ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 1, 2011) – The southern Philippine province of Zamboanga Sibugay is likely to declare a ban on open-pit mining following the move of neighboring Zamboanga del Norte.
Governor Rommel Jalosjos said they will not allow any open-pit mining in the province citing its destructive effect on the environment. “No. I am not for open-pit mining. Over my dead body,” he said when asked by reporters during a news conference if he would allow open-pit mining in Zamboanga Sibugay.
Jalosjos, who had worked at a mining firm in Australia, said: “I’ve seen what they have done.”
South Cotabato has first declared a ban on open-pit mining as part of its environment code and also put at risk billions of dollars of investments in the province, but saved the environment from further destructions.
Zamboanga del Norte followed after provincial lawmakers passed a resolution recently banning open-pit mining in the province. But mining firms have challenged the provincial ordinance in courts, citing that the ban is not in accordance with the Philippine Mining Act of 1995.
Manila said the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and its Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations is considered in the industry today as one of the most socially and environmentally-sensitive legislations in its class.
It has specific provisions that take into consideration the following – Local government empowerment; Respect and concern for the indigenous cultural communities; Equitable sharing of benefits of natural wealth; Economic demands of present generation while providing the necessary foundation for future generations; Worldwide trend towards globalization; and Protection for and wise management of the environment.
Mining executives said they follow responsible and sustainable mining and provided health care and other benefits to the host community aside from tax it pay the local and national government.
But mining firms – gold, silver, copper among other minerals and deposits – in Mindanao also attracted sustained attacks from communist New People’s Army and Muslim rebels who are opposed to the destructive activities in the volatile, but mineral-rich region.
Ethnic tribesmen and church leaders, including environmentalists, are also destructive mining activities in Mindanao.
“We are opposed to destructive mining, especially in our ancestral domain,” said Timuay Noval Lambo, chieftain of the Gukom sog Pito ko Dolungan, the highest Subanon authority in Western Mindanao.
Lambo said they wanted to develop their community, but gets no support either from the national or provincial government where mining taxes go. He also questioned the provincial ban on open-pit mining in Zamboanga del Norte, saying, they were not consulted about this.
“We should have consulted first about this provincial ordinance because we are the ones affected by these mining activities in our own ancestral domain. We want our community developed, but we get no support from the national and provincial governments,” he said.
It was not immediately known whether Zamboanga del Sur would also pass a resolution banning open-pit mining in the province. Small scale gold mining activities are also rampant in Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga del Norte. (Mindanao Examiner)
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