Full story at http://pcij.org/stories/village-folk-resist-illegal-deals-bribes-for-leaders/
Mining in Mount Pulag
Village folk resist illegal deals,
‘bribes’ for leaders
by Arthur L. Allad-iw and Harley Palangchao
Friday, March 27th, 2009
Summer is upon us, and in a fortnight, it will be Lent. Very
soon, hordes of Filipinos, mountaineers, nature-lovers, and entire
families will take the traditional trek to Northern Luzon for cooler
weather and better scenery. There they will marvel once more at the
beauty of Mount Pulag, “the playground of the Gods” of the Ibaloi, that
has been visited yet again by Filipino and foreign mining companies.
Our latest report tells of the irregular exploration ventures in
Mount Pulag, that layers of laws have firmly declared off-limits to
mining and all other “economic activities.”
In 1987, then President Corazon Aquino declared Mount Pulag as a
national park. It is the habitat of 33 bird species and a number of rare
flora and fauna in danger of facing extinction.
In 1992, when the National Integrated Protected Areas System
(NIPAS) was implemented, Mount Pulag, as well as the Ambuklao-Binga and
Upper Agno areas, were covered.
The water source and watershed of the dams in Ifugao, Benguet and
Pangasinan, Mount Pulag — the roof of Luzon and the Philippines’s
second highest peak — is also home to the indigenous Ibaloi, Kankanaey
and Kalanguya communities.
This report was written by Baguio City-based reporters Arthur L.
Allad-iw and Harley Palangchao, who received a writing fellowship from
the PCIJ after participating in our seminar-workshop on investigative
reporting.
BOKOD, BENGUET — As Lakay Felipe Leano recalls it,
newly planted rice seedlings in his village in Bobok-Bisal, Bokod had
shriveled and died soon after a major Philippine mining firm began
exploring for gold and other metals in the area.
|
YOUNG and old hikers enjoy great moments at the summit of
Mount Pulag, the highest peak in Luzon at 2,922 meters above sea level.
Many residents from the towns of Bokod and Kabayan, Benguet, which play
host to the protected mountain, expressed opposed to any mining activity
within the coverage of Mount Pulag National Park. [photo by Harley Palangchao]
|
The company denied having caused the drying up of a local creek that
had helped irrigate Bokod rice fields. But petitions from the likes of
Leano, an Otbong village elder, eventually led the local government to
stop the firm’s exploration activities.
That was way back in the mid-1970s. When then President Corazon
Aquino declared Mount Pulag, which rises above Bokod, a national park in
1987, Leano and company probably thought they had heard the last of
mining companies.
They may have been pleased all the more in 1992, when the National
Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act was implemented. After
all, the new law mandated that no type of “economic activities” was to
be allowed in places covered by NIPAS; included in the system were not
only Mount Pulag, but also the Ambuklao-Binga and the Upper Agno areas.
Recently though, residents of Bokod — a bruising three-hour car ride
away from Baguio City — have realized that for the spirit of these laws
to be respected, public vigilance, as well as keen community interest,
are crucial.
Those in Sitio Bobok have already unconditionally rejected one
proposal to have mining exploration done there, while residents of
neighboring Bolo have made it known to a national government agency that
they are against a deal struck between some barangay officials and a
mining firm for a similar exploration.
|
Location map of Bokod, Benguet courtesy of Wikipedia
|
Yet Bokod residents say they are still on the watch. In fact, those
in Bobok and Bolo are urging nearby communities not to let down their
guard if Mount Pulag and the rest of Bokod are to remain as free as
possible from activities that may harm the area’s ecological balance.
Many Bokod folk apparently consider large-scale mining as one of
those ventures. It’s a notion mining companies would obviously contest,
but even environment experts tend to agree with Bokod residents.
Threats to ecology
University of the Philippines-Baguio associate professor Celia M.
Austria, for one, sees both underground and open pit mining in Bokod as
ecological threats. Austria, a biologist who has done research on Mount
Pulag, says these could only lead to “the deterioration of the
environment (and the) loss of the rich biodiversity in the area,
including the medicinal plants utilized by the folk.”
