The order stemmed from the unabated illegal mining operations in Barangay Guinoman in Diplahan town and Barangays Penaranda and Lacnapan in the municipality of Kabasalan. Provincial Administrator Nestor Gonzales said that the issuance of a comprehensive and permanent closure order is pending the governor’s consultation with all stakeholders in the province.
Palma told key officers of TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc. (TVIRD) that he has to stop illegal mining operations to protect the environment and Sibuguey River during the latter’s courtesy visit at the Provincial Capitol. The river is the source of water that irrigates thousands of hectares of rice lands in the towns of Imelda, Diplahan, Siay, Kabasalan, and Titay – the province’s rice granaries.
“I need to do it. I need to protect our river and seas for our farmers, fishermen and even fish pond owners,” Palma told TVIRD officials.
TVIRD, Philippine affiliate of Canada-based TVI Pacific Inc., has been operating its copper and zinc mine in Sitio Canatuan, town of Siocon in Zamboanga del Norte since 2004. This year, the company is winding down its current mining operations at the Sitio, which is home to more than 3,000 members of the Subanon tribe.
“The depletion of mineral ore by the last quarter of the year is the reason why the company is leaving Canatuan,” TVIRD Operations Vice President Jake Foronda told the governor. The executive also shared the company’s business roadmap for developing its gold-silver mine site in Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur – some 75 kilometers east-northeast of Canatuan.
TVIRD’s development in Sitio Balabag, town of Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur is already in its advance stage of exploration. The property spans the three provinces of the peninsula – Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay.
A pitch for responsible mining
“I am for responsible mining. In fact, I am supporting your activities in Balabag. My son even declined the illegal miners’ offer for him to lawyer them in the cases filed against them,” said the governor who is a lawyer by discipline.
Palma was visibly happy in meeting TVIRD officials and disclosed that illegal mining has endangered Sibuguey River and its tributary Guinoman Creek, which was made the ‘catch basin’ of tailings and chemicals for two decades. Water from the Creek that flowed directly into Sibuguey River found its way to the seas of Zamboanga Peninsula.
Fish kill
“Tons of fish were killed and because of the volume of dead fish, we needed hundreds of trucks to ferry the fish out from our seas,” she said.
According to de Guzman, Siay is the ‘dried fish’ capital of Zamboanga Sibugay and is the exit point of Sibuguey River. This means that if it is receiving contaminated waters, it will also affect the seas.
“Before the actual fish kill happened, people reported that fish they saw were very ‘weird looking.’ People thought its skin was already rotten and (some) no longer had eyes. We brought some of the fish to the regional office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Davao for analysis – true enough it had traces of cyanide,” she disclosed.
De Guzman was recently at TVIRD’s mine site in Canatuan along with other employees of the local government as well as members of church organizations in her town. She joined the group to educate herself about the mining industry and responsible practices advocated by the company.
Pure lies
“It is a bustling, growing community. You see green mountains. There are signs of disturbed lands but you also see (the company’s) efforts to re-vegetate and rehabilitate the areas. An environmentalist cannot help but be convinced that there is responsible mining after all,” she said.
“Before, we were told and we believed that it was TVIRD that polluted Sibuguey River and caused the fish kill. No one from our town knew that TVIRD was not yet operating in Balabag. We were made to believe that the company was the one destroying our rivers, seas and livelihood,” De Guzman explained.
“It is only now that we learned the truth – that what we have been hearing are pure lies for people to hate mining,” she added.
Social responsibility
He likewise thanked the company for building a school in Sityo Malagak, a sub-village of Guinoman. TVIRD dedicated the project for the children of its resident farmers and Subanen lumads (native).
Prior to operating, TVIRD has invested some $25 million in exploration and pre-development work, including various community projects that benefitted barangay residents as part of its corporate social commitment. In 2012, it repaired farm to market roads, repaired drainage canals and entered into a public-private partnership agreement with the provincial government of Zamboanga del Sur for implementing a livelihood project for Bayog farmers. The company estimates an additional $25 million investment to bring its Balabag project to commercial operations.
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