Land dispute may derail mining project

Another land dispute may derail one of the few remaining priority mining projects that the government is banking on to bring continued investments in the mining sector.

Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) has sought the help of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Mines and Geosciences Bureau and the Minerals Development Council (MDC) in resolving an anomalous land dispute which threatens to disrupt the potentially rich Tampakan copper-gold project in South Cotabato, Mindanao.

The land dispute is just the latest in a series of problems encountered by SMI with the local community and an attack by the New People’s Army in its Tampakan project.

SMI, specifically, has sought help regarding the alleged anomalous grant of land titles to lands that are classified as timberlands and ancestral domains claims, and over which SMI’s Tampakan project has a Financial Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA).

Five Certificates of Land Ownership Agreements (CLOAs) covering a total of about 3,920 hectares of Barangay Pula Bato, Danlag and Tablu, all in Tampakan,were issued which were then the basis for which the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) issued subsequent land titles.

The issued land titles are now further being subdivided into individual titles to be issued by the DAR to each beneficiaries identified in the CLOAs. 

The CLOAs are governed by Republic Act No. 6657, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988 which, however, applies only to agricultural lands.

Thus, the issuance of the five CLOAs over the lands covered by SMI’s FTAA are forest and ancestral land as recognized under R.A. 6657.

Section 50 of Republic Act No. 8371, otherwise known as the Indigenous People’s Rights Act, enjoins all departments and government agencies, including DAR, from strictly issuing or granting any concession or license (such as CLOAs), without obtaining the free and prior informed consent of the indigenous community involved and, likewise, without obtaining a prior certification by the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP).

Furthermore, the issuance of the CLOAs is also in violation of Forestry laws.

The MDC, in its last meeting, agreed on the need to resolve the SMI complaint expeditiously in the face of growing disenchantment by foreign investors over the continued difficulty in dealing with local communities and non-government organizations.

One other priority project, that of OceanGold’s Didipio project, has already thrown in the hat and halted its operation while looking for a buyer.

SMI is controlled and managed by the Australian groups Xstrata Copper and Indophil Resources NL.

Apart from its local problems, SMI has been experiencing intra-corporate wranglings between Xstrata and Indophil.