From paradise to wasteland: Environmental destruction, rights violations abound in Bicol’s mining industry

Filminera’s Masbate Gold Project in Aroroy, Masbate impacts greatly on eight barangays, and four towns Uson, Milagros, Masbate and Aroroy. It has been in operation for the last five years.

Military operations in Bicol

The damaging effects of massive mining operations in the Bicol Region are not the only issues that Bicolanos have to contend with. The mining corporations have secured the Aquino administration’s approval to employ battalions of security guards, and to even secure the protection of elements of the AFP including the paramilitary forces of the CAFGU.

According to Umalpas-Ka Bicol, the role the military plays in mining operations is crucial from the point of view of the mining firms.

During ex-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term, the Investment Defense Force (IDF) was established to add to the security forces of mining corporations.

?Then, the Mineral Development Council formed the Committee on Mining Security, which carries the task of assessing the over-all security of mining activities and to manage the IDF.

The AFP and the PNP, in the meantime, have put together their Joint Mining Security Protocol, which serves as guide for corporations on how to address security threats. The protocol also contains arrangements between the AFP -PNP and the mining corporations when it comes to security.

Because of all these security arrangements, it’s not surprising that entire towns,municipalities and provinces in Bicol are militarized.

For instance, Umalpas-Ka Bicol has monitored that Filminera employed 300 to 400 company guards. This besides the soldiers of the Bravo Company of the 9th IB and the 9th ID. All these armed men are deployed in the six barangays in Aroroy, Masbate. In the meantime, forces of the 22nd CAFGU Company serve as the roving guard on the boundaries of Filminera. All these security forces are bolstered by members of the Community Police Assistance Center (CPAC) of the Philippine National Police. They are stationed at the main gate of Filminera.

Inside the company are three groups of security forces. First, is the so-called Admin Security which takes charge of all administrative affairs, the facilities and the power house. Members of this team are armed with short fire-arms.

Then there is the Red Guard that secures the processing plant and the warehouses where the processed gold is stored. The members of the Red Guard are alleged to be issued AK-2000s and mobile communications equipment.

Finally, there is the Outpost Guard who are deployed at the actual mining site. They also have short firearms and shotguns.

The military also makes its presence felt in Camarines Norte.

According to Umalpas-Ka Bicol, the 49th IB of the Philippine Army has deployed hundreds of its troops all over 62 barangays in seven towns, Labo, Capalonga, Jose Panganiban,Paracale,Talisay, Sta Elena and Mercedes.

Human rights violations in Bicol

Human rights groups in Bikol have monitored increasing human rights violations in the region under Aquino. From July 2010 to July 2012, there have been 197 victims of human rights violations and 734 cases: 34 were killed, 71 tortured, 74 illegally arrested, 18 subjected to physical harassment. There were also 51 incidents of illegal entry into civilian homes; 73 cases wherein soldiers used public facilities or infrastructure; 68 cases of coercion of civilians; Among the victims, 108 were women; 98 children; and 16 were elderly or senior citizens.

In 2010, the office of KMP-Camarines Norte was raided by soldiers and the chairman of the organization Tay Smith and four others were arrested and detained for three months.

That same year, eight leaders of KMP-Bikol, including the chairman Tata Felix Paz, were charged with trumped-up cases.

In 2011, some 19 farmers of Hacienda Berenguer and Peralta in Sorsogon were arrested and detained. There were many other cases of illegal arrest, torture and harassment against residents of 11 villages in Guinobatan, Albay where the 2nd Infantry Battalion is based.

LGU approval for mining

Particularly in Camarines Norte, local government officials are very vocal in their support for mining operations.

Camarines Norte Governor Edgardo Tallado is head of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) and the Pamana Project. Pamana or the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan, is the Aquino government’s peace and development framework spearheaded by the Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process (Opapp). It is largely seen by critics as a counter-insurgency scheme masquerading as a peace and development program.

The Pamana scheme is being implemented in conflict-affected areas in the country, including the Bicol Region with Camarines Norte identified as one of its four provinces that yielded indicative plans for the program’s Pillars One and Three. The other provinces are Sorsogon, Albay and Masbate.

