RP fails to comply with national, international mining standards — study

The Philippine government has failed to comply with national and international mining standards, an international fact-finding team that conducted a two-month study in Mindanao said yesterday.

The 62-page report entitled, "Mining in the Philippines Concerns and Conflicts Fact Finding Mission to the Philippines Report" was presented at the Social Research Center of the University of Sto. Tomas yesterday.

The committee was headed by Clare Short, a member of Parliament of the United Kingdom who had served as Secretary of State for International Development from 1997 until May 2003.

The other members of the team were Cathal Doyle, who has a master’s in International Human Rights Law from the Irish Center for Human Rights in Ireland; Fr. Frank Nally, a Columban missionary who was assigned in Mindanao in 1980; and Clive Wicks, a British conservation and development consultant.

The four members of the fact-finding team, however, were not present at the press conference as they were in London to attend a similar presentation.

Short said in the report that she was "deeply shocked by the negative impact of mining in the Philippines."

"I have never seen anything so systematically destructive as the mining program in the Philippines," she said. "The environmental effects are catastrophic as are the effect on people’s livelihood."

The committee urged the Arroyo administration to immediately cancel all mining applications that will inevitably cause major environmental damage to critical watersheds, ecosystems, agriculture or fisheries and result in social disruption.

"This should be done in areas where there is a strong evidence of serious inadequacies in the consultation and consent processes.

The mining licenses should not also be issued in conflict zones as recommended by the Extractive Industry Review (EIR)," the report stated.

"We recommend that the government address the shift of its role from ‘regulator of mining’ to ‘active promoter of mining’ by ensuring that all relevant government agencies confine their activities to the impartial regulation of mining," the report added.

They also requested that the Mining Act of 1995 be revoked and urged the government to establish an independent mining review body composed of members from civil society and the affected communities. This body would have the power to recommend and cancel mining licenses.

The team also called on the World Bank to promote its mandate of reducing world poverty and protecting the environment by halting its promotion and support for mining expansion in the country.

Among other things, the team discovered that mining operations spurred human rights violations.

"We have heard how indigenous people had been shifted off their lands to make way for mining and how their consultation rights had been undermined and ignored," Short said.

From July to August 2006, the four-man team stayed in Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur in Mindanao and there learned that the inhabitants — the Subaanen — succeeded in blocking the attempts of Rio Tinto (TEPI) to enter their area to set up mining operations. The Chinese firm was reportedly trying to secure an iron-ore mining permit and is one of the companies interested in getting the Midsalip iron-ore deposits located beneath the sacred mountain range Mt. Pinukis.

The team also visited Mt. Canatuan near the Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte in Mindanao. Since 1989, the Subanon have been reportedly fighting off efforts of miners to "desecrate" the "sacred mountain" they regard as their ancestral domain. But the families living in the ancestral lands of the Subanon have reportedly been evicted and their sacred site desecrated.

The mining company operating in the area reportedly hired a large paramilitary security force to keep out intruders.

The livelihood of farmers and fishermen was also reportedly affected and crop yields and fish harvest have been consequently reduced.

"We suggest the intervention of the Commission on Human Rights, National Bureau of Investigation/Department of Justice team of prosecutors to investigate and prosecute any human rights violation in Canatuan," the fact-finding team suggested.

They also went to Barangay Libay in Sibutad, Zamboanga del Norte where there were reports of a Canadian company conducting mining operations. The 1997 and 2002 dam overflows and mudslide destroyed rice fields here and filled the bay with mud and caused the death of mangroves and corals. The effects were said to be felt by surrounding communities up to 30 kilometers away, affecting up to 15,000 people.