ComVal,or Compostela Valley Province,was created out of the northern portion of Davao del Norte Province.While still included in the Davao Region it directly abuts Agusan del Sur Province which is a part of Caraga Region (Region 13).Dominated by the Diwata Mountain Range the area is home to some of the world's richest gold fields.As I noted in my preceding NPA entry,"NPA Armed Contacts,Second Quarter of 2011,Part III,"the presence of gold has created a lot of difficult problems both in governance as well for the people living there.To a lesser extent illegal logging also presents a vexing problem,one that increases a great deal as you move north into Caraga.
Caraga,encompassing both of the Agusan and Surigao Provinces (del Sur and del Norte for each) as well as the newly certified island province of Dinagat,is the most heavily forested Region in the nation.Just as an over-abundance of natural resources creates a lot of misery in ComVal,likewise those forested mountains and valleys in Caraga bring with it a huge amount of misery.As I have noted in my last couple of Development Aggression entries,on February 2nd,2011 President Aquino issued Executive Order #23 (EO#23),which put the brakes on all logging of First and Second Growth Forests across the entire nation.Of course this admirable Executive Decision does absolutely nothing to put a dent in the astronomically huge business of illegal logging.
Towards that end Regional DENR (Department of the Environment and Natural Resources) Offices have begun undertaking aggressive action to try and lessen the damaging impact of what really does amount to a scourge on the nation.DENR-13,or as it is known locally,DENR-Caraga,enlisted the help of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) with the knowledge that a fair number of illegal logging outfits in Caraga are tied into well armed paramilitaries.Though these private armed groups are obstensibly pro-Government they are much more so pro-profit.If it is a choice between the flag and their bank book the former hasn't a chance,ergo the big guns of the AFP.
On June 7th,2011 DENR-Caraga rendevouzed with elements of the AFP's 26IB (Infantry Battalion) and the 3SFBn (3rd Special Forces Battalion,known as"Airborne"despite the lack of parachute accumen), 9 COY (9th Company) at CAA 2nd Platoon Garrison in the municipality of Laak's Barangay Melale,in ComVal. (CAA being Civilian Active Auxiliary,collectively a group of entities that serve as geographically localised Reserve Forces,in this case the element being CAFGU,the Civilian Auxiliary Force Geographical Unit.CAA is the cornerstone of the AFP Counterinsurgency Programme).After a Briefing the troops rolled out,heading into Caraga,just over the border in the municipality of Loreto,in Agusan del Sur Province.The Airborne contingent boarded an M35 truck and left a bit after their compatriots from the 26IB.
As the truck crossed into Barangay Belmonte it entered the jungle.As the sun began to appear on the horizon a fussilade rang out from the trees around them hitting 5 soldiers almost immediately.Within minutes the shooting stopped and the NPA's Front 34,Davao-Agusan Command,withdrew further into the jungle.Aside from 3 soldiers critically wounded,2 had been killed:
1) PFC.(Private First Class) Werlito de Claro,22,of Esperanza in Sultan Kudarat Province,shot in the chest
2) PFC.Jefferson Galang,from Baguio City on Luzon,shot in the head.
Though off to a tragic start the DENR Operation lasted until June 10th and was violent in and of itself but I will relegate that to another Development Aggression entry.
In my last NPA Armed Contacts AND Development Aggression entries I focused on the municipality of Pantukan,also in ComVal.It has been a rough couple of months for that small town.On Good Friday,April 23rd they were hit with a devastating landslide that killed scores of small scale miners.There have also been several Extra-Judicial Killings related to mining that I haven't even begun to discuss and then of course,the NPA which like a leech attaches itself to any money making venture within its AOR (Area of Resoinsibility,in this case synonymous with Area of Operation).As should be expected then the town is racking up more Contacts than any other municipality on the island.On June 19th,in Pantukan's Barangay Napnapan,in Sitio Paisusuan,a column from the 71IB under 1Lt.(First Lieutenant) Abelardo Silva was on patrol when they walked into an NPA ambush by roughly 70 guerillas from Front 2,the Crucifino Uballas Command.Silva and 7 of his men were hit,with 1 soldier,Guyre P.Puyao of Benguet Province on Luzon dying.
That same day,June 19th,in ComVal's capitol of Nabunturan,PDT (Peace and Development) Teams 4 and 6 from the 25IB were working in Barangay Bayabas' Sitio Handuromug when they were ambushed.After a 45 minute firefight the NPA brokeoff and withdrew.Miraculously no casualties came out of it.PDTs are a new innovation,first implemented by the AFP in September of 2010.After what the AFP considers to be a smashing success in Savao Region they have entered operations in 3 of Mindanao's ensconced IDs (Infantry Divisions).They are simply stock CMOs,or Civil-Military Operations.In teams of 9 soldiers each they enter targetted villages,or barangays,and after an initial intelligence gathering euphamistically dressed up as a"Census to assess the needs of under-served villagers"the team(s) fan out and paint a school,etc.There is nothing wrong with having soldiers serve communities,all able militaries engage in CMOs,but the AFP hasn't changed its mindset.The same deep-seated problems that have allowed insurgency to fester on Mindanao for a full half a century persist and worsen regardless if the one roomed school house has a dazzling new coat of army-olive acrylic paint.
Also on June 19th,in the neighbouring town of Mabini,also in Comval,a sawmill owned by local attorney Henry Sembrano was burned to the ground by the NPA in Barangay Cuambog.Mr.Sembrano refused to pay his Revolutionary Taxes...I mean his extortion...I mean Revolutionary Taxes.
Showing posts with label Pantukan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pantukan. Show all posts
Friday, June 24, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
NPA Armed Contacts,Second Quarter of 2011,Part III:More Misery in Pantukan
In two recent "Development Aggression" entries I covered both the Good Friday Landslide in the municipality of Pantukan in ComVal (Compostela Valley Province) as well as the subsequent issues with the American-based multi-national that is attempting to mine there, Russell Mining. Pantukan is like so many of the communities in the Diwata Mountain Range. Blessed with almost unimaginable beauty they are simultaneously cursed with an over-abundance of natural resources. Some might be scratching their heads, wondering just how there can ever be an "over-abundance" of natural resources...
To digress for a moment,if one were to poll laymen and ask them what the number one cause of war and conflict has been throughout the history of man they would more than likely say, "Religion." Of course that seems like a fair answer but it is absolutely incorrect. The cause of almost every single conflict that has wracked this planet has been natural resources,or to be specific, control of those natural resources. Religion is sometimes used as the ideological vehicle but it isn't the actual impetus.
