prayer rally and human barricade against mining operations in their
communities finally gained a victory and to everybody who join the
cause following the total pull-out of mining equipments from the area.
The picket began on October 5 in the tribal village of Brgy. Sigapod,
two days after residents discovered the presence of drilling
equipments waiting to be brought into the forests of Mt. Pinukis.
Another picket followed on October 9 in Brgy. Guinabot where another
set of test drill equipments was also brought up into Mt. Pinukis.
Mount Pinukis is a sacred mountain of the Subanen tribe, its
tributaries flows to three major bays in Zamboanga provinces. Three
main and many smaller rivers and streams would be affected by the
proposed mining. Agriculture and fishponds would be destroyed or
damaged if the watershed is affected by siltation or acid drainage.
The investment by the National Irrigation Administration and farmers
in irrigation may be wasted; moreover, many farmers may not be able to
repay their loans for irrigations infrastructure and equipment. The
Department of Agriculture would not be able to meet its targets to
increase food production, these was disclosed in their petition by the
members of the Tumanod Pusakal Subaanen Dig Midsalip (TUPUSUMI) during
the peaceful picket and prayer rally.
Mining will also affect the significant investment if the
international community in reforestation. It will pollute and cause
erosion and siltation of the rivers, exacerbate geohazard and
landslide problems.
There will be a risk of flooding and pollution of the main fish
farming and fresh water and marine fish breeding grounds; also the
flooding of lowland communities, which the forest and water catchment
currently protects, these were also the findings by The Working Group
on Mining in the Philippines (WGMP) during the conduct of case study
in the area.
The equipments are owned by the Construction and Drilling Specialists,
Inc. (CDSI) based in El Salvador, Misamis Oriental, which was
contracted by Geotechniques and Minerals Inc. (GAMI), Alpha Sibuco,
and Cebu Ore.Mineral Production and Sharing Agreement (MPSA) which was
issued in 2009 by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), covering
some 592 hectares that include Mt. Pinukis, a critical watershed area.
At the height of the picket, the community officially wrote a letter
to National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Central Office in
Manila, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Central
Office and MGB Central Office to immediately investigate the mining
activities inside the ancestral domain of the Subanen tribe without
the genuine free prior and informed consent of the tribe as enshrined
by the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) or R.A. 8371 and the
mandatory community consultations as protected by the Local Government
Code of 1991. The letter was handed to the abovementioned offices by
the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan
/Friends of the Earth-Philippines (LRC-KsK./FoE-Philippines).
The IPs community will be impacted of mining processes in their lands.
Their right to Free Prior Informed Consent has been denied as the
processes facilitated by the NCIP were seriously flawed. During the
fact finding mission of July and August 2006Clare Short and the team
met with the National Ombudsman. She invited the Subanen community to
submit a complaint and promise to act on it. The complaint was
submitted in 2006. however, to date there appears to have been no
action taken with regard to it. The NCIP now claims that the Subanen
have given their consent to mining exploration.
The Midsalip Community resiliency is not new, in fact, it's the
longest community opposition against mining inside the ancestral
domain in the Philippines since 1980s. (JONG CADION PP-112210-01)
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