Sagay Young Tourism Volunteers (SYTV), a youth organization founded to promoteempowerment in environmental appreciation and preservation in Sagay City, NegrosOccidental, celebrates the local government’s position in denying Tambuli Mining Company, Inc.’s(TMCI) request for an endorsement of their mining project situated at Brgy. Lopez Jaenain the city.
The Sagay Mining Project of TMCI was sought for surface mining in an approximately60-hectare land for the extraction of copper concentrate as a commodity for rawmaterials.
According to the public scoping of the project, the copper mining aims toestablish a sustainable and economical operation to meet the demand for copper.
“The city has been recognized as one of the Top Green Destination Award recipients in2022 for its commitment in environmental protection and sustainable tourism. It wouldbe an irony to establish a mining project that can potentially threaten Himogaan River andone of the Philippines’ largest marine protected areas, Sagay Marine Reserve, which havebeen preserved and protected by the city for decades to promote their ecological andsocioeconomic services to the people and to the environment”, said Yqfryd Alvarado, a member of SYTV.
“We applaud the position of government officials in denying the project’s endorsementrequest as this establishment could potentially contribute to pollution in both terrestrialand aquatic ecosystems. Lessons should be applied from past mining catastrophes whichhave happened in different parts of the country such as the 1996 Marcopper MiningDisaster which resulted in the death of Boac River leading to loss of livelihood to over20,000 people in Marinduque brought by the accidental release of mine tailings,” Alvarado
added.
Renante Villaflor, a farmer and fisherfolk from Suyac Island, Brgy. Taba-ao, Sagay Cityemphasizes the need to protect the Himogaan River and Sagay Marine Reserve.
“Fisherfolk communities in Sagay depend on the city’s rich waters as their primary sourcesof livelihood, food, and coastal protection from the impacts of climate change. Ifoperational, the mining project can lead to loss of livelihood of the local fisherfolk asaquatic ecosystems sustain their daily needs and the proposed project can negativelyaffect food security knowing that the project is located near to the river and farmlands,” Villaflor stated.
“Farmers and fisherfolk groups are among the poorest sectors in the Philippines yet theyare champions in promoting food security. Mining as a source of economic developmentcan threaten these sectors and the probable negative effects are unsustainable andperhaps irreversible”, Villaflor added. (PR)