Residents of other towns, meanwhile, say that they, too, would rather
have Bokod mine-free. In fact, they want a say in the matter. Explains
Norma Mooy, vice president of the Shantahnay People’s Organization of
Dalupirip, which is said to be the only barangay in Itogon not adversely
affected by mining: “Our (farms) are dependent on the water coming from
Bokod and other upper areas.”
Indeed, Mount Pulag and Bokod are major water sources even for
lowland areas — just like the rest of the Cordillera region, which
serves as watershed cradle of 13 major rivers that flow down to Ilocos,
Cagayan, and some parts of Central Luzon. This is largely why colonial
and post-colonial governments alike issued policies declaring most of
the forest areas in the region as watershed or forest reserve.
(see table)
Proclamations Protecting Mount Pulag and Surrounding Areas
Source: DENR-CAR (2008)
| PROCLAMATIONS |
DATE OF ISSUANCE |
COVERAGE (HECTARES) |
AREAS COVERED |
| Proclamation No. 217 (Central Cordillera Forests Reservation) by
Gov. Gen. Henry Stimson of the U.S. colonial government (as amended by
Proc. 1758) |
February 16, 1929 |
74,631 |
Various areas of the region, including Mount Pulag and upstream Agno |
| Proclamation 120 (Upper Agno Watershed Reservation) by Pres. Marcos |
November 25, 1966 |
9,700 |
Atok and Bokod, Benguet |
| Proclamation No. 548 (Ambuklao-Binga Watershed Forest Reserve) by Pres. Marcos |
April 19, 1969 |
6,365 |
Atok and Bokod, Benguet |
| Proclamation No. 75 (Mount Pulag National Park) by Pres. Aquino |
February 20, 1987 |
11,550 |
Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya, and Ifugao |
Mount Pulag is the water source and watershed as well of the dams in
Magat in Ifugao, Ambuklao and Binga in Benguet, and San Roque in
Pangasinan.
In 1987, the Mount Pulag National Park was created, covering about
11,500 hectares of public domain that lies on the north and south spine
of the Grand Cordillera Central Mountain Ranges. The park straddles
parts of Benguet, Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya provinces.
11 mountains in all
One of the oldest settlements in Benguet province, Bokod is inhabited
by 11,705 indigenous Ibaloi, Kalanguya, Ikarao, and Ikadasan. With a
land area of 396.40 square kilometers, it is the second largest
municipality in Benguet. It has 11 mountains, including Mount Pulag,
which the indigenous peoples of Bokod consider sacred. (Mount Pulag’s
peak rises 2,922 meters above sea level. It is a five- to seven-hour
hike from the rangers’ camp in Bokod.)
Mossy forests and old-growth pine trees characterize the area. Bokod
folk, however, are particularly fond of kadasan, a native hardwood that
grows locally and is used in the foundation of homes here. Wild boar,
deer, and the cloud rat can still be found in Bokod forests, especially
those in Mount Pulag, along with various other exotic fauna, such as the
whiskered pitta (
Pitta koctri) and the Luzon water-redstrad (
Rhyacomis bicolor) bird species.
Bokod apparently has treasures underground as well. Before a popular
outcry shut down its exploration of the area in the mid-1970s, Benguet
Consolidated Inc. had drilled more than 100 holes that indicated some
259 million tons of copper, gold, and molybdenum underground in Sitio
Bobok alone. Subsequent geological surveys by the government affirmed
the existence of valuable metals in Bokod.
Proponents of Proposed Mine Explorations in Bokod
Source: MGB-CAR and NCIP-CAR (2008)
| COMPANY |
EXPLORATION PERMIT APPLICATION (EXPA) |
ORIGINAL APPLICATION FOR PRODUCTION SHARING AGREEMENT (APSA) CONVERTED TO EXPA/APPROVAL |
AREAS COVERED |
COVERAGE (HECTARES) |
| Magellan Metals Inc. |
EXPA 083 |
APSA 081 to EXPA 083 approved by MGB-CAR on September 20,2006 |
Sitios Cobabeng, Mangakew, and Bolo, of Barangay Poblacion, Bokod |
973 |
| Columbus Minerals Inc. |
EXPA 084 |
APSA 025 to EXPA 084 approved by MGB-CAR on September 20, 2006 |
Bobok, Bokod |
486 |
| Al Magan Exploration Company |
EXPA 081 |
APSA 037 to EXPA 081 approved by MGB-CAR on September 20, 2006 |
Bobok, Bokod |
1,377 |
That precious metals such as gold abound beneath their feet is not
exactly news to Bokod natives. Johny Fialen, who was born and raised in
this town, estimates that Bokod has some 500 gold panners and
small-scale miners. Gold panning has long been done along the Agno River
in Benguet, where the year-round activity peaks right after typhoons.