Segueing back to the Diwata Mountains...Gold more often than not brings only misery. It attracts the worst of humanity. Huge communities spring up around its source and for a brief while there is hope. Yet anywhere one finds fast money they also will find people who aim to live like parasites, off of the good fortune of others. Pimps,drug dealers...Corruption abounds, from those sworn to protect like the AFP and PNP (Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police) to those sworn to serve their communities in other ways, like politicians and civil servants.
Seeing vulnerable,ill communities insurgents are drawn to such places as centres of gravity, or ground zero in that particular dynamic. The NPA,or New People's Army, is drawn to such places for several reasons. The top two reasons are equally important; first, boom towns present a myriad of funding possibilities. "Revolutionary Taxes" are little more than Protection Rackets that target a vulnerable demographic. Living amongst a corrupt security apparattus what can a targetted business man or company really do? There is no choice but to pay up and pay they do. The average rate of "Taxation" for a multi-national corporation mining the Diwata Mountains averages a neat P1 Million ($22,000) PER MONTH. The NPA loves to tell anyone who listens that they are battling against foreign-based corporations who aim to siphon off the nation's patrimony as the poor Lumad (generic term applied to all Animist Hilltribes on Mindanao) are lucky if they even net 2 or 3 years of backbreaking labour at not much above the minimum wage.
The truth of the matter is that the NPA wants these multi-national bloodsuckers working these hills just as bad as the Government sitting in Manila does. Both are just as greedy and both have exactly the same endgame, control of the central axis of power and to gain this, or in the Government's case to retain this, they need money, lots of money.
The second reason is that the multi-nationals are a large cog in the dynamic that creates these battered mountain communities. What better pool of recruits could the NPA ever hope for? Let's see...on one hand you have an existence of pathetic misery with a life expectancy of 47 years with 1 meal a day of white rice and Bitter Melon (Ampalaya)...or a life as a guerilla where you are led to believe you are working to help create a world where everyone will have enough to eat and enough money to live. Naturally the life of a gueriila is many more times attractive and this is why the bast bulk of the NPA's forces on Mindanao are Lumad.
On May 4th, 2011 in Pantukan's Barangay Tibagon three columns from the 71IB (Infantry Battalion) were on patrol when they walked right into an NPA ambush courtesy of Front 2, the Crucifino Uballas Command. As is so often the case it began with an IED (Improvised Explosive Device,as in "bomb") that immediately killed the soldier on point (the soldier walking at the lead of one of the columns). In the 55 minute long firefight that followed 2 more soldiers were critically wounded. The AFP, trying as always to use its scraps for propaganda value claimed that the heartless NPA senselessly attacked an AFP element as it engaged in Search and Rescue Operations relating to that aforementioned Good Friday Landslide. Uh,guys? The landslide was in Barangay Kingking, the soldiers in this contact were in Barangay Tibagon. More over, Search and Rescue Operations ended 2 days earlier and don't involve three columned formations. People DO pay attention to the facts so the AFP should at least try to spin its dirtywork intelligently.
Speaking of Barangay Kingking though...On May 12th in that barangay's Sitio Maplog,near the border of Sitio Lawa'an the NPA's 3rd Pulang Bagani (Red Warrior) Company of the Merardo Arce Command (SMRC,as in Southern Mindanao Regional Committee) implemented an impromptu checkpoint.Shortly thereafter 4 motorcycles were stopped. All 4 were driven by SCAA soldiers employed by Saint Augustine Copper and Gold. Saint Augustine is a joint venture that serves as the aforementioned Russell Mining and its local partner NADECOR's (National Development Corporation) local operating entity. Philippine Laws require all foreign owned companies to engage a local partner in sn advantageous 60:40 split, in favour of the locally owned company. To try and maximise this disadvantageous relationship a multi-national will sometimes create a local operating entity,hence Saint Augustine.
On the morning in question a company geologist was on his way to examine a test hole.SCAA,or Special Citizens Active Auxiliary, is 1 of the 4 CAA (Citizens Active Auxiliaries) entities used by the AFP as the cornerstone of its Counterinsurgency Programe. While many Filipinos are quite familiar with another of the CAA entities,the CAFGU,or Citizens Active Geographical Force Unit, the SCAA remains a mystery to most.The are privately funded by business owners but trained and equipped by the AFP.While CAFGU will almost always have extremely old M1s (Garand 30 caliber) the SCAA almost always carries AFP quality weaponry (not that the AFP has anything really effective). Because CAAs on average have but 45 days of extremely minimal training and tend to carry AFP quality weaponry they are a primary target of NPA tactical assaults.
As the 4 motorcycles neared the checkpoint,with the geologist riding tandem on one,they realised too late that they were trapped.One SCAA soldier immediately dumped his bike and ran off into the jungle.A second,CAA Casiano,stupidly reached for the M4 carbine on his back and was shot to death.The other 2 CAAs and the geologist fully complied and the NPA captured three M4 carbines and three ICOM V87s (walkie-talkies). It was initially believed that the fourth CAA,the one who ran off into the jungle,had been captured or killed by the NPA but he surfaced after nightfall, 14 hours later.Apparently,in his blind fear he ran headlong through the jungle and clear over a cliff. Luckily for the CAA the cliff face turned into an incline several meters down and some scrub vegetation broke his fall. Other than some scratches and bruises he is none the worse for the wear.
Russell slash Saint Augustine holds a 600 hectare tract that spans parts of Barangay Kingking and an adjoining barangay. It is interesting that the geologist was up and about considering that the Provincial Government had specifically issued the outfit a Stop Work Order, or as it is called in the Philippines, a Cease and Desist Order some weeks before. The issue at the centre of the Order is the company's failure to address illegal encroachment upon its tenement by small scale miners. Though Russell doesn't hold paper on the portion of barangay Kingking that suffered the April 23rd landslide its tenement is also swarming with fly by night operators hoping to turn a fast profit. It would seem counter intuitive for a huge mining corporation to not act when people engage in what amounts to bold faced theft but the companies are only concerned with the bottom line.
