Leyte townsfolk seek end to black sand mining but environment exec downplays gripes
By: Lottie Salarda, InterAksyon.com (text, photos and video)
May 6, 2014 7:15 PM
This is where black sand, or magnetite sand, is extracted in McArthur town, Leyte (photo by Lottie Salarda, InterAksyon.com)
InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MCARTHUR, Leyte — Residents of three villages in McArthur town, Leyte are demanding a stop to black sand mining in their community, citing the ill effects on their health and livelihoods, and saying their consent was never sought by the local government and other agencies.
But the officer-in-charge of the government agency overseeing mining in the region defended the extraction operations, saying people have no reason to complain about the operations that scoop up truckload upon truckload of magnetite sand to be laden onto barges and then shipped to China.
On April 22, Earth Day, the local organization “Unahin Lagi Natin ang Diyos” or UNLAD, staged a protest against the operations of RT Mining Corp. in Barangays Maya, Pongon and San Pedro.
An anti-mining banner strung at the entrance of Barangay San Pedro
The group also went on local radio to air their complaints, leading the firm to suspend its operations in Barangay Maya.There are fears the mining operations will expand to Barangays Liwayway and Romualdez. In Barangay Maya, more than 70 hectares of former rice fields have already been excavated. Many more have been simply abandoned.
UNLAD, with the Alyansa Tigil Mina, a broad coalition of nongovernmental organizations, people’s organizations, church groups and academic institutions that challenge the government’s aggressive promotion of large-scale mining in the country, has also submitted a petition calling for an end to the black sand mining in McArthur.
A facility of RT Mining Corp. stands among rice fields in Barangay Maya
UNLAD secretary Bernardita Morcilla, 67, told InterAksyon.com super typhoon Yolanda, which devastated Leyte last November, was literally the last straw for them.“Binagyo na kami, tapos ganito pa ang mangyayari! Nawalan na nga kami ng isda, tinumba pa ni Yolanda yung mga nyog namin, tapos ito na naman kinukuha ang mga bigas namin! Saan nalang kami nito pupunta (We were lashed by the storm, and now this happens! We lost our fish, Yolanda toppled all our coconusts, and now this is taking away our rice! Where do we go from here)?” Morcilla said.
The extraction of black sand began in Barangay Pongon in 2009 and expanded into Barangay Maya last year despite the lack of any public consultation by the local government, residents said.
(Click the link to watch Maribel Pulga of Barangay San Pedro interview)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpMRcUpa660
Maribel Pulga of Barangay San Pedro interview
“Nasisira yung mga pananim namin dahil sa ‘yung tubig na dumadaloy galing sa minahan ay merong oil, namamatay ‘yung mga tanim namin. Maitim ‘yung tubig na lumalabas galing doon. Hindi na rin kami makapagtanim ng palay dahil namina na nila ‘yung mga palayan namin. Nawalan na kami ng hanapbuhay (Our farms have been damaged because the water from the mine contains oil, which kills our crops. The water flowing from there is black. We cannot plant rice anymore because they have mined our ricelands. We have lost our livelihoods),” farmer Thelma Palania of Barangay Maya told InterAksyon.com during a recent visit to the village.
“Sabi nila walang permit ‘yan sa barangay pero merong resolution ang munisipyo na pumapayag sa operasyon nilang ‘yan (They say there is no permit to mine from the barangay but there is a municipal resolution allowing their operations),” Palania said.
Unfortunately, this is not entirely accurate.
Barangay Maya councilman Nilo Cordero said the truth is, he is the only official of their village who opposes the mining.
“May pinapapirmahan sa akin ang kapitan, isang resolusyon na pinapayagan ang mga yan na magmina sa amin dito, pero hindi ko pinirmahan ‘yan dahil lahat ng mga ka-barangay ko ayaw nila dahil nasisira ‘yung pananim namin. Tapos, ‘yung resolusyon na ‘yun ay ‘yung dati pa, parang kinopya lang (Our barangay captain asked me to sign a resolution allowing mining here, but I refused to sign because all my constituents don’t want it because it is destroying our farms. Besides, the resolution appeared to be recycled from an earlier one),” Cordero told InterAksyon.com.