Gold panners fear, though, that large-scale mining would make the waters
of Agno River sluggish from sedimentation and siltation, thereby
threatening their livelihood.
Yet, having successfully stopped mighty Benguet Consolidated in its
tracks, and with the protection provided to Bokod and Mount Pulag by a
battery of laws and presidential proclamations, residents here were
confident that the mining industry’s big boys would not only be kept
out, they would also not even try to get a foot in.
And so residents say they were shocked when representatives of not
one, but three, companies approached them in 2007, seeking their consent
on the firms’ applications for mining explorations in Bokod. Says one
resident here: “That was the first time we heard about the
applications.”
Thick-faced firms
They were probably even more shocked to find out that two of the
companies had apparently gone ahead and were already doing what one
government official would later describe as “exploration-related” work
without waiting for their response.
Told about this by the PCIJ, Mines and Geosciences Bureau‘s (MGB)
Mining Tenements Management Division chief Leo Jasareno expressed
surprise and blurted out, “We need to verify that
kasi ang kapal naman ng mukha nila (because, boy, are they thick-faced).”
Jasareno said their office had not heard of such activities in Bokod,
especially when MGB had yet to issue a permit. He added that if these
had in fact been done, the two companies had committed “a crime — a
violation of the Mining Act.”
By the time Jasareno was saying this, National Commission on
Indigenous Peoples-Cordillera Administrative Region (NCIP-CAR) Director
Amador Batay-an had already issued a cease-and-desist order to all the
three firms keen on doing explorations in Bokod. Batay-an’s order was in
response to a flurry of furious letters the Bokod folk sent to the
regional offices of the NCIP and the Commission on Human Rights, as well
as to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
In a recent interview with the PCIJ, Batay-an said the order was
issued to all three companies to ensure that “all exploration
activities” at Bokod would stop. According to NCIP-Benguet Legal Officer
Severino Manuel Lumiqued, Bokod folk said those activities included
surveying and “induced polarization,” which, one MGB regional official
later explained, involves the use of specific equipment to determine
whether or not there are minerals with pyrite (such as gold and copper)
in the area.
‘Exploration permits’
Documents filed at the MGB-CAR office show that Columbus Resources
Inc., Magellan Metals Inc., and Al Magan Mining and Exploration Company
(AMMEC) had each first filed an Application for Production Sharing
Agreement (APSA) for three different sites in Bokod. In 2006, however,
these APSAs were converted into applications for exploration permits or
EXPAs.
Conversion and Assignment of Mining Rights
Source: MGB-CAR (2008)
| APSA APPLICATIONS |
CONVERTED TO EXPA |
DATE OF APPROVAL OF CONVERSION BY MGB-CAR |
EXPA ASSIGNMENT |
REGISTRATION (DEED OF ASSIGNMENT) AT MGB-CAR |
| APSA 025 (Comedis assigned APSA to Geodata on Oct. 2, 1997) |
EXPA 084 |
September 20, 2006 |
Geodata assigned to Columbus on October 20, 2006 |
October 23, 2006 |
| APSA 037 |
EXPA 081 |
September 20, 2006 |
Maintained by AMMEC |
|
| APSA 081 |
EXPA 083 |
September 20, 2006 |
Bolo assigned to Magellan on October 11, 2006 with royalty agreement |
October 19, 2006 |
AMMEC is a Filipino-owned firm headed by Pastor Quinto Jr., who has
other pending mining applications in the region. Both Columbus and
Magellan, meanwhile, have 99.9-percent foreign equity. Both are also
controlled by the Singapore-based Magellan Resources Pte. Ltd.; papers
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) show them as
having identical incorporators, directors, and officers as well.