If you are the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of a multi-national mining corporation and you have a tract producing say 14 Million US Dollars a month...but end up losing 1.2 Million US more from poaching small scale miners you need to do a cost:benefit analysis. If you turn the SCAA on them you will have what amounts to a sub-conflit (small war) on your operation's doorstep. If you are a publicly held corporation it will murder your share price as well as your stockholders' portfolio...If it expands to AFP participation the government might just clamp down on you. There are a plethora of less than savoury outcomes and so parasitic small scale miners are endured. If you are an LGU (Local Government Unit,as in municipal or provincial government) executive you don't have such freedom.Landslides that kill dozens every few months ON TOP of the social ills such a trade produces by relation arent worth stomaching,ergo the Order handed down by Governor Uy.
The NPA spin meisters justified the "operation" by pointing out that a local tribesman,Santos Manrique,had been killed just a couple of weeks before. Mr.Manrique was a very vocal opponent of the Russell tenement and his death is widely believed to be linked to that opposition. In reality Saint Augustine has refused to pay its Revolutionary Taxes. This in turn means that the NPA has declared open season on the company.
Just two days after the checkpoint incident, on May 14th, in that same barangay,Kingking,a routine torture...I mean interrogation of a villager by the 71IB revealed that 2 men had been seen laying a weapons cache in a newly dug pit. Carefully excavating the hole the soldiers discovered 8 IEDs in rice sacks. The IEDs had identical signatures as the device that recently killed 3 in the neighbouring town of Maco, in addition to wounding 7.
To digress for a moment,if one were to poll laymen and ask them what the number one cause of war and conflict has been throughout the history of man they would more than likely say, "Religion." Of course that seems like a fair answer but it is absolutely incorrect. The cause of almost every single conflict that has wracked this planet has been natural resources,or to be specific, control of those natural resources. Religion is sometimes used as the ideological vehicle but it isn't the actual impetus.
Segueing back to the Diwata Mountains...Gold more often than not brings only misery. It attracts the worst of humanity. Huge communities spring up around its source and for a brief while there is hope. Yet anywhere one finds fast money they also will find people who aim to live like parasites, off of the good fortune of others. Pimps,drug dealers...Corruption abounds, from those sworn to protect like the AFP and PNP (Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police) to those sworn to serve their communities in other ways, like politicians and civil servants.
Seeing vulnerable,ill communities insurgents are drawn to such places as centres of gravity, or ground zero in that particular dynamic. The NPA,or New People's Army, is drawn to such places for several reasons. The top two reasons are equally important; first, boom towns present a myriad of funding possibilities. "Revolutionary Taxes" are little more than Protection Rackets that target a vulnerable demographic. Living amongst a corrupt security apparattus what can a targetted business man or company really do? There is no choice but to pay up and pay they do. The average rate of "Taxation" for a multi-national corporation mining the Diwata Mountains averages a neat P1 Million ($22,000) PER MONTH. The NPA loves to tell anyone who listens that they are battling against foreign-based corporations who aim to siphon off the nation's patrimony as the poor Lumad (generic term applied to all Animist Hilltribes on Mindanao) are lucky if they even net 2 or 3 years of backbreaking labour at not much above the minimum wage.
The truth of the matter is that the NPA wants these multi-national bloodsuckers working these hills just as bad as the Government sitting in Manila does. Both are just as greedy and both have exactly the same endgame, control of the central axis of power and to gain this, or in the Government's case to retain this, they need money, lots of money.
The second reason is that the multi-nationals are a large cog in the dynamic that creates these battered mountain communities. What better pool of recruits could the NPA ever hope for? Let's see...on one hand you have an existence of pathetic misery with a life expectancy of 47 years with 1 meal a day of white rice and Bitter Melon (Ampalaya)...or a life as a guerilla where you are led to believe you are working to help create a world where everyone will have enough to eat and enough money to live. Naturally the life of a gueriila is many more times attractive and this is why the bast bulk of the NPA's forces on Mindanao are Lumad.
On May 4th, 2011 in Pantukan's Barangay Tibagon three columns from the 71IB (Infantry Battalion) were on patrol when they walked right into an NPA ambush courtesy of Front 2, the Crucifino Uballas Command. As is so often the case it began with an IED (Improvised Explosive Device,as in "bomb") that immediately killed the soldier on point (the soldier walking at the lead of one of the columns). In the 55 minute long firefight that followed 2 more soldiers were critically wounded. The AFP, trying as always to use its scraps for propaganda value claimed that the heartless NPA senselessly attacked an AFP element as it engaged in Search and Rescue Operations relating to that aforementioned Good Friday Landslide. Uh,guys? The landslide was in Barangay Kingking, the soldiers in this contact were in Barangay Tibagon. More over, Search and Rescue Operations ended 2 days earlier and don't involve three columned formations. People DO pay attention to the facts so the AFP should at least try to spin its dirtywork intelligently.
Speaking of Barangay Kingking though...On May 12th in that barangay's Sitio Maplog,near the border of Sitio Lawa'an the NPA's 3rd Pulang Bagani (Red Warrior) Company of the Merardo Arce Command (SMRC,as in Southern Mindanao Regional Committee) implemented an impromptu checkpoint.Shortly thereafter 4 motorcycles were stopped. All 4 were driven by SCAA soldiers employed by Saint Augustine Copper and Gold. Saint Augustine is a joint venture that serves as the aforementioned Russell Mining and its local partner NADECOR's (National Development Corporation) local operating entity. Philippine Laws require all foreign owned companies to engage a local partner in sn advantageous 60:40 split, in favour of the locally owned company. To try and maximise this disadvantageous relationship a multi-national will sometimes create a local operating entity,hence Saint Augustine.
On the morning in question a company geologist was on his way to examine a test hole.SCAA,or Special Citizens Active Auxiliary, is 1 of the 4 CAA (Citizens Active Auxiliaries) entities used by the AFP as the cornerstone of its Counterinsurgency Programe. While many Filipinos are quite familiar with another of the CAA entities,the CAFGU,or Citizens Active Geographical Force Unit, the SCAA remains a mystery to most.The are privately funded by business owners but trained and equipped by the AFP.While CAFGU will almost always have extremely old M1s (Garand 30 caliber) the SCAA almost always carries AFP quality weaponry (not that the AFP has anything really effective). Because CAAs on average have but 45 days of extremely minimal training and tend to carry AFP quality weaponry they are a primary target of NPA tactical assaults.
