US-based multi-national Russell Mining's volunteerism and good deeds during the Pantukan Landslide that took place in ComVal (Compestela Valley Province) on Good Friday,April 23rd,2011 came on the heels of scathing attacks by anti-mining activists.Only 3 weeks prior,in mid-March of 2011,the company launched the requisite Feasability Study for the gold and copper deposits in Barangay Kingking,though many kilometers distant from the collapsed hillside that gave way early Good Friday.Most of the nearly 20 test pits have been dug in Sitios Lumanggang and Gumayan via its operating entity,Saint Augustine Copper and Gold,which is jointly owned by Russell's requisite"local partner",NADECOR,or Nationwide Development Corporation.ComVal Provincial Councilor Peter Ruwell Gonzaga is another unhappy camper,claiming that the firm is in direct violation of Provincial Ordinance #06.PO #06 mandates that all prospective miners,or mining companies,present their project plans to the Provincial Board for approval.
Also up in arms is the Mansaka Tribe,a Lumad group holding a CADT (Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title) encompassing 8 hectares within the Russell tenement.The tenement totals 1,663 hectares and is known by the catchy label,"Kingking Copper Gold Project."Not boding well for the envisioned mine is that on March 23rd the Provincial Board unanimously voted to support Governor Uy's proposed ban on mining,though for now it is only taking aim at the all pervasive small scale mining industry,so called Artisanal Mining.All the more relevant in light of that aforementioned landslide which took place exactly 1 month later,to the day.
On March 29th,2011 President Aquino visited Northern Mindanao and addressed a consortium of anti-mining advocates in Cagayan del Oro's Pilgrim Christian College.The President addressed more than 1,000 people and rationalised just why calling for a total ban on mining wasn't in the best interests of the country OR the environment.He said that IF a total ban WERE implemented small scale miners would quickly move in to fill the vacuum,as was the case on ComVal's Mount Diwalwal when a State of Emergency went into effect there almost a decade ago.Small scale mining is next to impossible to police and endangers everyone around it,including the miners,this despite asinine laws enacted in the immediate years after the fall of the late dictator,Ferdinand Marcos.These laws,like many in the Philippines,were crafted and passed without alot of forethought,or any thought at all if one wants to be accurate.
As if excessive mining and illegal small scale (Artisanal) mining aren't bad enough the island also suffers from pervasive illegal logging.With the Monsoon coming early this year and packing extra-heavy winds and rain courtesy of the La Nina weather phenomenon,landslides have been heavier than ever before.The situation has resulted in President Aquino issuing EO (Executive Order) #23,an immediate moratorium on logging in First and Second Growth forests that went into effect March 7th of 2011.
One of the more permanent benefits is the DENR (Department of the Environment and Natural Resources) is going to hire 206 new Forest Rangers whose task is to stem the illegal timber trade.DENR-Davao (DENR IX) has gotten 41 men even without the new hires via re-deployments from the AFP and PNP (Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police).The office has also released a truncated report on the illegal timber trade within its AOR (Area of Responsibility/Area of Operation),for 2010.The office has confiscated 1,086.74 cubic meters of cut lumber with a current market value of P3.2 Million (US60,000).The number is just a meaningless statistic because it only represents a couple of 10-wheeled loads.There are ship loads entirely composed of illegal timber leaving the island every day from several ports,most of which exist unoficially.Two small truck loads may be informative as far as calculating the profit margin,and more importantlY,the risk factor but in the end it doesn't even amount to a drop in the bucket.
In just 3 provinces:
1) Davao del Norte
2) Davao Oriental
3) ComVal
there was a collective LEGAL output of 112,116.99 cubic meters worth P22.01 Million (US400,000).15 timber mills and wood processing facilities that had been shuttered for involvement in the illegal trade were allowed to re-open after fully complying with laws and regulations.More than 100 others remain closed.To comply each facility must produce detailed transaction and operational records for the previous 5 years to weed out those involved with the illegal sector.
Despite the huge problems Japan is dealing with ,Japanese Ambassador Makoto Katsuna and OPAPP (Office of the Presidential Advisor to the Peace Process) Secretary Teresita Q.Deles signed an agreement whereby Japan will provide US1,022,553 (US49 Million)for 9 separate projects in Central Mindanao via the Japanese Government's J-BIRD (Japanese-Bangsamoro Initiatives for Re-construction and Development).The signing took place at the Astoria Plaza Hotel in Pasig City's Barangay Ortigas.This marks J-BIRD's 5th donation via its GGP,or Grants for Grassroots Human Security Projects.The 9 projects benefiting from the grant:
1) BLMI,or Bangsanoro Leadership Management Institute
2) SKIA,or Sultan Mohammad Dipatuan Kudarat Islamic Academy Foundation Inc.