Interestingly, too, AMMEC and Columbus gave Magellan the authority to
undertake their exploration for them once they secure the permits.
Residents and official documents point to Columbus and Magellan as
the companies that had conducted the premature exploration activities.
PCIJ tried to schedule interviews with representatives of both
companies, as well as of AMMEC, but failed.
In an email response to PCIJ’s request for an interview, Peter Ronald
Draper — an incorporator of both Columbus and Magellan and who has
filed appeals on behalf of AMMEC with the MGB — said that “there really
is nothing to talk about” because there are no mining operations yet in
Bokod. He added, “The only field work that has taken place has been
community-based.”
Cease-desist order
Still, on April 26, 2007, Magellan President Damien Blyth
acknowledged receipt of Batay-an’s April 25 letter “advising us to CEASE
and DESIST (sic) from any undertaking relative to our proposed
exploration project” in Bokod.
“(We) shall abide with your Order,” added Blyth, “(and) we have suspended all our preliminary activities on the ground.”
Based on a Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
map, the areas targeted for exploration by Magellan, Columbus, and AMMEC
are next to each other and lie at the foot of Mount Pulag. Altogether,
their EXPAs cover some 2,863 hectares, or about seven percent of the
entire land area of Bokod.
Profile of Mining Proponents
| COMPANY |
INCORPORATORS/
DIRECTORS/OFFICERS |
NATIONALITY |
CAPITAL
(P11,475,000) |
SHARES
(114,750 shares @ P100 per share) |
| Magellan Metals Inc. |
Damien Patrick Blyth
Peter Ronal Draper
Dennis Leslie Thomas
Brian Allen Lueck
Valeriano R. Del Rosario (treasurer)
Daphne Ruby Grasparil
Magellan Resources Pte. Ltd. |
Australian
Australian
British
Canadian
Filipino
Filipino
Singaporean |
P11,474,000 |
1 share
1 share
1 share
1 share
1 share
1 share
114,744 shares |
| Columbus Minerals Inc. |
Damien Patrick Blyth
Peter Ronal Draper
Dennis Leslie Thomas
Brian Allen Lueck
Valeriano R. Del Rosario (treasurer)
Daphne Ruby Grasparil
Magellan Resources Pte. Ltd. |
Australian
Australian
British
Canadian
Filipino
Filipino
Singaporean |
P11,474,000 |
1 share
1 share
1 share
1 share
1 share
1 share
114,744 shares |
Early on, the DENR’s Environmental Management and Protected Areas
Services (EMPAS) had reported that the proposed exploration sites of all
three firms were entirely within the Ambuklao-Binga Watershed
Reservations and the Central Cordillera Forest Reserve. EMPAS pointed
out that these reservations are initial components of NIPAS, where
mineral locating is not allowed.
Joint appeal
But AMMEC, Columbus, and Magellan filed a joint appeal regarding the
status of their targeted sites. By early 2007, Columbus and Magellan
were able to secure a go-signal from MGB National Director Horacio C.
Ramos for them to continue processing their respective exploration
permits.
Up to now, though, AMMEC’s appeal has yet to be acted upon because,
says MGB-CAR, the company had not submitted all the documents required
for its appeal to be processed.
MGB papers show that Ramos acknowledged that the sites Columbus and
Magellan sought to explore were within protected areas. But, he said,
both had previously been covered by patentable mining claims and were
therefore subject to “prior rights” under the law. Legally, then, the
sites could be mined — which meant the two companies could continue
processing their exploration permits.
Ramos cited a previous case involving Philex Mining Corporation in
which the MGB ruled that “that the applied areas covered by patentable
mining claims are deemed excluded from the scope of Presidential
Proclamation 2320 (establishing the Lower Agno Watershed Forest
Reserve). Said two memorandums stated that the claims have transformed
them as Mineral Land since the staking of such patentable mining claims
under the Philippine Bill of 1902.”
Mineral land
MGB’s Jasareno explained in an interview with PCIJ that a patentable
mining claim essentially turns an area into “mineral land.” He said that
the Supreme Court had once proclaimed that “once a mineral land, always
a mineral land.”
