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Davao Today - http://davaotoday.com/main/2006/03/28/in-siocon-subanens-continue-struggle-vs-canadian-mining-firm/

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

SIOCON, Zamboanga del Norte — For two years, timuay (tribal chief) Jose Anoy has not been able to set foot in his home. Home is Mt. Canatuan, the most sacred place for the 2,000 Subanen people, which has been encroached into by the mining firm Canada’s Toronto Ventures Inc (TVI) since 1994.

Anoy said that the TVI has prevented him from returning home because he refused to give consent for the company to mine 508 hectares located in the Subanen’s sacred land.

“The company offered me money before, and shares in their profits,” he recalled. “Accepting this could have been easy, but being a timuay, I remained firm for the sake of the Subanen.”

His stand forced the company to lay it hard on Anoy — driving him away from his own home. Since then, TVI has taken over Mt. Canatuan, barricading the area with three checkpoints.

Despair has not overcome him. Instead, he now finds various groups supporting the Subanens’ fight against TVI.

Anoy’s group, the Apo Manglan Glupa Pasaka, together with religious leaders from the Moro, Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, and local officials have coalesced to form the People’s Response for the Protection of Environment and Natural Resources (Protect-Western Mindanao), a regional alliance opposing large-scale mining.

On March 23, the group made an interfaith pilgrimage to Canatuan. The pilgrimage, according to the group, is a re-consecration of the Subanen ancestral land in Canatuan, which the TVI has desecrated.

One of Protect’s convenor, Godofredo Galos of Save Siocon Paradise Movement, noted that TVI’s operation has affected the Lituban River, a 25,000-hectare watershed area and a water source to a 750-hectare farmland in Siocon. The river is below the mountains where TVI’s tailings pond are located. Galos said residents who have waded through the river have shown signs of skin rashes.

The pollution in Lituban River worries Anoy, who fears this will lead to the loss of rice production in Siocon, which provides rice supplies for four municipalities in Zamboanga del Norte.

“TVI calls this development, but for whom? Can you call this development when a tribal chieftain is being driven out from his land?” Anoy asked.

The pilgrimage gathered religious leaders from the local parishes in Zamboanga del Norte, UCCP Northern Zamboanga District, Sisters Association in Mindanao, Imams and Ustadz from Moro communities, and Subanen leaders from Zamboanga Sibugay and del Norte. It also gathered 500 people from the communities in Siocon, from the provinces of Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Norte, and the cities of Pagadian, Dipolog, Ozamiz and Davao City.

Upon arriving at the TVI grounds, the leaders gathered around a circle, holding arms and said prayers in Subanen, Islam, Protestant faiths.

Bishop Jose Manguiran of the Diocese of Dipolog made a symbolic prayer by lying prostrate on the ground for a minute of silence, and then planted his Bishop’s staff on the ground. This prayer, Bishop Manguiran said, symbolizes a Prophetic plea for God’s intervention to help the people in Siocon.

The pilgrimage culminated with a torch parade and cultural program at Siocon’s plaza, the Tanghalan ng Paraiso.

The pilgrimage touched Timuay Anoy, who said during the program that “the struggle (against mining) is not only the Subanens’ concern, or the Christian people, or the Moro people; it is the struggle of all people here in the region of Zamboanga.”

The tribal chieftain is happy for now to see his home for a brief moment. He cannot stay on in Canatuan for concerns of his safety. Nevertheless, Anoy expressed his wish, that like the other people in Zamboanga, he would “like to see TVI leave our lands, and compensate for whatever damages they wrought to the people and the land.”

The pilgrimage comes at this time where the religious sector is now actively opposing large-scale foreign mining. Earlier in January, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued its statement calling for the repeal of Republic Act 7942, known as the Mining Act of 1995.

A Mindanao Interfaith conference on mining was held in Dipolog also last January leading to the formation of Panalipdan (Defend) Mindanao. The conference opposed the Arroyo government’s promotion of Mindanao as a mining haven. Ten of the government’s mining priority projects are located in Mindanao, including Siocon, four in Caraga region, four in Compostela Valley, and one in Socsksargen.

What lies behind the rise of foreign mining in this country, Bishop Manguiran siad, is the globalization pushed by G8 countries such as TVI’s country Canada. “Globalization scraps away nationalism, and patrimony, as patrimony is about who controls resources,” he said. (Panalipdan Mindanao)

Subanon in Canatuan Stand By Their Partnership with TVIRD
As Dipolog Bishop Jose Manguiran leads inter-faith ‘re-consecration’ rites in Canatuan

Dipolog Bishop Jose Manguiran: a staunch anti-mining advocate.

