miners threaten takeover of gold site
By Ben O. Tesiorna
MINERS in the gold-rush mountain of Diwalwal protested anew government's neglect of their plight, and warned authorities they would take over operations in the mining site if officials continue to ignore them.
Mt. Diwata barangay captain Franco Tito said he leads the protesters whom he claimed to have reached 5,000.
Monkayo Mayor Manuel Brillantes Jr., however, dismissed Tito's claim, saying his men estimated that there were only about 300 to 500 who joined Wednesday's protest rally initiated by the barangay official.
The protest was held right in front of the Natural Resources and Mining Development Corporation (NRMDC) at the Depot area in Diwalwal.
Tito said they are giving the NRMDC two weeks to start operation in the below level 600 of the gold rush mountain.
"Pag wala pa rin silang action, itakeover na ng mga taga-Diwalwal ang operation ng NRMDC after two weeks," Tito told Sun.Star Davao in a telephone interview Wednesday. (If we don't see them doing anything after two weeks, the Diwalwal miners will take over the operation.)
The protest rally was peaceful and the rallyists dispersed voluntarily shortly before noon.
One of the demands of the miners was to prohibit the police's Special Action Forces from entering Diwalwal.
Tito said since government took over the gold-rush site, miners' production decreased. 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 the NRMDC from small miners, government is still losing millions.
Tito said based on the documents he obtained, NMRDC collected P44.3 million from August 2002 until October 2004. Despite the collection, the NRMDC is still reporting losses of P31 million for the period.
He said this is because of NRMDC's huge expenses of P73.2 million plus obligations amounting to P2.1 million.
"Kay unsaon dili mudako ilang gasto na ang ilang bayad sa ilang mga consultant tag P300,000 man plus other privileges pa. Tapos wala man gihapon silay nahimo aron madevelop ang Diwalwal ug matabangan ang mga tao didto (Their expenses are huge because they are paying their consultants P300,000 each plus privileges and yet they haven't done anything to improve Diwalwal and help the people there)," Tito said.
It is for this reason, Tito said, that their barangay filed a resolution ordering a stoppage of NRMDC operation in Diwalwal and for miners not to pay anything to NRMDC.
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 Diwalwal 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.
"Pero ang ilang ginapalupok karon nga $1 billion lang ang estimated gold value sa Diwalwal para barato pa lang pagbaligya sa mga shares. Pero kadugayan ilaha ng ipagawas ang tinuod nga value nga $10 billion diay aron mudako dayon ang ilang ginansya (What they are claiming is that the gold value of Diwalwal is just US$1 billion so they can buy shares at very much cheaper price. But they will just as easily announce the real value at US$10 billion so that they can quickly claim a profit)," Tito said.
The controversial barangay official, however, warned that they are not taking all of these sitting down. He said if the need arises, they are ready to fight it out with the National Government.
"Tutal dugay naman namo ning ginabuhat. Matira ang matibay na lang (We've been doing this for so long. Let the strong survive)," Tito said.
The miners sent President 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. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
(July 7, 2005 issue)
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