3) WMSU,or Western Nindanao University
4) Datu Paglas (town in Maguindanao Province)
5) Mabini (town in Lanao del Sur )
6) Kauswagam (town in Lanao del Norte Province
7) Pananag Elementary School
8) Bual ARBA Multi-purpose Co-operative
9) Mindanao Child's Liberation Foundation Inc.
I need to point out that four of these projects,numbers 1,2,8,and 9 are MILF subsidiaries so that Japan is directly funding the insurgency.While it is extremely difficult to disentwine the many strands of insurgency one CAN avoid such pitfalls simply by performing due dilligence and negating any and all opportunities directly benefitting insurgent organisations.There is an argument that says that helping the MILF/BIAF controlled areas engage in sustainable development will have the concurrent benefit of lessening the rationale for armed rebellion.The prevailing argument however,one that I agree with,maintains that such opportunities should be offered only as incentives towards disarmament and de-mobilisation.
J-BIRD began in 2006 and to date has funded more than 50 projects in Central Mindanao worth US3.8 million (P152 Million).
Showing posts with label Logging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Logging. Show all posts
Friday, June 17, 2011
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Development Agression,Last Quarter of 2010:Development, How Much is TOO Much?
When discussing Counterinsurgency anywhere in the world the one solution that will always enter the conversation is "Development." Simple enough for anyone to grasp, why is it then nearly impossible to implement effectively? A huge part of the problem is that sustainable development, development that will not dissipate over the short term, needs to be carefully tailored for each specific dynamic. For example, a Tilapia* Hatchery scheme that works very well in 1 place might be a disaster in a 2nd locale. Aside from very real environmental concerns, there are cultural, socio-economic and of course geo-political concerns to take into account. In Mindanao, neigh, the Philippines as a whole, there is a very real disconnect between the powers that be concerning viable, sustainable development and the means with which to wage an effective Counterinsurgency.
Without exception in both the poltical and military realms "Development" is absolutely equated with margins of profit. If a facet of development will not produce mid-term dividends it is consigned to the rubbish heap. GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) doesn't ponder the long term. It doesn't care what may or may not take place even one century ahead on the horizon. GRP is deeply concerned with posting short term solutions that cannot possibly sustain themselves over the long run. Instead if planting the seeds of a self-perpetuating economical facet such as Paper Production (excepting the clusterfuc* of a nightmare known as PICOP,the behemoth that went belly up in NE Mindanao some years ago), GRP instead implements a Governmental entity to more easily divvy up the island's mineral wealth. Make no mistake about it, there is nothing wrong with exploiting mineral deposits as long as it is done in a technologically, environmentally and culturally responsible manner. GRP has never done anything of the sort.
The type of "Development" GRP aims for will never serve to help neutralise the various insurgencies plaguing the island. It will merely serve to exacerbate and perpetuate the root causes and aggravate the acute facets there in. With this lovely and comforting realisation I thought it best to offer a running compendium on Developmental issues on Mindanao, most notably the aptly named variant, "Developmental Aggression," a neat little moniker that I aim to explore in another entry.
As I mentioned, Mining is being sold as "Development" and this is having some catastrophic environmental and cultural ramifications. Of course in a government revolving around sheer avarice one will always find appalling cases of sheer greed. A notable and relatively recent example is the debacle taking place on and around Mt.Pinukis on the Zamboangan Peninsula. Mt.Pinukis, like many notable mountains on Mindanao is a holy site for animist tribes, in this case. The Subanen Tribe, the tribe indigenous to Zamboanga. On October 05, 2010, in the town of Midsalip, in Zamboamga Sibugay Province, curious Subanen villagers discovered heavy equipment parked in the town's Barangay Sigapod. The equipment, used for testing claim sites, was registered to CDSI (Construction and Drilling Specialists Inc.), a mining equipment lessor based in El Salvador, Misamis Oriental Province. Upon investigation municipal officials discovered that the equipment had been leased. On October 03 to GAMI (Geotechniques and Minerals Inc.), Alpha Sibuco and Cebu Ore, 3 companies who planned to bring their leased testing equipment into the jungle on and around Mt.Pinukis.