As the 4 motorcycles neared the checkpoint,with the geologist riding tandem on one,they realised too late that they were trapped.One SCAA soldier immediately dumped his bike and ran off into the jungle.A second,CAA Casiano,stupidly reached for the M4 carbine on his back and was shot to death.The other 2 CAAs and the geologist fully complied and the NPA captured three M4 carbines and three ICOM V87s (walkie-talkies). It was initially believed that the fourth CAA,the one who ran off into the jungle,had been captured or killed by the NPA but he surfaced after nightfall, 14 hours later.Apparently,in his blind fear he ran headlong through the jungle and clear over a cliff. Luckily for the CAA the cliff face turned into an incline several meters down and some scrub vegetation broke his fall. Other than some scratches and bruises he is none the worse for the wear.
Russell slash Saint Augustine holds a 600 hectare tract that spans parts of Barangay Kingking and an adjoining barangay. It is interesting that the geologist was up and about considering that the Provincial Government had specifically issued the outfit a Stop Work Order, or as it is called in the Philippines, a Cease and Desist Order some weeks before. The issue at the centre of the Order is the company's failure to address illegal encroachment upon its tenement by small scale miners. Though Russell doesn't hold paper on the portion of barangay Kingking that suffered the April 23rd landslide its tenement is also swarming with fly by night operators hoping to turn a fast profit. It would seem counter intuitive for a huge mining corporation to not act when people engage in what amounts to bold faced theft but the companies are only concerned with the bottom line.
If you are the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of a multi-national mining corporation and you have a tract producing say 14 Million US Dollars a month...but end up losing 1.2 Million US more from poaching small scale miners you need to do a cost:benefit analysis. If you turn the SCAA on them you will have what amounts to a sub-conflit (small war) on your operation's doorstep. If you are a publicly held corporation it will murder your share price as well as your stockholders' portfolio...If it expands to AFP participation the government might just clamp down on you. There are a plethora of less than savoury outcomes and so parasitic small scale miners are endured. If you are an LGU (Local Government Unit,as in municipal or provincial government) executive you don't have such freedom.Landslides that kill dozens every few months ON TOP of the social ills such a trade produces by relation arent worth stomaching,ergo the Order handed down by Governor Uy.
The NPA spin meisters justified the "operation" by pointing out that a local tribesman,Santos Manrique,had been killed just a couple of weeks before. Mr.Manrique was a very vocal opponent of the Russell tenement and his death is widely believed to be linked to that opposition. In reality Saint Augustine has refused to pay its Revolutionary Taxes. This in turn means that the NPA has declared open season on the company.
Just two days after the checkpoint incident, on May 14th, in that same barangay,Kingking,a routine torture...I mean interrogation of a villager by the 71IB revealed that 2 men had been seen laying a weapons cache in a newly dug pit. Carefully excavating the hole the soldiers discovered 8 IEDs in rice sacks. The IEDs had identical signatures as the device that recently killed 3 in the neighbouring town of Maco, in addition to wounding 7.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Development Aggression,First Quarter of 2011,Part II:Mining Woes in ComVal,Moratorium on Logging and the DENR Combats Illegal Logging
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).
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).
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Development Aggression,Second Quarter of 2011,Part III:Landslide in Pantukan Kills 23
This past summer,2010,the nation suffered severe drought which has been attributed to the weather phenomenon"El Nino."As in all"Nino"years,his sister La Nina follows quickly and comes barreling in with an early and exaggerated Northeast Monsoon.Coming before its time,this extra-heavy Monsoon replaces the normally dry,crisp air of winter ("crisp"being a relative term in the tropics) and instead we are subjected to an extra hot,humid and rainy spring.With the heavy logging that takes place on Mindanao landslides are an annual occurrence that are only aggravated by the extra-heavy rains.Since the logging gets worse each year so do the landslides become more frequent.
Quite often these disasters take place in so called"Small Scale Mining"sites.Though most Small Scale Mining is legal,there is absolutely no oversight what so ever.The prospective miner pays a fee to his LGU (Local Govt.Unit,i.e.municipality and province).From that point there is no mandatory oversight though very,very rarely one finds a municipality that gets such miners to voluntarily enter into oversight agreements that guarantee periodic inspections and other supervisory oversight modalities.Still,even in those rare areas the miners denude the hills.If they aren't using the illegaly harvested timber for squatter homes or shoring up their haphazard tunnels and giant sluice rigs then they are selling the wood as quick as they can cut it down.
This Good Friday,April 22,2011 in the municipality of Pantukan in ComVal (Compostela Valley Province) miners were in their tunnels earlier than usual.Despite nominal adherance to Catholicism most miners retain indigenous beliefs.So it was that at 3AM that morning the illegaly dug tunnels were filled with small scale miners making offerings to the deity of the underworld,the patron of local miners.The ceremony,"Padugo"involves animal sacrifice,usually a chicken but sometimes a piglet whose blood is drained into the soil of the main shaft in front of an altar containing ceremonial plants and a saint statue.Without a doubt these miners were praying for protection from mishap in addition to pleading for good fortune.How ironic then that as they kneeled in their tunnels doing that at 230AM,1,200 cubic meters of mud cleaved off the hilltop above them and buried them.
The mining site lies in Sitio Panganason B,in the remote barangay of Kingking.Laying upcountry,13km as the crow flies from the centre of Pantukan proper,Barangay Poblacion,there are only rudimentary foot trails spanning several steep hills and crossing rapidly flowing creeks and rivlets.Even in dry season travel is relegated to off road motorcycles or more often,trekking in and out on foot.More over,the ubiqitous cell phones that seem to be attached at the hip of so many Filipinos are of no use that far out in the bush.If the mountains do no effect the signal inclement weather always will.It wasn't until 830AM that a breathless messenger ran into the municipal hall out of breath that the wider world had finally learned of the tragedy.
Mayor Celso V.Sarenas sprang into action being a veteran by now,of similar natural disasters since Small Scale Mining has been rampant in his municipality for more than 2 decades now.Indeed,in 2009 a landslide had befallen the immediately adjoining barangay of Napnapan killing at least 26 people.Mayor Sarenas immediately called the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) 1001st Brigade Headquarters in the nearby town of Maco as he began the official notifications and seeking military assistance.Afterwards the mayor followed Standard Operating Procedure,that favourite phrase uttered by technocrats and called the base camps of 3 mining tenement base camps.Only 1,the American-based multi national Russell Mining was able to offer heavy equipment.Located about 4km to the south of the effected area,Mayor Sarenas finally got the camp super on the line and asked him to donate any manpower and equipment he might be able to offer.More over he asked the super to call the base camp of Nationwide Development Corporation (NADECOR)/Saint Agustine,the other American-based outfit in the sector and ask for the same from them.The Russell camp superintendent offered his Catepillar D9,a bulldozer with a 4.2 meter wide blade but couldn't provide much in the way of manpower since the Easter Weekend was upon them.He did promise to call NADECOR/St.Agustine and then send the bulldozer over straight away.Back in the municipal hall the mayor was able to locate a phone number for the 3rd multi-national mining company,APEX and called and made the same request.APEX sent its Chief Engineer and a full crew of labourers.
