Ifugaos ask SC to cancel permit of Aussie mining firm

Ifugao residents in Nueva Vizcaya will ask the Supreme Court (SC) to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Australia-based mining company, Climax Arimco Mining Corp. (CAMC).

Residents of Barangays Didipio and Kasibo in Nueva Vizcaya said they decided to elevate their case to the SC because the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has not acted on their earlier petition to invalidate the company’s mining permit.

At the same time, the Ifugao community will again challenge before the SC, the constitutionality of the Mining Act of 1995 and the financial and technical assistance agreement (FTAA) given by then President Ramos to CAMC.

CAMC was issued a permit as a full-foreign owned entity to exploit Philippine mineral resources, particularly gold deposits on June 20, 1994, a year before the passage of the Mining Act.

The FTAA covers 37,000 hectares of rich agricultural lands peopled mostly by Ifugao communities within the Kasibu municipality of Nueva Viscaya and parts of Quirino province.

The petitioners include 70 Didipio residents, the local group Didipio Earth Savers Multipurpose Association, Rev. Bishop Ramon Villena of the Diocese of Bayombong, University of the Phils.Prof. Marvic Leonen, actor-environmentalist Roy Alvarez and other advocates.

The petitioners claimed that the mining operations of CAMC will put at risk the lives and properties of the people in the area.

Based on reports, the $137-million Dinkidi mining project would mean a small open-cut mine which would require the removal of a hill.

The mining project has already identified 17 gold and copper prospects in the Didipio Valley, all within the four kilometer radius of the Dinkidi orebody in Brgy. Didipio.

The petitioners said the entire operation will damage the community as it will require a large underground caving or "block caving" operation. This will require drilling to a depth of 825 meters to reach the 450 x 12 orebody. Cyanide processing will be used to extract the gold and copper.

At the same time, residents said the mining operations will damage the fertile Dinauyan Valley which is the proposed site for CAMC’s mine tailing dam.