Om October 09, in the town's Barangay Guinabor, Subanen villagers found a 2nd batch of testing equipment which sparked an impromptu demonstration, though Midsalip PNP (municipal detachment of Philippine National Police) prevented the angry villagers from destroying the equipment. By October 20 the demonstration had spread to the first site as well, in Barangay. Sigapod. On October 20 the 3 companies targetted by the demonstrators blinked and began to pull out all equipment (a process completed on October 26). When CDSI, the contractor, pulled out citing community opposition the equupment had made it to within 1 kilometer of the Test Site.
One would have thought that the equipment having been removed on October 20 would have caused the demonstrators to dissipate as well but instead, as municipal officials began uncovering more and more disturbing facts the protests continued. On October 28 almost 100 tribespeople laid prostrate on the ground in a symbolic, non-violent show of rancouer against the mining companies and the government that backs them.
The area to have been tested is a 529 hectare tract encompassed on an MPSA (Miner Production Share Agreement) issued to a consortium of the 3 afore mentioned mining companies:
GAMI (Geotechniques and Minerals Inc)
Alpha Sibuco
Cebu Ore
Issued by MGB (Mining and Geosciences Bureau) in 2009. Aside from the cultural and religious significance of Mt.Pinukis, the mountain is also the source of many wide and voluminous streams that feed the 3 main bays on the Zamboangan Peninsula and serves as a watershed fir most of Zamboanga Sibugay Province.
By November 20 the investigation into the attempted drilling on Mt.Pinukis had uncovered some startling facts. Prior to any issuance of Permits by MGB a prospective company must first obtain a FPIC (Free and Informed Prior Consent), a form signed by a tribe's "designated" leader(s) stating that the tribal leadership has been fully informed of the applicant's intentions and does not object in any notable way. It attests that this agreement was entirely free of coercion and entirely voluntarily in every way. Lumad Tribes ("Lumad" being a Cebuano/Bisaya word encompassing all non-Negrito animist tribes on Mindanao, analogous to the Tagalog term "Igorot" used correspondingly on Luzon) are by far the poorest and most under served demographic on the nation's poorest and most underserved island. Ergo, it is not difficult at all to stack the deck against Lumads when trying to wrangle their only concrete asset, land. I placed the word, "Leader" in apostrophes because in the vast bulk of FPICs Lumad leaders give away their inheritance for an absolute pittance. One cannot help hearkening back to the Dutch and their "purchase" of Manhattan Island for 24 US Dollars worth of glass beads and just as with Manhattan one finds it is inevitably a European based multi-national corporation doing the "wrangling."
IF Subanen leaders had merely traded away their birthright for glass beads that would be a great tragedy indeed. However, the Subanen of Midsalip claim that their leaders were not even consulted! The majority of protestors maintain that 1 4ubanen Timuay (where as most Lumad call chiefs by the Malay title, "Datu," Subanen use a wird in their own language, "Timuay," or, "Timway") wadnt even a Subanen, let alone a Timuay. The demonstrators claim that the man in question is a Cebuano TBisaya, a non-Lumad ethnicity).They also note with derision that 5 supposed Timuay were brothers and that Subanen Tribal Law mandates that a single generation in each family may not exceed a single Timuay. Clearly they say, the tribe has been duped. What's more they say, the entire FPIC process is supposed to be under the direct supervision of the NCIP (National Council on Indigenous Peoples). The NCIP is absolutely aware of Subanen Tribal Laws and so there has clearly been collusion during the FPIC process (or at the very least, extreme negligence).
To put the entire mining issue in the proper perspective, the entire Zamboanga Peninsula encompasses 1.7 million hectares of dry land. Using the most current MGB Tenement Map, dated December of 2008, 745,675 hectares, or 44% of the entire peninsula, is prospected. Of those 745,675 hectares, 433,801 hectares are bound in 90 Exploration Permits. Of the remaining area, 78,975 hectares are divided between 4 FTAAs (Financial and Technical Assistance Agreements) while all the rest (save roughly 500 hectares) is divvied up under MPSAs (Mineral Production Sharing Agreements). The 500 hectares excepted comprise a single working mine in Barangay Canatuan in the town of Siocon, also in the Province of Zamboanga Sibugay. Like Midsalip it is a Subanen community and just as what is now transpiring in terms0of opposition in Midsalip, Siocon faced extremely stiff opposition. Of course, in the end the Subanen there (and their supporters) lost their struggle to block the mine and did so after several of their number were tortured and murdered (the last case to my knowledge having taken place in 2004), but the demonstrators in Midsalip say they have studied Siocon intently and don't believe that their struggle will find the same pitfalls.
