DIPOLOG CITY – TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc. (TVIRD) appreciates the thrust of the Advocates for Peace (AdPeace) and its partners to share compassion and love to the community as well as to ferret out the truth on the perceived wanton environmental degradation, displacement of Subanens and extrajudicial killings as it conduct its Community Solidarity Mission in Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur.
Like AdPeace, TVIRD also wants the truth to be revealed; hence, it sets forth the succeeding statement to enlighten the people on the allegations thrown against the company – allegations that put TVIRD in a bad light and unwittingly mislead the proponents of the mission.
Time and again, and as the old adage points out that “the truth shall set us free,” TVIRD would like to point out the following truths to AdPeace, Rural Missionaries of the Philippines and Karapatan:
First, while TVIRD is the holder of a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) covering 4,779 hectares, it has not begun its mining operations in Balabag hill. The company is still in its advance stage of exploration and is waiting for its Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) currently reviewed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The allegation therefore that TVIRD has started its open pit mining operation in an ‘unending seven days a week, 24 hours a day’ is simply not true. The truths are the following: Illegal mining operation was rampant in Balabag, town of Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur and in Guinoman, Diplahan, Sibugay Province since early 1990 and until 2012.
These activities were conducted by illegal mining operators – some of whom are the defeated local officials of Bayog who ran in the last May 2013 elections. Their operations went on unabated. Water quality sampling and monitoring of the local rivers and streams indicate poor quality and negative impacts to the aquatic resources during the illegal mining activities.
The illegal mining operations was stopped in October 2012 by the provincial government of Zamboanga del Sur with the support of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Earlier, the MGB issued a Cease and Desist Order (CDO), which was made as the basis for the order that dismantled the illegal processing plants and other mining implements that included backhoes – proof that their operations was indeed not small-scale and traditional as they reported.
On the contrary, if there are people who are to be charged with illegal mining operation, illegal cutting of trees, child labor and other violations of the country’s environmental and labor laws, it should be the illegal mining operators in the town of Bayog.
TVIRD would also like to point out that the Subanens whom the illegal mining operators hired as laborers for their processing plants were not treated with dignity nor were they paid just wages and salaries as mandated by Philippine labor laws.
They were virtually reduced to slaves in their own homelands. As the illegal mining operators became millionaires, these laborers became even poorer. The people in Bayog are witnesses to this.
TVIRD believes in the unalienable right to life of all people. As such, the company belies the absurd and libelous “extra-judicial killing” allegedly perpetrated by TVIRD. Killings and other crimes happened in Bayog during the regime of the illegal miners and the PNP in Zamboanga del Sur and Bayog can attest to that.
On the claim that TVIRD operations have upset food security for the majority who depend on agriculture and small scale mining – and that seven out of ten individuals in the community can hardly eat three squares meals a day, mostly children – TVIRD would like to state the following: Although TVRD has not been operational, in 2011-2012 it has contributed significantly to various livelihood projects in Bayog and surrounding communities in partnership with local and provincial governments.
Recently, it launched an Integrated Rice-Duck Farming System along with the provincial government to provide additional income to rice farmers. This project is one of four components under a public-private partnership agreement aimed at reducing poverty in the province. It also repaired farm to market roads so farmers can readily bring their products to the market.
The town, the Subanens and the community never benefitted from the illegal mining operations for two decades. While the Subanens have not received royalties from their exploited lands, not a single centavo went to the coffer of the Municipal Treasurer’s Office.
TVIRD appreciates AdPeace for sharing love and compassion to the less fortunate in Bayog town. The company would also like to assure its proponents that it is compliant to the laws of the land, will always uphold it and will never turn its back from its social commitment, especially to the needy.
In its few years of conducting exploration and pre-development activities in Bayog prior to actual operations coming on-stream – and its established track record of safe and responsible mining in Canatuan, Zamboanga del Norte – TVIRD has demonstrated a genuine commitment that goes beyond business alone. The immediate community and the townspeople are a living testament to this.
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