Meanwhile,the 1001st Bde (Brigade) had called its Regional Command,EASMINCOM (Eastern Mindanao Command) headquartered in Davao City and made them aware of the situation.Immediately EASMINCOM scrambled a rescue helicopter from the PAF (Philippine Air Force) 505th Air Rescue Wing and so the rescue effort began.
By noon Russell Mining and the AFP's 71IB (Infantry Battalion),72IB and CAFGU (Citizens Auxiliary Forces Geographical Unit,a Force Multiplication entity composed of local residents who are armed,trained and directly supervised by AFP cadres) were digging by hand.Unlike more industrialised nations there aren't any sound detection or heat seeking equipment to help locate victims,alive OR dead.There aren't even any blueprints or even the most rudimentary of maps.In fact,for the first 3 days Mayor Sarenas had everyone operating on the assumption that there were 30 homes in the sitio.Indeed there were 112.Though,in the mayor's defence,a squatter community by its very nature exists off the grid.Its residents do not file deeds,let alone information about their home or family.The barangay's remote location relegated it to an unknown quantity.In fact,the mayor had warned the community to vacate the sitio in 2010 but had been ignored.In fact,when that 2009 landslide took place in Barangay Napnapan's Sitio Boringot,a non-fatal one had happened just hours later in Sitio Panganason-B,the very same site I am discussing.
As surviving miners offered later that day,with gold paying 2,000 Pesos per gram ($38) people will keep digging,safety be damned.One miner had been trying sleep off a late evening drinking bout when the bunkhouse he was sleeping in jumped off the ground and began quickly moving towards a nearby ravine.Having made his way out its doorway (luckily the crude strycture had no door or the man might now be with his friends buried under at least 6 meters of mud) and began swiming on the top of the quickly moving mass.By the time it stopped at the far end of the valley floor he was chest deep and certainly would have suffocated if others hadn't lassoed him and pulled him out by motorcycle.Still,he said that while he's still not sure about his own future in mining he is fatalistic.Now having survived 3 fatal mudslides and only 26 years old,he feels that when one's rime is up,its up.Destiny is what it is,especially in a country where children must grow up eating roadkill,when lucky.
Shortly after the messenger had made his way into the municipal hall,the first corpse was discovered and pulled free.15 year old John Ric"JunJun"Torrejos lived in Barangay Buan in Tagum City in the next province,Davao del Norte but was already a veteran miner working with his father and 12 year old brother in the family's tunnel mine and dmall ball mill operation.Both his younger brother and father would soon be found dead as well.Just after JunJun's battered corpse was identified by a distraught aunt who lived in the squatter camp below the hill the bulldozer arrived.After its arrival people began arriving in small groups,having hiked in from town.
The PAF Search and Rescue helicopter from the 505th swooped low not long after but the site's sharp ridgelines and unstable footing prevented an immediate landing.It would be much later in the day before the pilots were told the co+ordinates for Panganason Elementary School whose adjoining field had served as a helipad in the 2009 landslide.
With the latest 2 bodies hoped dimmed of finding anyone alive in the 5 separate tunnel systems dotting the fractured hillside.Still,Mayor Sarenas kept up appearances and didn't offically declare an end to Rescue Operations until Sunday night,April 24.After an intial 13 people were rescued,all within 10 minutes of the actual event,no other"happy endings"would be pulled out of the debris.Without helicopters the officials present decided to have local"habal-habal"(motorcycle taxis,in this case off road) strap the cadavers to boards fitted onto the back of the motorcycle and bring them to a funeral home in the town proper
.When the DENR Region XI's (Department of the Environment and Natural Resources) MGB (Mining and Geosciences Bureau,sublimated to the DENR) representative,Noel Angeles arrived on site he immediately issued a Stop Order barring all mining in both that sitio,Panganason-B as well as the adjoining Sitio Panganason-A.Mayor Sarenas then issueThe 30 became 68 spanning both sitions,A and B,and finally the order encompassed all outlying homes to the tune of 112.The Order was officially handed out on Monday,April 25,2PM,All residents were given 48 hours to vacate and the option of demolishing their own homes (something most naturally choose so as to save the materiel for its nect location).One imagines that if in fact the situation was as dangerous as the local government claimed-and I have every reason to imagine it was-that the mayor would have made his order effective immediately.Just after that meaningless directive 4 more dead victims were pulled from a single buried tunne:
1) Cristituto Torrejos Sr.,father of the first victim recovered,JunJun.Cristituto Sr.was 44 years old and like his son resided in Barangay Cuamboagan,Tagum City,Davao del Norte Province
2) Brindo Dani,age 26,Barangay Buan,Asuncion,Davao del Norte Province
3) Marvin A.Anglay,19 years old,same barangay,etc.as Victim #2
4) Pio Dennis Calapis,17 tears old,same barangay,etc.as Victim #1
By the time that the 48 hour deadline to vacate transpired on Wednesday,April 27th at 2PM three families refused to comply and the Philippines being the weak state that it is tried reasoning with these 3 families.In the end the 3 held their ground (no pun intended,OK.maybe just a tad bit) and continue to live in that otherwise barren sitio.The rest of the community was housed in the nearby Panganason Elementary School.Back at the site the heavy rains continued and so it was incredibly slow going.All the more si since the single piece of heavy equipment,lent by Russell Mining,was released back to its base camp since the ground was too innundated with moisture to allow effective use of heavy equipment.The Provincial Government had also brought a smaller bulldozer,a backhoe and a single axle dumptruck in over the weekend and they stayed on site continously though almost always off to the side due to unstable terrain.
