by ACE ALEGRE
Bulatlat.com

BAGUIO CITY — Long-standing opposition to mining is turning out into another snag in the peace negotiations between the government of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front.

Conceding that the Communist Party of the Philippine (CPP) has a standing policy against “destructive mining”, prompting its armed group, the New Peoples Army, to continue attacking mining firms that destroy the environment and the livelihood of affected villagers, Luis Jalandoni, chairman of NDF negotiating panel, said President Benigno Aquino III is “missing some points” when the latter castigated the attacks by the NPA in Surigao.

Jalandoni said that President Aquino “completely misses that the extraction of nonrenewable resources such as mineral ores for export at dirt cheap prices kills the Philippine prospects for industrialization.”

The President also fails to recognize that “the indigenous people are subjected to dispossession of land, mass dislocation and ruination of their lives and culture,” the rebel spokesman said.

Aside from these, the NDF panel chairman also said that Pres. Aquino III cannot understand that “the unbridled mining poisons the environment and damages agriculture and other forms of livelihood.”

This is how the NDF justified its attacks on the mining firms in Surigao. The attacks, meanwhile, were viewed by the mining industry stakeholders as a bad sign to the economy, while the government sees it as portentous of the intent of the NDF.

But Jalandoni in his October 5 statement said, “Aquino is unmindful of the fact that the rivers and creeks as well as the coastal waters of Claver in Surigao del Norte are already poisoned and that the Tribal Coalition of Mindanao et al, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court on May 30, 2011 against the mines targeted by the NPA.”

A petition for a Writ of Kalikasan calling for a Temporary Environmental Protection Order against Taganita Mining Corp., Platinum Group Metals Corp., Oriental Synergy Mining Corp., Shenzhou Mining Group Corp. and Marcventures Mining Development Corp manifested the alleged detrimental effects of these mining firms on indigenous peoples in Surigao.

The mining firms were charged “with destroying and polluting the ancestral domain” by the petitioners “by failing to provide proper siltation dams for their nickel mines, thereby irreversibly damaging marine resources, mangroves, corals and creating serious health risks to the prejudice of the lives, health and properties of the tribes and inhabitants of the Provinces of Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur.”

Reportedly, the University of the Philippines Natural Sciences Research Institute (UP-NSRI) tested the water and soil samples taken from the said river and water systems. They found nickel levels as high as 190 mg/L when the maximum acceptable level of nickel in drinking water should only be 0.02 mg/L, according to the Department of Health (DOH) and the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD).

Jalandoni said “the policy of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines is to ban the mining corporations that destroy the livelihood, the environment and aspiration for industrial development and violate the rights and welfare of the indigenous people and the entire Filipino nation.”

Explaining the October 3 attacks as “protect(ing) the indigenous people and their ancestral domain and to prevent further damage to the environment,” Jalandoni called on Pres. Aquino “(to) heed the just demands and deep aspirations of the indigenous people and other sectors of Philippine society.”

“NPA In Mining Areas In Ilocos-Cordillera”

Before the October 3 NPA attacks in Surigao, NPA guerillas in the Ilocos and Cordillera regions admitted that their close presence to mining districts in the Ilocos and Cordillera regions are directly linked to mining activities and even upcoming applications.

The NPA is at Cervantes town, said Armando Silva, spokesman of the Ilocos Sur–based Alfredo Cesar Command of the NPA, “to educate, organize and mobilize the people to fight these mining companies in order to protect what is left of their lands for the future generation.”

Two NPAs were slain by government troopers in an almost week-long gun battle in Cervantes town, Ilocos Sur last week.

Rebels claimed that the Philippine government soldiers suffered more casualties, but Capt. Jovelyn Cabading, spokesman of the Northern Luzon Command of the AFP, denied it, saying only one of their soldiers was wounded.

A soldier was wounded in the September 23 firefight while another soldier died in September 24 encounter, said Silva of the NPA. “A total of 15 died and no less than six other soldiers were wounded from the operating troops of the 50th IB of the Philippine Army.”

Silva detailed that the first clash happened in Brgy. Remedios (Cervantes) where four soldiers died and six others were wounded in the morning of September 23. Ten soldiers died at Bulaga, Brgy. Aluling on September 24 while an undetermined number were at the least wounded at Maupong, Brgy. Concepcion on September 26.

Silva said that they “support the masses in their struggle against the massive destruction of their lands and livelihood caused by (mining) operations of Lepanto Consolidated Mining Inc. along the Abra River.”

Lepanto operates in Mankayan, Benguet. The Abra River flows from Mankayan to Cervantes, Quirino and other parts of southern Abra and Ilocos Sur.

It is feared that these destructive effects of mining operations will further worsen when the Exploration Permit and other mining applications by Lepanto and other mining companies like CEXCI, Malibatu, Solfotara are approved.

The US-based Phelps Dodge mining company is reportedly also conducting exploration in Patiacan, Quirino, Ilocos Sur.

Silva said “the 50th IB of the Philippine Army has been acting as an investment security force of Lepanto and other mining companies.” The military denied it.

The Abra-based Agustin Begnalen Command of the CPP-NPA has also time and again admitted their active presence in areas covered by mining applications, for example in Ilocos Sur, Abra and Mountain Province.

Since 2009, several clashes between NPA rebels and government forces in Abra, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Benguet and Ifugao were directly blamed by the CPP-NPA on entry of commercial mining into the villages.

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