Davao town welcomes mine project

DAVAO DEL SUR, Philippines – The mayor of Kiblawan town here said they welcome the Tampakan mining project whose proposed tailings dam will be located in the municipality.

“A recent Social Weather Stations survey showed that the Tampakan mining project is very much welcome in Kiblawan,” Mayor Marivic Diamante said.

Diamante said they remain optimistic about the project despite the recent denial of an environmental compliance certificate for the Tampakan mine.

“It is not an outright denial; it can still be worked out as soon as the South Cotabato provincial environmental code is amended,” she said.

Based on her consultations, Diamante said majority of her constituents favors large-scale mining over small-scale mining.

“Small-scale mining will only result in tragedies like what happened in Pantukan (Compostela Valley) and we don’t want that happening here,” she said.

Diamante said she believes the environment code that continues to be a stumbling block to the Tampakan project will be resolved by the national government.