Earlier in July this year, the late Interior and Local Government secretary Jesse M. Robredo ordered Tallado investigated for his alleged involvement in several illegal mining activities in the iron ore and gold-rich towns of Paracale and Jose Panganiban in the province.

Robredo ordered the investigations after receiving several complaints alleging that Tallado gave his “blessing” to illegal mining operations in Camarines Norte. The complaint which was lodged by Camarines Norte non-government organizations and environmental activists also reached the attention of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The president of the Pacale chapter of the Junior Chamber International Philippines Rio G. Paliza wrote a letter dated June 18, 2012 to the DILG. In his letter addressed to Robredo and secretary of the DENR Ramon Paje and Ruffy Biazon, commissioner of the BOC, Palizsa said Tallado’s office issued Temporary Small-Scale Mining Permits to three mining companies in flagrant violation of environmental laws.

Paliza’s complaint is backed by several NGOs and people’s groups in Paracale, Labo and Jose Panganiban. Among these groups are Paracale-native Msgr. Litoy Asis of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the Samahan ng Mangingilaw sa Paracale (SAMAPA), KCI Labo Niogan, JCI Daet Bulawan and Kabihug, Philippine Golden Scouts, Kabalikat Charity, Samahan ng Kabataan sa Paracale, and Kabalikat Bicol among others.

Still in his latter, Paliza said the operations of the Uni Dragon Mining and Development Corp., the Philippine Bao Tong Mining Corporation and Liaoning Fenghua Group Philippine Mining Company, Inc. in Paracale have wrought untold damage to the Paracale shoreline and the rest of the environment.

“These mining firms have been illegally and irresponsibly operating in our town which has caused damage to some 40 hectares of coral and marine life in Barangay Bagumbayan by disposing their mud waste directly on our sea that resulted to a waste-deep mud waste,” Paliza said. “It has placed in serious jeopardy the source of livelihood of my kababayans and the one and only tourist beach resort in Paracale which is the Pulangdaga beach resort.”

Paliza also alleged that the Liaoning Fenghua Group was already issued a questionable temporary small-scale mining permit by the local government unit under Tallado’s office. The mining firm has begun its large-scale operations in Paracale with the use of heavy machinery and equipment.

Also, Paliza asserted that despite how the MGB issued a cease and desist order dated September 5, 2011 against the Philippine Bao Tao Mining Corporation for violation and non-compliance to the terms and conditions of its mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA), the company continues to operate in Paracale.

Stand and fight against mining destructive operations

Against serious odds they are facing, anti-irresponsible mining activists like Umalpas-Ka Bicol’s Casitas is hopeful that their struggle will inevitably be successful.

“To put it bluntly, we have no choice but to continue against anti-development and destructive mining. Thousands are losing their homes, their land, their very livelihood. The environmental destruction has reached catastrophic levels. Where will all the people affected by mining go? It’s either stand and fight, or surrender to the injustice and devastation,” he said. “The government and the mining industry’s lies convince no one — majority of Filipinos know that the mining industry kills.”

People’s organizations like Umalpas-Ka and the KMP are not alone in their fight against irresponsible mining. Church-based organizations have long joined the fray, adding their voice to the loud clamor denouncing mining TNCs and the government that sanctions their rapacious activities.

The Ecumenical Bishops Forum (EBF) has long taken a stand against mining in Bicol. It said that the mining operations in the region pose serious challenges against the people of Bicol and the environment.

“Destructive mining is blatantly unethical, unjust, and senseless for it exacerbates poverty, causes dislocation of livelihood of the people, and even threatens the base of life and life itself.It is lamentable that the national government equates TNC mining with development, and is remiss in its duties in protecting the environment to the detriment of the people. It has been proven that the negative costs of mining operations far outweigh the gains,” it said.

Regarding rest of the mining industry, Archbishop of Cebu and the President of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Jose S. Palma DD delivered a message of support to the National Peasant and Mining Conference.

“There is no question of where the church and I stand on this. For those opposing the continued rapid expansion of mining in and around the Philippine, we are with you. Mining is the most non-sustainable industries, for once materials are extracted, they are gone forever. Our farms and fisheries will suffer and our people will pay the price not just in this generation but in generations to come,” he said.

In Rapu-Rapu and the rest of Bicol, the people’s struggle against irresponsible mining is far from over.