On Tuesday,April 26th,as rains began coming heavier rescuers sighted 5 bodies.In quick succession the 5 were unearthed ahead of a heavy downpour with workers removing the 5th cadaver just as the skies opened up over head.The following 5 were identified immediately:
1) Jericho Escoto,38 years old,Baguio City,Mountain Province,Luzon Island
2) Felixberto Ynay,54 years old,resided in the same sitio where he died
3) Vincent Balog,21 years old,Barangay Mangalingay,Gitawtaw,Bukidnon Province
4) Junel Lapates,no age available,the same address as Victim #3
5) Noel Caincoy,aged 21,same address as Victims # 3 and 4
With the rains worked stop and did not resume until Thursday morning,April 28.On Wednesday a 22 man team of volunteers was deployed by the Pantukan Municipal Engineer's office to demolish the homes not already dismantled by their owners.Because of the rain they too didn't begin until Thursday,the 28th.Before finishing they demolished 52 homes.The work contimued on through Friday but otherwise nothing fruitful occurred.Both the Search and Rescue helicopter from the PAF 505th as well as 2 other Hueys (UH-1H) from the 11th TOG (Tactical Operations Group) at EASMINCOM were released and returned to their base in Davao City.Likwise the provincial government's heavy equipment was also released as the operation began winding down.
On Saturday,April 30th the last 2 bodies were sighted soon after operations began that morning.2 pairs of hands were seen,as if reaching for succor above the mud encasing both bodies at the bottom of a vertical shaft,10 meters deep.In checking the situation it was discovered that the 4 meter deep mud that had buried both those bodies had solidified and set.Using piped in water to soften the soil as personnel from the Davao City Fire and Rescue Department rapelled down,at significant danger to themselves and spent more than 3 hours carefully removing the 2 bodies.The first removed was a young man whose identity remained a mystery until Tuesday,May 3rd when his grieving mother was finally able to identify 16 year old Alejandro Justol.The last body removed,at 130PM that afternoon was 12 year old Cristituto Torrejos Jr.,brother of JunJun and son of Cristituti Sr.
On Sunday,May 1 the retrieval phase officially ended with 9 people still unaccounted for and presuned dead in addition to the 14 identified victims that had been recovered over the previous 9 days.
The 14 victims:
1) Cristituto Torrejos. Sr.,age 44 of Barangay Cuamboagan,Tagum City,Davao del Norte Province
2) Cristituto Torrejos Jr.,12,son of Victim #1,same address
3) Pio Dennis Calapis,17 years old,same address as Victims #1,2 and 3
4) John Ric Torrejos,15,son of Victim #1,elder brother of Victim #2,same address as them
5) Brindo Dani,26 years old,Barangay Buan,Asuncion,Davao del Norte Province
6) Marjon A.Guilbatan,19 years old,same address as Victim #4
7) Marvin A.Anglay,19 years old,same address as Victims #5 and 4
8) Relito T.Tebag,21 years old,same address as Victims #4,5 and 6
9) Felixberto Ynay,54 years old,lived in the squatter community,Sitio Panganason-B,Barangay Kingking,Pantukan,ComVal Province
10) Vincent Balog,21 years old,Barangay Mangalingay,Gitawtaw,Bukidnon Province
11) Noel Caincoy,21 years old,same address as Victim #10
12) Junel Lapates,age unknown,possibly juvenile,same address as Victims #10 and 11
13) Alejandro Justol,age 16,resident of that squatter community.He had initially been un-identified because his mother,also residing there,had gone into a catatonic-like stupor and so noone was willing to identify him until his mother re-gained a modicum of composure
14) Jericho Escoto,38 years old,Baguio City,Mountain Province,Luzon Island
Though not yet officially dead,the 8 miners who remain missing are of course dead as well.There names:
1) Bernard Celestial,of Tagum City
2) Bobit Celestial,same municipality
3) Jay Omega,Maco,ComVal Province
4) Alvin Caincoy,Barangay Mangalingay,Gitawtaw,Bukidnon Province
5) Andy Lapates,same address as Victim #4
6) Bitoy (no surname),Lasang,Davao del Sur Province
7) Erning (no surname),a Sama Tribesman,Samal Island,Davao del Sur Province
8) Jongjong,same information as Victim #7
Though not listed in any of the lists,there was a full wallet found,and locals insist that the following man is dead as well
9) Boloy Ensisel,Barangay San Roque,Panabo City,Davao del Norte Province
The fallout politically has been a tad bit more than we usually see.These kind of senseless deaths take place all too often and so the government rarely even bats an eye about it.This time however things have turned out differently.Perhaps it is a domino like effect from the AFP Corruption Scandal (General Garcia Case) that I began outlining in the"Last Quarter of 2010 AFP"entries.New attitudes just might be contagious.In any event,Bayan Muna Party List Congressman Teddy A.Casino has authored a Bill now siitting in the Natural Resources Committee,HB#4315,"People's Mining Act of 2011."It hopes to supercede the very faulty"People's Mining Act of 1991."Specifically it takes aim at Presidential Decree#1899 and to a lesser degree,#s 463 and 512.
Likewise,Senator Loren Legarda has authored a Senate Resolution seeking an investigation as well as a hearing with the DENR to find out just how it handles Small Scale Mining.
Quite often these disasters take place in so called"Small Scale Mining"sites.Though most Small Scale Mining is legal,there is absolutely no oversight what so ever.The prospective miner pays a fee to his LGU (Local Govt.Unit,i.e.municipality and province).From that point there is no mandatory oversight though very,very rarely one finds a municipality that gets such miners to voluntarily enter into oversight agreements that guarantee periodic inspections and other supervisory oversight modalities.Still,even in those rare areas the miners denude the hills.If they aren't using the illegaly harvested timber for squatter homes or shoring up their haphazard tunnels and giant sluice rigs then they are selling the wood as quick as they can cut it down.
This Good Friday,April 22,2011 in the municipality of Pantukan in ComVal (Compostela Valley Province) miners were in their tunnels earlier than usual.Despite nominal adherance to Catholicism most miners retain indigenous beliefs.So it was that at 3AM that morning the illegaly dug tunnels were filled with small scale miners making offerings to the deity of the underworld,the patron of local miners.The ceremony,"Padugo"involves animal sacrifice,usually a chicken but sometimes a piglet whose blood is drained into the soil of the main shaft in front of an altar containing ceremonial plants and a saint statue.Without a doubt these miners were praying for protection from mishap in addition to pleading for good fortune.How ironic then that as they kneeled in their tunnels doing that at 230AM,1,200 cubic meters of mud cleaved off the hilltop above them and buried them.
