Diwalwal: A tale of fortune & misfortune

Rodrigo Pareño straps his backpack after putting in the last piece of clothing which he had brought along with him when he came to Mt. Diwalwal some six months earlier. Nearby, he could hear the whirring sound of helicopter blades cutting through the air, the same commercial vehicle that would fly him to Tagum, Davao del Norte where he would sell his share of the gold that his group had unearthed from the bowels of Mt. Diwata in Monkayo, Compostela Valley. Soon afterwards, he would be on his way home to his family, happy with the thought that he would be welcomed like a conquering hero.

The story of Pareño is a common story shared by hundreds of people who went to Mt. Diwalwal in search of gold, literally. But not all the stories coming out of Diwalwal are good and inspiring. Over the years, we have heard of miners — scores of them at a time — being buried alive and never to be heard from again.

Furthermore, the mining operations in Mt. Diwata are by no means operated by small, penniless individuals. A mining operation in the gold rush area that is called Diwalwal requires a capital no small miner can afford to put up. And many so-called capitalists have lost their shirts from financing a mining operation that comes up with hardly an ounce of gold.

For almost 20 years now, the area, barely five square kilometers in all, has produced more than P30 billion worth of high grade ore. But it has also left more than 4,000 people dead, majority of whom will probably remain forever buried in the maze of tunnels that have collapsed inside the belly of Mt. Diwalwal.

A free-for-all arrangement has been in existence during that 20-year period, arising mainly from a conflicting number of groups claiming the right to mine the site. This condition has led to the wanton destruction of its environment, particularly the outlying areas with toxic effluents polluting the once pristine Naboc River.

In a last-ditch effort to solve the reign of guns and goons, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, through newly confirmed Secretary Heherson Alvarez, had declared an emergency situation to address the critical and environmental and social concerns created by the gold rush situation.

The DENR invoked, among others, a decision by the Supreme Court issued on April 3, 2002, which ruled that the state may not be precluded from considering a direct takeover of the mines if it is the only plausible remedy in sight to the gnawing complexities generated by the gold rush.

Reliable sources within the DENR said there is even a plan to declare the area a mineral reservation by means of a Presidential Proclamation. Such a proclamation will give the DENR secretary the power to pick a group to mine the area.

Some groups, however, are saying that the area covering the Mt. Diwalwal gold rush area has been declared as early as 1931 by then Gov. Gen. Dwight F. Davis as a forest reservation.

Furthermore, the Court of Appeals through CA-GR SP 6125 and 6126 — cases involving the Mt. Diwalwal gold rush area and which were sent by the Supreme Court to the CA for a ruling on its merits — resolved the ownership of the mine site in favor of a company named Southeast Mindanao Gold Mining Corp. under Exploration Permit No. 133, saying these mining rights are property rights protected by the Constitution.

Under the implementing rules and regulations of RA 7942 or the New Mining Act of 1995: "Mining operations in reserved lands other than mineral reservations may be undertaken by the DENR, subject to limitations...Provided, that the party who undertook the exploration of said reservation shall be given priority. The mineral land so awarded shall be automatically excluded from the reservation during the term of the agreement. Provided further, that the right of the lessee of a valid mining contract existing with the reservation at the time of its establishment shall not be prejudiced or impaired."

During his incumbency, Secretary Fulgencio Factoran Jr., issued DAO 66 delineating an area of 729 hectares in the area as a non-forestland and open to small scale mining purposes. The CA ruled that the DAO was null and void considering that prior exploration rights could be categorized as existing and valid private rights.

The CA added that the power of the DENR secretary is merely recommendatory and that the power to award mining rights is vested on the Chief Executive with the concurrence of Congress, citing provisions of PD 463 which was applicable at the time to the issuance of DAO 66.

Another DENR order, this time penned by then DENR Secretary Antonio Cerilles which recognized the Blucor and Helica group of miners was likewise found to be prejudicial to the rights of qualified small scale miners and that of SEM which have been earlier recognized by the Mines Adjudicatory Board, a quasi-legal body under the jurisdiction of the DENR.

CA associate justice Elvi John Asuncion, in a separate opinion, ruled that the DENR secretary’s outright delineation of the 729-hectare area in favor of certain entities contravenes the mandate of the Mining Adjudication Board’s decision and the purpose of RA 7076 the People’s Small Scale Mining Act.