Of Midsalip's 28,000 hectares, 19,000 hectares are under 14 Applications for Exploration Permits. These 14 Applications cover 31 of the town's 33 barangays. 3 of those 14 Applications have already evolved into MPSAs, 1 of. Which is held by the consrtium led by GAMI, the company at the heart of the struggle in Midsalip. GAMI's MPSA was issued in 2009 amd covers 592 hectares in 3 barangays, Guinabot, Sigapod and Comarom. The struggle of course is far from over. Currently (as of December 16, 2010) the Supreme Court is waiting to docket the Motion for Reconsideration on the Petition by NGO, ASIN (Alliance to Save the Integrity of Nature) to revoke the consortium's MPSA. The Petition revolves around the accusations made by Subanen regarding the afore mentioned FPIC. It is worth noting that a 2nd MPSA holder in the town, "168 Ferrum Pacific Mining Corporation" is also under a similarly filed Petition alleging these same impropieties.
The saddest thing to me, is that in 1988 when (then) President Corazon"Cory"Aquino (late mother of our current President) was sitting in the hot seat a similar last minute action had to be taken to save this very same watertshed over LOGGING.
Without exception in both the poltical and military realms "Development" is absolutely equated with margins of profit. If a facet of development will not produce mid-term dividends it is consigned to the rubbish heap. GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) doesn't ponder the long term. It doesn't care what may or may not take place even one century ahead on the horizon. GRP is deeply concerned with posting short term solutions that cannot possibly sustain themselves over the long run. Instead if planting the seeds of a self-perpetuating economical facet such as Paper Production (excepting the clusterfuc* of a nightmare known as PICOP,the behemoth that went belly up in NE Mindanao some years ago), GRP instead implements a Governmental entity to more easily divvy up the island's mineral wealth. Make no mistake about it, there is nothing wrong with exploiting mineral deposits as long as it is done in a technologically, environmentally and culturally responsible manner. GRP has never done anything of the sort.
The type of "Development" GRP aims for will never serve to help neutralise the various insurgencies plaguing the island. It will merely serve to exacerbate and perpetuate the root causes and aggravate the acute facets there in. With this lovely and comforting realisation I thought it best to offer a running compendium on Developmental issues on Mindanao, most notably the aptly named variant, "Developmental Aggression," a neat little moniker that I aim to explore in another entry.
As I mentioned, Mining is being sold as "Development" and this is having some catastrophic environmental and cultural ramifications. Of course in a government revolving around sheer avarice one will always find appalling cases of sheer greed. A notable and relatively recent example is the debacle taking place on and around Mt.Pinukis on the Zamboangan Peninsula. Mt.Pinukis, like many notable mountains on Mindanao is a holy site for animist tribes, in this case. The Subanen Tribe, the tribe indigenous to Zamboanga. On October 05, 2010, in the town of Midsalip, in Zamboamga Sibugay Province, curious Subanen villagers discovered heavy equipment parked in the town's Barangay Sigapod. The equipment, used for testing claim sites, was registered to CDSI (Construction and Drilling Specialists Inc.), a mining equipment lessor based in El Salvador, Misamis Oriental Province. Upon investigation municipal officials discovered that the equipment had been leased. On October 03 to GAMI (Geotechniques and Minerals Inc.), Alpha Sibuco and Cebu Ore, 3 companies who planned to bring their leased testing equipment into the jungle on and around Mt.Pinukis.
Om October 09, in the town's Barangay Guinabor, Subanen villagers found a 2nd batch of testing equipment which sparked an impromptu demonstration, though Midsalip PNP (municipal detachment of Philippine National Police) prevented the angry villagers from destroying the equipment. By October 20 the demonstration had spread to the first site as well, in Barangay. Sigapod. On October 20 the 3 companies targetted by the demonstrators blinked and began to pull out all equipment (a process completed on October 26). When CDSI, the contractor, pulled out citing community opposition the equupment had made it to within 1 kilometer of the Test Site.
One would have thought that the equipment having been removed on October 20 would have caused the demonstrators to dissipate as well but instead, as municipal officials began uncovering more and more disturbing facts the protests continued. On October 28 almost 100 tribespeople laid prostrate on the ground in a symbolic, non-violent show of rancouer against the mining companies and the government that backs them.
The area to have been tested is a 529 hectare tract encompassed on an MPSA (Miner Production Share Agreement) issued to a consortium of the 3 afore mentioned mining companies:
GAMI (Geotechniques and Minerals Inc)
Alpha Sibuco
Cebu Ore
Issued by MGB (Mining and Geosciences Bureau) in 2009. Aside from the cultural and religious significance of Mt.Pinukis, the mountain is also the source of many wide and voluminous streams that feed the 3 main bays on the Zamboangan Peninsula and serves as a watershed fir most of Zamboanga Sibugay Province.
