Philippines: Anti-mining group slams province for condoning military and mining interest

Environmentalist group ACCESS – PANALIPDAN criticized the deployment of more security troops in the province, amid calls by evacuees from Cateel and Baganga towns to stop the military operations in their communities.

“This arrogant show of force by the military supported by the local government is a reflection of sheer callousness; of utter disregard for its constituents. The LGU did not even raise a finger to stop the deployment of more military forces,” Dodong Sarmiento, acting spokesperson of the anti-mining group said.

Other than counter-insurgency, ACCESS-PANALIPDAN blames large – scale foreign mining operations in Davao Oriental for the continuing militarization of the provinces’ hinterlands

“That the military serve as hired goons of mining companies is an open secret. Who else has the biggest investments to protect in the hinterlands but the large-scale foreign mining companies? Their billion-dollar mining investments and profits from plundering our resources are enough to motivate them to use force to quell the local opposition which is the case in Davao Oriental,” Sarmiento said.

Sarmiento pointed out that the provincial government’s flaw is the prioritization of mining from among its development and economic programs.

“Rather than encouraging sustainable development programs such as agriculture and fishery, the LGU is trapped in the promotion of an extractive industry such as mining wherein the host country actually loses more in terms of environmental destruction and health hazards, while the foreign mining company pockets all the profit and end up scot- free from all the hazards,” Sarmiento said.

He added that the heavily militarized towns Boston and Cateel, in particular are crucial areas for the province’s mining industry.

Boston municipality is host to the Road 5 M Project, operated by the Boston Mineral Mining Corporation and Omega Gold Mining company.

In December last year, more than a hundred Mandayas and D’babawons from the six barangays in Boston barricaded the company’s drilling sites to oppose the mining operations in the area.

Local Mandaya leader, Ludinio Monzon, chairperson of the NIGKUMB, said “We have long heard that Omega Gold has requested military protection after the barricade and protest we held. But it’s the mining company that the military should ask to leave because they are operating against the people’s will.”

He added, “We have the right to say no to any project that will only bring harm on our people and destroy our ancestral lands. We are only doing this for our children.”

ACCESS – PANALIPDAN also said that Cateel, where more than 80 families evacuated, is targeted for mining exploration as reported by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in the Davao Region which has recently reported “a sharp increase in the number of applications for exploration permit this year, triggered by the soaring price of gold and copper in the global market.”

Cateel is one of the areas targeted in the five new applications for exploration received by MGB this year. The four others are the towns of Talaingod, San Isidro and Mati in Davao Oriental, and the municipality of Lupon in Davao del Norte.

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