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Monday, July 03, 2006
Groups picket mining firm in Compostela
DAVAO CITY -- Several farmers, tribesmen, and members of cause-oriented groups held a protest rally at a mining firm in New Bataan, Compostela Valley Friday to express their sentiment against mining operations in the area.
The protesters led by Nelson Bertulfo of the New Bataan Farmers Association and Fernando Sarmiento of Access/Panalipdan Mindanao are demanding the cancellation of the exploration permits issued to the Philippine Mining Corporation (Philco) for their operation in the area.
The protesters also demanded the scrapping of the Mining Act of 1995, respecting the rights of the indigenous people, defending national sovereignty, and stopping the militarization in the area.
The group also protested the filing of criminal charges against 27 native farmers accused by a mining firm of "mineral theft."
They claimed it was preposterous for the tribal people to be accused of such when they were the first ones to utilize the place through small-scale mining and farming.
"We have to remember that that land is under the community based forest management agreement or CBFMA. One of the projects of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources where the forested area is fielded out to farmers who will have to implement the integrated social forestry program. In short, the farmers were made as stewards of the forestland while attending to their farmlands," the group claimed.
They added that the area is also a "cultural heritage site", with IP burial grounds, and was declared an ancestral domain. The land should not be included in mining exploration, they said.
Philco's exploration area presently occupies 3,402 hectares and includes barangays like Camanlangan, Panag, Magangit, and Fatima in New Bataan.
The group also questioned the inclusion of titled lots within Philco's exploration area. They claimed this confusion started the conflict in the area.
"What hurts is that there are many titled lands included in the exploration area. When Philco learned that there were people mining in these areas, they sued these people claiming they encroached into the exploration area. These poor farmers never knew that their titled lands were included in the area granted to Philco since they were never consulted about it. This is how the confusion in Panag, Camanlangan, and Magangit started. The farmers are now asking who are the rightful owners of the land, the foreign capitalists? At present, the farmers are out on bail," the group said.
They also expressed their concern over Philco's open pit mining in New Bataan, saying residents in the area run the risk of experiencing a tragedy similar to Marinduque.
Attempts to contact lawyer Melanio Andresan, the president of Philco, for comment failed.
Compostela Valley is known to have a large deposit of gold. In the 23 declared mining site priorities in the country, five are in Compostela Valley.
These are the Diwalwal Direct State Utilization Project (Diwalwal, Monkayo); Manat Gold Project (Nabunturan, Maco & Maragusan); Kingking-Boringot Gold Project in Pantukan and Amacan Copper Project in North Davao; Apex Mining in Masara, Maco that was bought by Canadian mining firm Crew Minerals; and the Tagpura Copper and Batoto Gold Project in New Bataan whose investment partners are Philco and the Canadian company Sur American Gold Company. (BOT of Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
(July 3, 2006 issue)
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