Church, Nueva Vizcaya environmental groups hail Comelec okay for referendum on mining issue

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — The local Catholic Church and environmental groups have lauded the Commission on Election (Comelec) for approving the holding of a referendum on mining operations in a remote mountain village here.

The Church-based Social Action Center, which has been calling for the pullout of an Australian firm mining for gold in remote Barangay Didipio in Kasibu town, hailed the Comelec move as a "triumph for the environment and for the people."

Bayombong Bishop Ramon Villena said the referendum would decide once and for all whether the Australia’s Climax Arimco Mining Corp. has the mandate to continue operating in the gold ore-rich Didipio village.

"The upholding of the residents sovereign right is truly encouraging. It’s now their turn (to decide) whether they would allow the continuing destruction of their environment or not," he said.

Sister Eden Orlino of the Social Action Center said other local anti-mining groups such as the Lubong Salakniban Movement (Save the Earth Movement) and the Nueva Vizcaya Culture and Artist Club would band together for the rejection of any form of mining in Didipio, about 50 kilometers away from this capital town.

In its Sept. 12 en banc resolution, the Comelec said the referendum, to be held 30 days after the promulgation, would allow the more than 300 residents of Didipio to decide whether they support mining in their community or not.

The resolution also nullified the 1999 memorandum of agreement (MOA) entered into by the Didipio barangay council and the Australian firm, which allowed the latter to continue exploring for gold in the village.

However, the mostly indigenous villagers, led by Peter Dupayat, opposed the MOA and filed a petition with the Comelec to instead uphold an earlier agreement calling for a referendum.

The local Catholic Church claimed that the more than 20,000 hectares of rice and citrus farms in Kasibu and several villages in adjacent Quirino province would be inundated if Arimco continues to operate in the area.

The communist New People’s Army has raised the mining issue to rally local folk against the government.

Arimco has been in the area since the early 90s. It was granted a financial and technical assistance agreement for exploration activities during the administration of former President Fidel Ramos.

With the exploration stage almost completed, Arimco has to construct huge tailing dams and other man-made water channels for the gold extraction phase. Anti-mining groups claimed this would displace the villagers and inundate their farms.

This, aside from the toxic wastes generated during the extraction stage that would endanger the health of local folk and the environment, the anti-mining groups said.