MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 16, 2012) – A German study group on mining in the Philippines and members of the Tampakan Forum have raised concern over alleged human rights abuses in mining impacted communities in South Cotabato’s Tampakan town in the southern Philippines, environmentalists told the Mindanao Examiner.
“It is sad to see the vast violation of human rights regarding the Tampakan mining project of SMI/Xstrata. Compared to my last visit in the Tampakan mining area in 2010, the situation got even worse.”
“The extra-judicial killing of Eliezer Billanes for example remains unsolved. The whole conflict turns more and more violent. We support the call of the Indigenous Communities for an independent investigation of the conflict by the Commission on Human Rights,” said Michael Reckordt, executive director of Philippinenbuero, whose group also visited mining communities in Cordillera in Luzon Island and Mindanao Island.
The military has strongly denied the allegations.
The Philippinenbuero is an independent, socio-economic and political information center affiliated with the Asienhaus based in Germany which functions as documentation center and serves as contact point between civil society groups in Germany and those in the Philippines.
Daniel Arias, Sites of Struggle Officer, of Alyansa Tigil Mina, also shared his reports from the community, saying the continued presence of military groups in their area is harassing villagers and pushes them to leave their ancestral domains.
“In spite of the fact that they are against the entry of SMI-Xstrata, we found that the mining company is still in the area—continuing exploration and even commit offensive acts against communities,” Arias said.
Last January 12, the application for Environmental Compliance Certificate of SMI-Xstrata was denied on the grounds of the provincial ban on open pit mining.
“What’s happening in Tampakan is not an isolated case. Almost all mining-affected communities, particularly indigenous communities, face the issues of militarization and human rights violations,” said lawyer Grace Villanueva, of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Friends of Earth Philippines.
The House of Representatives Committee on Human Rights recently held a hearing to deliberate the different human rights issues in the country.
“A Human Rights Impact Assessment should be done in Tampakan and not only the Total Economic Valuation as reportedly provided in the new mining policy to be issued by President Benigno Aquno. This is to refute the economic argument that has been so far articulated by the Chamber of Mines. People are more important than anything else,” said lawyer Mario Maderazo, Project Officer of the Philippine Misereor Partnership Anti-Mining Campaign and lead convener of the Tampakan Forum.
“In light of the current move of the administration to craft a new mining executive order, it should be anchored on the principle of protecting, promoting and respecting the human rights of communities, which is a primordial duty of the state,” Maderazo added.
Tampakan Forum is a technical working group on the Tampakan mining issue convened by the Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc. Anti-Mining Campaign in collaboration with Social Action Marbel, Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), Philippine Association for Intercultural Development, Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Friends of Earth Philippines, Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links and the London Working Group on Mining in the Philippines and IUCN CESP-SEAPRISE.
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