The mining site lies in Sitio Panganason B,in the remote barangay of Kingking.Laying upcountry,13km as the crow flies from the centre of Pantukan proper,Barangay Poblacion,there are only rudimentary foot trails spanning several steep hills and crossing rapidly flowing creeks and rivlets.Even in dry season travel is relegated to off road motorcycles or more often,trekking in and out on foot.More over,the ubiqitous cell phones that seem to be attached at the hip of so many Filipinos are of no use that far out in the bush.If the mountains do no effect the signal inclement weather always will.It wasn't until 830AM that a breathless messenger ran into the municipal hall out of breath that the wider world had finally learned of the tragedy.
Mayor Celso V.Sarenas sprang into action being a veteran by now,of similar natural disasters since Small Scale Mining has been rampant in his municipality for more than 2 decades now.Indeed,in 2009 a landslide had befallen the immediately adjoining barangay of Napnapan killing at least 26 people.Mayor Sarenas immediately called the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) 1001st Brigade Headquarters in the nearby town of Maco as he began the official notifications and seeking military assistance.Afterwards the mayor followed Standard Operating Procedure,that favourite phrase uttered by technocrats and called the base camps of 3 mining tenement base camps.Only 1,the American-based multi national Russell Mining was able to offer heavy equipment.Located about 4km to the south of the effected area,Mayor Sarenas finally got the camp super on the line and asked him to donate any manpower and equipment he might be able to offer.More over he asked the super to call the base camp of Nationwide Development Corporation (NADECOR)/Saint Agustine,the other American-based outfit in the sector and ask for the same from them.The Russell camp superintendent offered his Catepillar D9,a bulldozer with a 4.2 meter wide blade but couldn't provide much in the way of manpower since the Easter Weekend was upon them.He did promise to call NADECOR/St.Agustine and then send the bulldozer over straight away.Back in the municipal hall the mayor was able to locate a phone number for the 3rd multi-national mining company,APEX and called and made the same request.APEX sent its Chief Engineer and a full crew of labourers.
Meanwhile,the 1001st Bde (Brigade) had called its Regional Command,EASMINCOM (Eastern Mindanao Command) headquartered in Davao City and made them aware of the situation.Immediately EASMINCOM scrambled a rescue helicopter from the PAF (Philippine Air Force) 505th Air Rescue Wing and so the rescue effort began.
By noon Russell Mining and the AFP's 71IB (Infantry Battalion),72IB and CAFGU (Citizens Auxiliary Forces Geographical Unit,a Force Multiplication entity composed of local residents who are armed,trained and directly supervised by AFP cadres) were digging by hand.Unlike more industrialised nations there aren't any sound detection or heat seeking equipment to help locate victims,alive OR dead.There aren't even any blueprints or even the most rudimentary of maps.In fact,for the first 3 days Mayor Sarenas had everyone operating on the assumption that there were 30 homes in the sitio.Indeed there were 112.Though,in the mayor's defence,a squatter community by its very nature exists off the grid.Its residents do not file deeds,let alone information about their home or family.The barangay's remote location relegated it to an unknown quantity.In fact,the mayor had warned the community to vacate the sitio in 2010 but had been ignored.In fact,when that 2009 landslide took place in Barangay Napnapan's Sitio Boringot,a non-fatal one had happened just hours later in Sitio Panganason-B,the very same site I am discussing.
As surviving miners offered later that day,with gold paying 2,000 Pesos per gram ($38) people will keep digging,safety be damned.One miner had been trying sleep off a late evening drinking bout when the bunkhouse he was sleeping in jumped off the ground and began quickly moving towards a nearby ravine.Having made his way out its doorway (luckily the crude strycture had no door or the man might now be with his friends buried under at least 6 meters of mud) and began swiming on the top of the quickly moving mass.By the time it stopped at the far end of the valley floor he was chest deep and certainly would have suffocated if others hadn't lassoed him and pulled him out by motorcycle.Still,he said that while he's still not sure about his own future in mining he is fatalistic.Now having survived 3 fatal mudslides and only 26 years old,he feels that when one's rime is up,its up.Destiny is what it is,especially in a country where children must grow up eating roadkill,when lucky.
Shortly after the messenger had made his way into the municipal hall,the first corpse was discovered and pulled free.15 year old John Ric"JunJun"Torrejos lived in Barangay Buan in Tagum City in the next province,Davao del Norte but was already a veteran miner working with his father and 12 year old brother in the family's tunnel mine and dmall ball mill operation.Both his younger brother and father would soon be found dead as well.Just after JunJun's battered corpse was identified by a distraught aunt who lived in the squatter camp below the hill the bulldozer arrived.After its arrival people began arriving in small groups,having hiked in from town.
The PAF Search and Rescue helicopter from the 505th swooped low not long after but the site's sharp ridgelines and unstable footing prevented an immediate landing.It would be much later in the day before the pilots were told the co+ordinates for Panganason Elementary School whose adjoining field had served as a helipad in the 2009 landslide.
With the latest 2 bodies hoped dimmed of finding anyone alive in the 5 separate tunnel systems dotting the fractured hillside.Still,Mayor Sarenas kept up appearances and didn't offically declare an end to Rescue Operations until Sunday night,April 24.After an intial 13 people were rescued,all within 10 minutes of the actual event,no other"happy endings"would be pulled out of the debris.Without helicopters the officials present decided to have local"habal-habal"(motorcycle taxis,in this case off road) strap the cadavers to boards fitted onto the back of the motorcycle and bring them to a funeral home in the town proper
.When the DENR Region XI's (Department of the Environment and Natural Resources) MGB (Mining and Geosciences Bureau,sublimated to the DENR) representative,Noel Angeles arrived on site he immediately issued a Stop Order barring all mining in both that sitio,Panganason-B as well as the adjoining Sitio Panganason-A.Mayor Sarenas then issueThe 30 became 68 spanning both sitions,A and B,and finally the order encompassed all outlying homes to the tune of 112.The Order was officially handed out on Monday,April 25,2PM,All residents were given 48 hours to vacate and the option of demolishing their own homes (something most naturally choose so as to save the materiel for its nect location).One imagines that if in fact the situation was as dangerous as the local government claimed-and I have every reason to imagine it was-that the mayor would have made his order effective immediately.Just after that meaningless directive 4 more dead victims were pulled from a single buried tunne:
1) Cristituto Torrejos Sr.,father of the first victim recovered,JunJun.Cristituto Sr.was 44 years old and like his son resided in Barangay Cuamboagan,Tagum City,Davao del Norte Province
2) Brindo Dani,age 26,Barangay Buan,Asuncion,Davao del Norte Province
3) Marvin A.Anglay,19 years old,same barangay,etc.as Victim #2
4) Pio Dennis Calapis,17 tears old,same barangay,etc.as Victim #1
By the time that the 48 hour deadline to vacate transpired on Wednesday,April 27th at 2PM three families refused to comply and the Philippines being the weak state that it is tried reasoning with these 3 families.In the end the 3 held their ground (no pun intended,OK.maybe just a tad bit) and continue to live in that otherwise barren sitio.The rest of the community was housed in the nearby Panganason Elementary School.Back at the site the heavy rains continued and so it was incredibly slow going.All the more si since the single piece of heavy equipment,lent by Russell Mining,was released back to its base camp since the ground was too innundated with moisture to allow effective use of heavy equipment.The Provincial Government had also brought a smaller bulldozer,a backhoe and a single axle dumptruck in over the weekend and they stayed on site continously though almost always off to the side due to unstable terrain.
