Gold Fever: The Lure of Gold in Zamboanga del Sur

Illegal mining activities in Balabag mountain in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga del Sur. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Al Jacinto / July 19, 2012) – A group of small-scale miners, including a politician and a journalist, who have accused a huge mining firm, TVI Resource Development Inc. in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga del Sur of harassment, are seeking protection from authorities, saying their lives are in grave danger.

The Court of Appeals has issued a Writ of Amparo and ordered TVI executives, including Zamboanga del Sur Gov. Antonio Cerilles and the mayor of Bayog town Leonardo Babasa to appear in court Thursday in Cagayan de Oro City.

TVIRD

The case may lead to further investigation to find out if the respondents – lawyer Eugene Mateo, John Risdel, Robert Jay Nelson, Renne Subido, Luis Santos, Jr., Rene de Ocampo, Emmanuel Cayton, Paul Vincent Arias, Valentino Edang, Cipriano Bayan, Marlou Coranez, all of TVIRD; and the firm’s security guards and pro-government militias guarding the mining area in the mountain of Balabag in Bayog town – committed other violations under the law.

The court may direct investigation by other government agencies, according to lawyer Glocelito Jayma, counsel of the petitioners Arandy Silva, Roselyn Silva, Edgar Baling, Dennis Paquit, Julieto Monding, a member of the municipal council of Bayog; former TVIRD employee Joel Cayabyab, Alex Cabug-os, and Pagadian City broadcaster Joselito Pedrano.

They accused TVIRD officials and Cerilles and Babasa among others of plotting to harm them based on alleged emails sent by the firm where it detailed the plan.

DENIAL

TVIRD executives strongly denied all accusations against them and said the emails being claimed by Silva’s group were spurious. The company hired the services of Pacific Strategies and Assessments, a leading Asia-based business risk consultancy, to examine the supposed emails and found them to be fake.

The petitioners – mostly members of the Monte de Oro Small Scale Miners Association, Inc. -alleged that a series of e-mails purportedly from TVIRD executives showed plans to harm them. The emails were allegedly leaked by TVIRD employees. Now fearful for their safety, they filed the petition to seek court protection and ask for an investigation on the alleged plot called “Plan X” which was said to have been conceptualized by TVIRD officials with the alleged approval of Cerilles.

The petitioners said they also noticed the presence of suspicious motorcycle men near their homes in Bayog town, and that some had tailed them.

“Petitioners are now extremely watchful of their surrounding, hiding most of the time inside residences and transferring from one abode to another. Life is never the same again for the petitioner, with the incidents outlined and emphasized in this petition. With the present vicious plan of TVIRD, in cooperation of public government officials, who are local government chief executives, petitioners’ lives have become unstable and they are now so anxious of their personal as well as their family’s safety,” the petition said.

BOGUS EMAILS

Pacific Strategies and Assessments said TVIRD received a copy of the anonymous hate email from balabagbayog@yahoo.com that was sent to Yulo Perez, TVIRD Vice President Operations and Chief Operating Officer, allegedly by Edgar Baling and that these were also received by various nongovernmental organizations, investors, and anti-mining groups.

In its Forensic Analysis and Document Examination Report, Pacific Strategies and Assessments said: “We analyzed 21 sets of questioned documents and 6 sets of standard (TVIRD) documents. Two different formats of questioned documents were identified by the forensic investigator of the company.”

“Using the company’s forensic methodology, the process of examination undergoes a systematic approach to ensure that the evidence to be analyzed is well-preserved and admissible to court if it may come to litigation. Procedures performed on questioned and standard documents includes but not limited to: comparative examination through magnification, transmitted light examination, ruled instrument, mobile connectivity analysis and systems review.”

The report, a copy of it obtained by The Manila Times, further said that the emails in the questioned documents – that were claimed to have been intercepted and accessed and hacked through Radix Email Security System – are fraudulent.

LIBELOUS

In March this year, TVIRD has filed libel charges against two community newspapers and a politician accused of publishing paid advertisements that maligned the reputation of the multi-awarded mining firm and its officials.

TVIRD operates a mining project in the town of Siocon in Zamboanga del Norte province and in Bayog town in Zamboanga del Sur province. The charges were filed by Cayton, TVIRD’s Director for Security; Arias, its security manager for the Balabag gold project; and lawyer Eugene Mateo, its president.

In their complaint, Cayton, Arias and Mateo assailed the two weekly newspapers – the Pagadian City Star and Mindanao Balitang Lokal – for publishing a so-called “memorandum” that was allegedly issued by TVIRD and made to appear that the mining firm and its employees had hatched a plan to harm Monding.

“The advertisement is an utter falsity and lie because no such plan exist or has ever existed. No such memorandum was ever written, prepared and received by TVIRD personnel. Mr. Arias has not written or prepared any memorandum similar to the memorandum contained in the paid advertisement that was published in the Pagadian City Star and Mindanao Balitang Lokal.”

“Neither did Mr. Cayton receive any such memorandum from Mr. Arias. TVIRD and its personnel do not engage in nefarious and evil conduct described in the memorandum in question,” according to the joint affidavit of the complainants, who said that the memorandum was a bogus document.

Mateo said the publication was allegedly motivated by ill will and malice and intended to destroy the good name and reputation of TVIRD as well as that of the complainants. He said the publication of the fake memorandum as a paid advertisement was intended to harass, dishonor and discredit them and the good name of the company.

NBI PROBE

The National Bureau of Investigation also investigated the fabricated emails and based on its findings, TVIRD was not the source of the emails and that they were “maliciously created”. It is also investigating the source of the emails.

The fraudulent and bogus emails have been distributed to top government officials, the House of Representatives, the media and stakeholders of TVIRD and Investment Development Inc. in an apparent attempt wreck the company’s reputation and image and harass corporate officials.
Mateo said among those charged were Monding, who is allegedly into illegal mining activities in Balabag; and Teofisto Deocades, Jr., and Artemio Locsin, publishers of Mindanao Balitang Lokal; Mike Mijares and Alili Mae Noquiao, both are editors of the newspaper; including its business manager, Gerarda Locsin.

Also charged were lawyer Aquilles Ceniza, Sr., publisher of Pagadian City Star; Venus Joy Viradio, the editor-in-chief; Cristorey Ramones, its editorial consultant, and Gerarda Locsin, the newspaper’s business manager. Both newspapers are based in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur.

Authorities said the Monte de Oro Small Scale Miners Association, Inc. is illegally operating in Balabag, where TVIRD has rights over the same area, and that Cerilles has ordered a stop to all illegal mining activities in the area. The Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Western Mindanao also issued a similar order, but had not been carried out up to this time by law enforcement agencies for still unknown reasons. (Mindanao Examiner)

Title

Name

Related News

Stop attacks if you want peace talks to resume, Palace to Reds

2 NPA rebels yield in South Cotabato

Publiko pinagiingat sa mga ‘investment scheme’