By November 20 the investigation into the attempted drilling on Mt.Pinukis had uncovered some startling facts. Prior to any issuance of Permits by MGB a prospective company must first obtain a FPIC (Free and Informed Prior Consent), a form signed by a tribe's "designated" leader(s) stating that the tribal leadership has been fully informed of the applicant's intentions and does not object in any notable way. It attests that this agreement was entirely free of coercion and entirely voluntarily in every way. Lumad Tribes ("Lumad" being a Cebuano/Bisaya word encompassing all non-Negrito animist tribes on Mindanao, analogous to the Tagalog term "Igorot" used correspondingly on Luzon) are by far the poorest and most under served demographic on the nation's poorest and most underserved island. Ergo, it is not difficult at all to stack the deck against Lumads when trying to wrangle their only concrete asset, land. I placed the word, "Leader" in apostrophes because in the vast bulk of FPICs Lumad leaders give away their inheritance for an absolute pittance. One cannot help hearkening back to the Dutch and their "purchase" of Manhattan Island for 24 US Dollars worth of glass beads and just as with Manhattan one finds it is inevitably a European based multi-national corporation doing the "wrangling."
IF Subanen leaders had merely traded away their birthright for glass beads that would be a great tragedy indeed. However, the Subanen of Midsalip claim that their leaders were not even consulted! The majority of protestors maintain that 1 4ubanen Timuay (where as most Lumad call chiefs by the Malay title, "Datu," Subanen use a wird in their own language, "Timuay," or, "Timway") wadnt even a Subanen, let alone a Timuay. The demonstrators claim that the man in question is a Cebuano TBisaya, a non-Lumad ethnicity).They also note with derision that 5 supposed Timuay were brothers and that Subanen Tribal Law mandates that a single generation in each family may not exceed a single Timuay. Clearly they say, the tribe has been duped. What's more they say, the entire FPIC process is supposed to be under the direct supervision of the NCIP (National Council on Indigenous Peoples). The NCIP is absolutely aware of Subanen Tribal Laws and so there has clearly been collusion during the FPIC process (or at the very least, extreme negligence).
To put the entire mining issue in the proper perspective, the entire Zamboanga Peninsula encompasses 1.7 million hectares of dry land. Using the most current MGB Tenement Map, dated December of 2008, 745,675 hectares, or 44% of the entire peninsula, is prospected. Of those 745,675 hectares, 433,801 hectares are bound in 90 Exploration Permits. Of the remaining area, 78,975 hectares are divided between 4 FTAAs (Financial and Technical Assistance Agreements) while all the rest (save roughly 500 hectares) is divvied up under MPSAs (Mineral Production Sharing Agreements). The 500 hectares excepted comprise a single working mine in Barangay Canatuan in the town of Siocon, also in the Province of Zamboanga Sibugay. Like Midsalip it is a Subanen community and just as what is now transpiring in terms0of opposition in Midsalip, Siocon faced extremely stiff opposition. Of course, in the end the Subanen there (and their supporters) lost their struggle to block the mine and did so after several of their number were tortured and murdered (the last case to my knowledge having taken place in 2004), but the demonstrators in Midsalip say they have studied Siocon intently and don't believe that their struggle will find the same pitfalls.
Of Midsalip's 28,000 hectares, 19,000 hectares are under 14 Applications for Exploration Permits. These 14 Applications cover 31 of the town's 33 barangays. 3 of those 14 Applications have already evolved into MPSAs, 1 of. Which is held by the consrtium led by GAMI, the company at the heart of the struggle in Midsalip. GAMI's MPSA was issued in 2009 amd covers 592 hectares in 3 barangays, Guinabot, Sigapod and Comarom. The struggle of course is far from over. Currently (as of December 16, 2010) the Supreme Court is waiting to docket the Motion for Reconsideration on the Petition by NGO, ASIN (Alliance to Save the Integrity of Nature) to revoke the consortium's MPSA. The Petition revolves around the accusations made by Subanen regarding the afore mentioned FPIC. It is worth noting that a 2nd MPSA holder in the town, "168 Ferrum Pacific Mining Corporation" is also under a similarly filed Petition alleging these same impropieties.
The saddest thing to me, is that in 1988 when (then) President Corazon"Cory"Aquino (late mother of our current President) was sitting in the hot seat a similar last minute action had to be taken to save this very same watertshed over LOGGING.
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