South Cotabato tribal folk pin hopes on government

MANILA, Philippines – Young at 16, Laina dreams of a life far different from the depressed situation she and her family have been enduring all these years. Her father is a slash-and-burn farmer or kainginero; her mother, a simple housewife.

Their simplicity, which in South Cotabato is synonymous to poverty, is best manifested in their sticks-and-grass house and their hand-to-mouth daily existence.

The teener hopes to fulfil this dream of hers after she finishes her studies. She plans to be a school teacher.

Meantime, Laina attends Grade 6 classes in an elementary school in their community in Salnaong, a mountain village close to the project area of mineral development firm Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI).

Laina is like any other ordinary teenager with a simple dream, a diploma, except that she is a Blaan, one of the indigenous tribes in Mindanao.

“It is through SMI that our children now have access to health services and education,” said Blaan chieftain Fulong Juanito Malid of Salnaong.

Company records show that SMI has so far supported the education of 14,332 elementary, high school and college students.

Malid said Laina’s dream is typical among the youth in their communities, hoping to complete their education with SMI’s assistance.

“On their own, they cannot do it,” Malid said.

The South Cotabato Environment Code, which was enacted by former members of the provincial board whose term ended on June 30, is seen by tribal communities as a stumbling block to their aspirations as well as to Laina’s dream.

The Code bans open pit mining, seen as a potential threat to SMI’s plans to use open pit when it goes into production in 2015.

SMI’s Tampakan gold-copper project, which costs $6 billion to develop, is considered the largest single investment in the country.

With the threat on the progress of the Tampakan project, Malid and the rest of the tribal folk who are pinning their hopes on their natural resources are starting to worry again.

Apparently, despite strong stakeholder support from the indigenous group which has ancestral domain over the project area, Malid feels their voices have not been heard.