An inter-faith group of some 200 demonstrators led by Bishop Jose R. Manguiran of the Diocese of Dipolog conducted a prayer rally at the Canatuan Project site of TVI Resource Development Phils., Inc. (TVIRD) to “re-consecrate” the mine area and protest the presence of the company in this sitio of Barangay Tabayo in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte. The demonstrators were allowed entry into the Subanon indigenous community that hosts the mine facility by the Siocon Subano Association, Inc. (SSAI), the legal representative of the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) holders of Canatuan.

The re-consecration rites were premised on the rallyists’ belief that Mt. Canatuan is a Subanon sacred mountain – a claim made by former tribe leaders who were repudiated by their community in large part because of their links to illegal small-scale miners that operated in Canatuan prior to TVIRD.

The prayer rally was held at the Gossan Dam area, participated in by Roman Catholic, Protestant , and Muslim clerics, as well as by Subanon tribal chiefs led by former SSAI president Jose Anoy. Siocon Mayor Ceasar Soriano also joined his constituents in the rally.

TVIRD holds a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) with the Philippine government, which covers an area of 508.34 hectares within Canatuan. The company also secured free, prior and informed consent from the Subanon through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with SSAI for the development of Canatuan as a gesture of good faith and affirmative action despite the fact that TVIRD secured its MPSA prior to the issuance of CADT to the Subanon.

Through the MOU and the subsequent Memorandum of Agreement with TVIRD, the Subanon manifested their recogntion and respect to the prior mining rights of the company in the area covered by the CADT and guaranteed the free and unlimited access for exploration and operations.

The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA Law) provides that IPs have the right to use their lands as they see fit, including contracting with third parties for resource extraction and utilization.

An archaelogical assessment conducted by the Archaelogical, Cultural, Environmental Consultancy, Inc. on behalf of the National Museum of the Philippines revealed that the areas affected by TVIRD’s mining operations are negative of any Subanon archaeological or cultural materials; there were no evidence found of any historic religious practice, ever, at Mt. Canatuan.

“We would rather that they leave us alone,” Juanito Tumangkis, SSAI president said. “Our partnership with TVIRD has yielded tremendous benefits to my people – benefits that were deprived us for ages. These demonstrators offer no viable alternative to this partnership. Where were they when we needed help before? If they believe that Canatuan is sacred, why did they allow the small-scale miners to operate here before? Why didn’t they lift a finger when our women and children were being abused by the small-scale miner regime through hard labor and starvation wages?”

Since TVIRD began operations in Canatuan in 2004, the company has paid some P25 million in tax and royalty payments, including some P6.3 million in royalties to SSAI. The operations have also proven to be an engine of socio-economic growth, providing some P400 million equivalent benefits through enhancement of economic activity from the cost of operating the mine, local purchases, wages and salaries, as well as social security and health funds.

Other benefits include employment (60% of the company’s 650 employees are Subanon), education, health care, agriculture and sustainable livelihood, indigenous people (IP) settlement, infrastructure, political and cultural independence and empowerment, as well as environmental management and protection.

The House Committee on National Cultural Communities has cleared TVIRD from allegations ranging from encroachment, IP displacement, as well as militarization following hearings prompted by a House Resolution. TVIRD has been able to debunk the allegations during the series of public hearings conducted from September 2005 to January this year.

“TVI has made a good start and is doing the right thing. The issues here are: ‘Who are the beneficiaries?’ and ‘How is their wealth to be managed?’ ” So stated Congressman Solomon Chungalao, Committee chairman during a recent visit to Canatuan. He also said the issues in the ancestral domain are internal to the Subanon, referring to the internal leadership dispute in the Tribe that Chungalao requested the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples to help resolve.

Siocon’s top official has also noticed TVIRD’s contributions to the development of his town. “People here are starting to feel, thus, and to recognize the significant contribution TVI can offer to Siocon’s economic vision,” said Mayor Ceasar Soriano. “TVI(RD) has silently been providing employment and have without demur assisted in the maintenance of the road connecting Siocon and Roselller T. Lim town (across the Zamboanga Peninsula). Undoubtedly, that road is also more secure with the company’s security arrangements.”