On Tuesday,April 26th,as rains began coming heavier rescuers sighted 5 bodies.In quick succession the 5 were unearthed ahead of a heavy downpour with workers removing the 5th cadaver just as the skies opened up over head.The following 5 were identified immediately:
1) Jericho Escoto,38 years old,Baguio City,Mountain Province,Luzon Island
2) Felixberto Ynay,54 years old,resided in the same sitio where he died
3) Vincent Balog,21 years old,Barangay Mangalingay,Gitawtaw,Bukidnon Province
4) Junel Lapates,no age available,the same address as Victim #3
5) Noel Caincoy,aged 21,same address as Victims # 3 and 4
With the rains worked stop and did not resume until Thursday morning,April 28.On Wednesday a 22 man team of volunteers was deployed by the Pantukan Municipal Engineer's office to demolish the homes not already dismantled by their owners.Because of the rain they too didn't begin until Thursday,the 28th.Before finishing they demolished 52 homes.The work contimued on through Friday but otherwise nothing fruitful occurred.Both the Search and Rescue helicopter from the PAF 505th as well as 2 other Hueys (UH-1H) from the 11th TOG (Tactical Operations Group) at EASMINCOM were released and returned to their base in Davao City.Likwise the provincial government's heavy equipment was also released as the operation began winding down.
On Saturday,April 30th the last 2 bodies were sighted soon after operations began that morning.2 pairs of hands were seen,as if reaching for succor above the mud encasing both bodies at the bottom of a vertical shaft,10 meters deep.In checking the situation it was discovered that the 4 meter deep mud that had buried both those bodies had solidified and set.Using piped in water to soften the soil as personnel from the Davao City Fire and Rescue Department rapelled down,at significant danger to themselves and spent more than 3 hours carefully removing the 2 bodies.The first removed was a young man whose identity remained a mystery until Tuesday,May 3rd when his grieving mother was finally able to identify 16 year old Alejandro Justol.The last body removed,at 130PM that afternoon was 12 year old Cristituto Torrejos Jr.,brother of JunJun and son of Cristituti Sr.
On Sunday,May 1 the retrieval phase officially ended with 9 people still unaccounted for and presuned dead in addition to the 14 identified victims that had been recovered over the previous 9 days.
The 14 victims:
1) Cristituto Torrejos. Sr.,age 44 of Barangay Cuamboagan,Tagum City,Davao del Norte Province
2) Cristituto Torrejos Jr.,12,son of Victim #1,same address
3) Pio Dennis Calapis,17 years old,same address as Victims #1,2 and 3
4) John Ric Torrejos,15,son of Victim #1,elder brother of Victim #2,same address as them
5) Brindo Dani,26 years old,Barangay Buan,Asuncion,Davao del Norte Province
6) Marjon A.Guilbatan,19 years old,same address as Victim #4
7) Marvin A.Anglay,19 years old,same address as Victims #5 and 4
8) Relito T.Tebag,21 years old,same address as Victims #4,5 and 6
9) Felixberto Ynay,54 years old,lived in the squatter community,Sitio Panganason-B,Barangay Kingking,Pantukan,ComVal Province
10) Vincent Balog,21 years old,Barangay Mangalingay,Gitawtaw,Bukidnon Province
11) Noel Caincoy,21 years old,same address as Victim #10
12) Junel Lapates,age unknown,possibly juvenile,same address as Victims #10 and 11
13) Alejandro Justol,age 16,resident of that squatter community.He had initially been un-identified because his mother,also residing there,had gone into a catatonic-like stupor and so noone was willing to identify him until his mother re-gained a modicum of composure
14) Jericho Escoto,38 years old,Baguio City,Mountain Province,Luzon Island
Though not yet officially dead,the 8 miners who remain missing are of course dead as well.There names:
1) Bernard Celestial,of Tagum City
2) Bobit Celestial,same municipality
3) Jay Omega,Maco,ComVal Province
4) Alvin Caincoy,Barangay Mangalingay,Gitawtaw,Bukidnon Province
5) Andy Lapates,same address as Victim #4
6) Bitoy (no surname),Lasang,Davao del Sur Province
7) Erning (no surname),a Sama Tribesman,Samal Island,Davao del Sur Province
8) Jongjong,same information as Victim #7
Though not listed in any of the lists,there was a full wallet found,and locals insist that the following man is dead as well
9) Boloy Ensisel,Barangay San Roque,Panabo City,Davao del Norte Province
The fallout politically has been a tad bit more than we usually see.These kind of senseless deaths take place all too often and so the government rarely even bats an eye about it.This time however things have turned out differently.Perhaps it is a domino like effect from the AFP Corruption Scandal (General Garcia Case) that I began outlining in the"Last Quarter of 2010 AFP"entries.New attitudes just might be contagious.In any event,Bayan Muna Party List Congressman Teddy A.Casino has authored a Bill now siitting in the Natural Resources Committee,HB#4315,"People's Mining Act of 2011."It hopes to supercede the very faulty"People's Mining Act of 1991."Specifically it takes aim at Presidential Decree#1899 and to a lesser degree,#s 463 and 512.
Likewise,Senator Loren Legarda has authored a Senate Resolution seeking an investigation as well as a hearing with the DENR to find out just how it handles Small Scale Mining.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)