“Any subsequent proclamation,” said Jasareno, “will not alter the
character of that mineral land.” These include laws and proclamations
declaring areas as protected sites and which all contain the clause
“subject to prior rights.”
Documents show that of the three companies, only AMMEC had an EXPA
that could be traced to a pre-1980s mining claim — Benguet
Consolidated’s. Bokod residents say Benguet also used to work in areas
now covered by the EXPAs of Magellan and Columbus, but papers indicate
that Magellan’s EXPA originated from mine applications by Bolo Mineral
Resources Inc. dating back to only September 1987. That of Columbus is
traceable to an application by Delfin Comedis in March 1992. Be that as
it may, this means the NIPAS Act is the only relevant law regarding the
character of the land that came after the claims covering the Magellan
and Columbus sites.
Columbus and Magellan, however, have also had to contend with the
Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 (IPRA) because of the presence of
several indigenous tribes in Bokod. IPRA stipulates a field-based
investigation for projects affecting indigenous communities to ensure
that there is no overlap with any ancestral domain claim. If there is an
overlap, project proponents would first have to secure the free, prior,
and informed consent (FPIC) of the indigenous people before they can
proceed with their venture.
Rejected by residents
According to the NCIP’s Benguet provincial office, the EXPAs of both
Columbus and Magellan indeed overlapped with the ancestral domain of the
indigenous people of Bokod. It was while their consent was being sought
that the various indigenous folk of Bokod learned of the illegal
explorations being conducted by Columbus and Magellan.
To date, NCIP-Benguet’s Lumiqued says that “mandatory activities”
regarding Magellan’s EXPA have yet to be completed. But many Bolo
residents say they have already written to authorities about their
opposition to the proposed exploration.
Columbus, meanwhile, has already received the resolution in which
Bobok residents unconditionally rejected its exploration project. In the
referendum held on December 14, 2007, representatives of the affected
Bobok families had voted 53 against the exploration, 24 for, while two
left their ballots blank. NCIP – CAR Director Batay-an transmitted the
rejection to Columbus president Damien Blyth on February 27, 2008.
Bokod residents, however, now know complacency is not an option.
Although NCIP-Benguet’s Lumiqued says Columbus has yet to file an
appeal, some observers say it could still well do so and end up like
Philex, which was able to reverse an earlier community rejection of a
similar mining project.
Acts of ‘bribery’
As for Magellan, Bolo folk are still stewing over the memorandum of
agreement struck by the company with Barangay Poblacion officials. NCIP
documents and interviews reveal that in exchange for their “support” of
the company’s proposed two-year exploration, the barangay officials
received P10,000 from Magellan supposedly for the repair of the
barangay’s ambulance.
The officials also submitted to the company a list of projects
ranging from educational assistance to a tramline to transport goods.
Magellan was said to have approved funding for the projects, which have a
total cost of nearly P950,000.
Municipal officials and the NCIP have since criticized the deal,
which they say could influence the way the community would vote on
Magellan’s EXPA. An NCIP insider also comments that the solicitations
reek of “bribery” and are prohibited under IPRA and its implementing
rules.
What seems to be less-than-exemplary behavior on the part of Magellan
and Columbus, however, could have a negative effect on the prospects of
their EXPAs. At the very least, their having begun “exploration-related
activities” — as Batay-an put it — without permits is already a mark
against them. According to MGB’s Jasareno, there is a possibility that
this could cost both companies the very permits they are seeking because
they could be seen as having “unsatisfactory” track records.
Then again, MGB-CAR says it has yet to receive copies of the NCIP
cease-and-desist order to the firms; neither has it gotten copies of
Bobok’s rejection of Columbus’s proposal.
Bokod folk, though, have also gained allies among mountaineers in
their campaign to keep large-scale mining out of their municipality.
Mimis Toquero, a member of the Nomadic Mountaineers group that often
climbs Mount Pulag, says, “As a climber and nature lover, we are against
mining in the area. Mining in Benguet had distorted the culture of the
indigenous people, weakening it (culture) without appropriate economic
benefit for them in return.” —
with additional reporting by Karol Anne M. Ilagan
