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Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Only responsible miners welcome in RP: Reyes
By Antonio M. Ajero
TAMPAKAN, South Cotabato -- Irresponsible miners, foreign investors included, are not welcome in the Philippines, said Environment Secretary Angelo T. Reyes.
"We have one of the best mining laws in the world," Reyes said, adding that, "investors should be ready to accept and follow the rigid rules and policies in so far as public safety, environmental protection, and health standards are concerned."
The environment secretary held a press briefing in the poblacion of this town after flying over the Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) copper-gold mining area encompassing several municipalities in the provinces of Davao del Sur, Sultan Kudarat, and South Cotabato.
This was after he spoke over the weekend during the signing of the memorandum of understanding among mayors of Tampakan, South Cotabato, Columbio, Sultan Kudarat and Kiblawan, Davao del Sur for the so-called Kitaco Growth Plan.
He said that as head of the agency tasked to enforce the mining law, he was impressed by the projects on environmental protection and social equity that the Saguitarus Mining Inc., even if it is not operating yet, has on stream.
He said the SMI headed by former secretary Paul G. Dominguez, who was once presidential assistant for Mindanao, is still in the pre-feasibility study stage, but it has gone ahead with projects designed to build community capacity, develop human resource of members of the Blaan tribal communities in the host area, and protect the environment.
Guided by Dominguez, Tony Robbins -- his Australian partner, and Tampakan Mayor Claudius Barroso, Reyes's party motored to Sitio Maticura in Barangay Tablu where they visited the so-called "University of Lokinai," actually a field trial center where the company teaches Blaan several skills.
In Sitio Maticura, Reyes was presented with tokens by five Blaan tribal chieftains and the SMI and given a briefing tour of the butterfly breeding area, the company's environmental program exhibit, and nursery and field trial areas.
Secretary Reyes also presided over the symbolic release of hundreds of butterflies back into the wild and a ceremonial tree planting.
Reyes, who had been secretary of the departments of national defense and local government, said the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines headed by Archbisop Angel Lagdameo is not against mining in the Philippines per se.
"I've dialogued with the CBCP, I've dialogued with the CBCP president a number of times. Ang (The) stand ng (of) CBCP is that they're not against mining," he said. "What they're saying is no to irresponsible mining, and we're all agreed, we should not allow irresponsible mining in our country.
Reyes repeated the phrase "responsible mining" more than a dozen times during his speeches and press briefing in Tampakan last Saturday.
In the same conference, Robbins said the company is "in the middle of the pre-feasibility study which we have to finish in September or October this year."
Then, he said, "we will move on to the final phase or definitive feasibility study which we have to have completed by the end of 2007."
So far, he said, everything is on schedule and is going very well.
Robbins repeated the company's earlier announcement that "the size of the resource had increased significantly, it is now most definitely a world-class deposit by international standards and the work is progressing very well under the able leadership of Mr. Dominguez."
The results of the definitive feasibility study, Robbins said, will be presented to the public and this would be sometime around July or August 2007.
He vowed in behalf of the Australian investors that "we will do nothing in this area that will be detrimental to the livelihood, the air, the water and the environment of the people who live in the vicinity of this deposit and also downstream." (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
(June 6, 2006 issue)
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