What is obvious is that the extraction in Barangay Maya is too close to the villagers’ homes for comfort, literally at their doorsteps in fact.
The extraction area in Barangay Maya, just a few steps away from villagers’ homes
Alfredo Cordero, 63, whose home is just a few steps away from where black sand is scooped up, said: “Simula ng araruhin ko ‘yung palayan ko, nagkasakit ako sa balat. Tingnan mo ‘yung paa ko, kakagaling lang n’yan. Ang tubig kasi na dumadaloy sa palayan ko ay parang may halong chemical at langis. Hindi na kami makapagtanim dahil namamatay ang mga ito. ‘Pag magpatuloy pa ito, maraming pamilya ang magugutom dahil wala na kaming sasakahin dahil sa salot na minang iyan (Since I began plowing my rice filed, I developed a skin disease. Look at my legs, they have just healed. It’s because the water flowing through my rice farm seems mixed with chemicals and oil. We can no longer plant because our crops die. If this continues, many families will go hungry because we are unable to farm because of that plague of a mine).”
UNLAD traces its roots to a fish kill in Lake Bito, in Barangay Imelda, that coast hundreds of fishermen and fish pen owners their livelihoods.
“Nabuo ang grupo namin simula ng magkaroon ng malawakang fish kill sa Lake Bito sa Barangay Imelda kung saan 22 tons ng isda ang namatay. Mga sinungaling ‘yang taga MGB (Mines and Geosciences Board) na sabi walang kinalaman ang mining sa pagkamatay ng mga isda namin. Ay sus! eh bakit ‘yung medical abstract ng BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources) ay may findings na merong oil and grease ‘yung tubig sa lake (Our group was formed after the major fish kill in Lake Bito in Barangay Imelda in which 22 tons of fish died. The MGB people are lying when they say mining had nothing to do with the deaths of our fish. Why did the medical abstract of BFAR say that there were findings of oil and grease in the lakewater)?” Morcilla said.
UNLAD scored an early, if hard-won victory in Barangay Pongon.
After submitting their complaints against mining to the DENR, Environment Management Bureau and the MGB, they finally found a sympathetic hearing with the Office of the Ombudsman, which ordered the indefinite suspension of operations in Pongon by Nicua Mining Corp.
But the black sand extraction simply transferred to San Pedro.
Mining operations in Barangay San Pedro
“‘Yung may ari ng RT Mining Corp. ay si Mr. Ching at Carmela Wang na may-ari ng Leyte Iron Sand Corporation, na naka-merge sa Strong Built Mining Corp. na nagmimina ngayon sa San Pedro (The owners of RT Mining Corp. are Mr. China and Carmela Wang who also own Leyte Iron Sand Corpoeration, which marged with StrongBuilt Mining Corp., which is now mining in San Pedro),” Morcilla pointed out.
This, say villagers in McArthur, is the extent of the mining firms’ corporate social responsibility, a few iron sheets for a waiting shed
The UNLAD leader has nothing but disdain for the regional office of the MGB, whose personnel, she says, has never visited them to check their situation since mining started in McArthur in 2009.
“Eh, hindi man lang sumilip ang mga ‘yan sa sitwasyon namin eh. Nu’ng nangyari ang fish kill, oo, pero mga tao ‘yun ng MGB sa national office, pero hindi dito (They haven’t even taken a look at our situation. When the fish kill happened, yes, but those were people from the MGB national office, not here),” she said.
But Nonita Caguioa, officer-in-charge of the regional MGB’s Mine Environment and Safety Division dismissed the McArthur residents’ complaints as baseless and said there is no reason to stop the mining.
“Bakit naman hindi ongoing? Bakit naman hindi puwede? Wala namang problema ang StrongBuilt, compliant naman sila (Why shouldn’t it be ongoing? Why shouldn’t it be allowed? StrongBuilt has no problem, they are compliant),” she said.She claimed her office has not received any formal complaint from anti-mining groups and hinted that any complaint would face rough sailing.
