INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S
WATCH
Kalinga People Resist
Corporate Mining
In another display of
people’s unity, indigenous peasant communities and advocates from the
middle sector in Kalinga province banded together to put a stop to all
corporate mining activities in the province.
BY
LYN V. RAMO,
NORDIS
Posted by Bulatlat
TABUK, Kalinga (330
kms, north of Manila) — Indigenous peasant communities and advocates from
the middle sector in Kalinga want to put a stop to all corporate mining
operations in Kalinga province. The unity was arrived at during a summit
held here during the first week of May. The summit also put to task the
National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) because of its negligence
in the issuance of the free, prior informed consent (FPIC) to two
exploration applicants covering the ancestral domains of Kalinga tribes.
As of January 31,
this year, two exploration permit applications (ExPa) have been
approved. The European Wolfland Resources, Inc. EP 0001-2004 covering
496 hectares in Magnao was approved in July 2004 while that of Makilala
Mining Co. Inc. EP 003A-2006 with 1494 hectares in Pasil was approved in
January this year. Phelps Dodge, an American corporation, reportedly has
equity shares with Makilala Mining.
Reports from the
regional Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau of the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (MGB-DENR) in Baguio City show that there are 12 new
mining applications in varying stages of completion in Kalinga province.
Two of these are applications for financial and technical assistance (AFTA),
the rest are exploration permit applications (ExPA). There are no
reported applications for mineral production sharing (APSA).
Both undergoing
sectoral area clearance, the two AFTA’s by the Patrick Resource
Corporation and the Mt. Franz Mining Corporation cover an area of
160,836.6 hectares in Kalinga and Mountain Province. The area subjected
to these mining applications is more than half of Kalinga’s total land
area of 311,940 hectares.
Wolfland has three
other ExPA in Pinukpok (3,240 has.); Balbalan and Tabuk (1,715 has.); and
Pasil (1,458 has.) while Makilala has another application in Pasil
(1,776).
An ExPA covering
16,000 hectares by Facets Minerals, Inc. (13) was under appeal with the
Mines Adjudication Board. That of Cordillera Exploration Co., Inc. (CEXI)
(14) covering 15,880 hectares in the Kalinga border with Abra was due for
posting and publication. The same company’s ExPA (37) in Kalinga and
Apayao covering 9,332 hectares lacked certification from the National
Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). An ExPA by Asia Pacific Basin
Inc. (20) covering another 16,000 hectares also in Kalinga and Abra was
under evaluation by the regional MGB. Malibato Mining Co., Inc. In Pasil
(1715 has) and Odd Resources and Management Corporation in Salegseg and In
Madocay Abra (15,522 has) are processing area clearances.
The summit, which
gathered some 40 delegates representing peoples’ organizations, religious
groups and women and youth sectors formed an ad hoc committee, which would
plan an array of activities that include massive information and education
campaigns, grassroots organizing, research, documentation, and mass
actions all geared towards achieving a corporate mining-free Kalinga. The
Kalinga Religious Sector Association (Karsa) organized the mining summit,
the third of its kind in Kalinga.
Northern Dispatach/Posted by Bulatlat
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