“If ever meron kayong (complaint) ano ba talaga ang specific issue? Sabihin mo environment, ang environment kasi very broad. (If ever there is a complaint, what esactly si the specific issue? You say the environment, but the environment is very broad),” she said.
“Iilan ang mining operations sa Region 8, dalawa sa Eastern Samar, medium-scale sa Leyte, isa ‘yung StrongBuilt. Hindi naman siya large-scale, medium-scale lang ‘yan ang category. Malaki ‘yung area na approved, ‘yung may ECC (Environmental Compliance Certificate) is 1,000 (There are only a few mining operations in Region 8, two in Eastern Samar, medium-scale in Leyte, one of these is StrongBuilt. It is no large-scale, its category is only medium scale. The area approved is huge, 1,000 hectares are covered by an ECC is 1,000 hectares) but what they can mine in a year is less than 10 hectares,” she noted.
A mining facility in Barangay San Pedro
StrongBuilt’s contract with government is for 25 years.
In fact, according to Caguioa, the complaining villagers actually owe the mining firms a huge debt in the wake of Yolanda.“Bakit, sino ba ang nag-clearing operations matapos ang bagyo (Why, who undertook clearing operations after the storm? It’s the mining industry, not the government. Eh, hindi naman naniningil ang mining industry ‘diba (But they didn’t charge anyone for their help did they)?” she pointed out.
She also brushed aside the Earth Day protest.
“Ay, natanong ko din ‘yan (I asked about that), they were not staging a protest. Actually, hindi naman sa San Pedro ‘yun eh, magkakaroon sana ng dialogue ‘yung kapitan pero sabi na i-reset muna (it wasn’t even in San Pedro, there was supposed to be a dialogue with the barangaty captain but it was reset). It’s not a rally, dialogue lang with the barangay officials ng Maya. ‘Yun lang ‘yun (it was just a dialogue with the barangay officials of Maya. That’s that),” Caguioa said.
She also stressed that the mining operations in the three McArthur barangays have permits or that the reason for Nicua’s suspension had anything to do with the villagers’ complaints.
“Ang Nicua na-suspend ‘yan dahil sa intra-corporate problems aside from suspension dahil na rin sa ilang mga issues (Nicua was suspended because of intra-corporate problems as well as some other issues),” she said.
Caguioa also mocked UNLAD and Alyansa Tigil Mina’s call for a moratorium on the back sand extraction and questioned the legitimacy of the latter.
“Anong moratorium? Anong basis ng moratorium? Alyansa Tigil Mina? Taga sa’n ‘yan? Registered ba ‘yan? Ano grounds nila (What moratorium? What is the basis of the moratorium? Alyansa Tigil Mina? Where is that from? Is is registered)?” she asked.
A banner erected among rice paddies by Alyansa Tigil Muna calls for the scrapping of the Mining Act of 1995
As for the fish kill, Caguioa said it was farfetched to blame mining, saying the mining area is one meter lower than the lake.
She said their office continues to accept mining applications, calling this normal because of the currently high price of metals.
But as they watch their rice crops die and their lands turn fallow, the farmers of McArthur are convinced that mining will be their death unless it is stopped.
“Wala daw violation at walang environment issues? Eh kung ganu’n, bakit sila nagka-multa ng P50,000 at bakit sila na-suspend ng Ombudsman? Hindi nakakatulong ang mga kumpanyang ‘yan, perhuwisyo lang ang dala nila sa kapaligiran at sa pangkabuhayan namin. Nagtataka din ako, ‘diba kasi ‘yung EO (Executive Order) 79 na pinirmahan ni Pangulong Aquino ay hindi pinapayagan na minahin ‘yung mga palayan? Pero bakit ito ‘yung ginagawa nila (No violations and no environmental issues? If that is so, why were they fined P50,000 and why were they suspended by the Ombudsman? Those companies cannot help us, all they bring to the environment and our livelihood is pestilence. I also wonder because, doesn’t EO 79 that President Aquino sign not allow mining in rice lands? But why are they doing it here)?” said Morcilla.
SOURCE: http://www.interaksyon.com/article/86197/leyte-townsfolk-seek-end-to-black-sand-mining-but-environment-exec-downplays-gripes