This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VII, No. 12, April 29-May 5, 2007
Large-Scale Mining and
Rapu-Rapu Stop the plunder © 2007 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Island Residents
Face Lost Livelihoods, Damaged Environment
As we observe
Earth Day, the country's leaders should be reminded of the damage that
large-scale mining has done to the environment and livelihood of residents in
mining communities such as Rapu-rapu.
BY GLENIS BALANGUE
With reports from JOSEPH YU
IBON Foundation
Posted by Bulatlat
For the nearly 50,000 residents of Rapu-Rapu, Albay and the adjoining
municipality of Prieto Diaz, Sorsogon, fishing has been the primary livelihood
for generations. The fish that they catch from Lagonoy Gulf and Albay Gulf is
not just their staple food, it is also a main source of income for the
communities, no matter how modest. Twelve out of thirteen barangays (villages)
on Rapu-Rapu are fishing communities, while Prieto Diaz's people survive on
marine, aquaculture and industrial production. Rapu-Rapu and Prieto Diaz are
also among the poorest municipalities in the country, and government services
are generally hard to come by.
But their simple lives were abruptly disrupted when Australian mining firm
Lafayette NL started its Rapu-Rapu Polymetallic Mining Project in mid-2005.
Mining and quarrying had not been alien to Rapu-Rapu as the community had already hosted several mining operations over seven
decades starting in the 1930s, though it had never been a major industry. But it
was the arrival of Lafayette that really brought to the fore the destructive
effects of large-scale mining.
It also showed how eager the Arroyo administration is to open the country's
natural resources to big mining transnational corporations.
A 'new, responsible' mining industry?
The Arroyo administration has been aggressively promoting mining as an area for
foreign investments. The Rapu-Rapu Polymetallic Mining Project represented for
the government the flagship of a 'new, responsible' mining industry. Lafayette
is one of the first foreign mining companies to invest in the Philippines
following a Supreme Court decision upholding a provision in the 1995 Mining Act
allowing 100 percent foreign ownership of mining projects in the country. The
project is expected to yield some 50,000 ounces of gold, 60,000 ounces of
silver, 10,000 metric tons of copper concentrate and 14,000 metric tons of zinc
concentrates a year.
Lafayette's mining claim in the municipality of Rapu-Rapu is 42 square
kilometers or roughly 80 percent of the island's total land area. The current
operation is focused on mining the "Ungay Malobago" deposit located in Barangays
Malobago, Pagcolbon and Binosawan using the open pit method. The gold-rich ore
is treated in a cyanide-in-leach plant adjacent to the 18-hectare pit while the
rest of the ore, which yields copper and zinc, is treated in a separate
floatation plant.
But there were alleged irregularities in the implementation of the mining
project.
For example, the Office of the President issued Proclamation 625, which declared
the mining area a special economic zone upon petition of Lafayette Philippines,
Inc. Lafayette under this status was entitled to a six- to eight-year income tax
holiday and exemption from paying value-added taxes because extracted metals are exported with minimal
processing. However, it was later alleged that Lafayette country manager
Roderick Watt, in a letter to President Arroyo, threatened to withhold
$55million in capital investments from Lafayette Ltd. and the LG Group of Korea
if they were not granted special economic zone status.
There were also irregularities in acquiring the consent of local communities to
the project. According to residents, although community organizers had arranged
meetings at the three barangays nearest the mining site, only the benefits of
the mine to the community were discussed. Villagers said they were never
informed of the environmental effects of mining an ecologically sensitive island
eco-system such as Rapu-Rapu. Tinopan residents even recall watching a film in
which Lafayette organizers discussed "responsible" mining and promised them that
the ores would not be processed on the island. A certain Engineer Palomaria also
told the residents that their barangays could even become cities in the near
future. To further bolster the acceptability of the project, residents were also
promised free electricity and medical services.
But according to residents of Prieto Diaz, they were never consulted on the
project despite being the nearest municipality from Rapu-Rapu and sharing a
major fishing ground.
It was in Oct. 2005 when residents learned that there had been not one, but two,
cyanide tailings spills from the mining site in Barangay Pagcolbon. Reports said
that the first spill was due to a failed pump at the mine, causing an overflow
of cyanide-laden spills into nearby creeks. Three weeks later, a heavy six-hour
rain resulted in the tailings pond overflowing into the nearby Ungay and
Hollowstone creeks. Both incidents resulted in fish kills.
Mining advocates such as the Philippine Chamber of Mines and the government
Mines and Geosciences Bureau sought to downplay the spills, claiming that the amount of tailings released were relatively small
and calling the incident "a drop in the ocean". But a government-convened
Fact-Finding Commission on Rapu-Rapu assailed the gross negligence of Lafayette
and even went so far as to call for a suspension of mining activities in the
country, a call that President Arroyo rejected.
Sino ang nakahuli? (Who was able to catch fish?)
Sixty percent of the households in both Rapu-Rapu and the neighboring Prieto
Diaz depend on fishing as a primary livelihood. Majority of these families
engage in small-scale and subsistence fishing. After the tailings spills, many
fishermen told IBON Features that their catch declined. One resident even
narrated that fishermen used to ask 'ilan ang nakahuli?' (How many were
able to catch fish?), but now they ask sino ang nakahuli? (Who was able
to catch fish?).
Fishermen from Barangay Binosawan said that before the mining operation, their
boat of three to four crew members used to catch around 70 pieces of blue
marlins a year. Last 2005 and 2006, they averaged 20 pieces. In neighboring
Barangay Brillante, fishermen said a boat used to average four pieces of fish
per trip. Now they consider themselves fortunate if they go home with two
pieces. There are even times when they can go for a week without catching a
single fish.
These fishermen are now reducing the number of days they go out to sea. From six
or seven days a week they now go out to fish for only three or four days. They
explained that they would only waste money spent on fuel just to catch enough
fish for a day's meal. Some fishermen have even opted to work as pedicab
drivers, carpenters, and other odd jobs just to make ends meet.
But even fish vendors found themselves indirectly affected by the tailings
spills. A fish dealer from Barangay Tinopan said that her regular buyers in
Legazpi started to become wary of buying fish caught near Rapu-Rapu. As
a result, her buying price fell by as much as 60 percent while her selling
price, by half.
Even those engaged in the small-scale agriculture were not exempt from the
negative effects of the spills. Farmers noted a marked decrease in water supply
after Lafayette started its operations, resulting in a mini-water war in
Barangay Poblacion. It should be noted that Rapu-Rapu is a small island with a
limited supply of freshwater, and this was further diverted to Lafayette's
operations.
Water supply for domestic needs has also become scarce. Malobago residents said
they have difficulty sourcing water for drinking and washing. They are also
afraid of drinking the water that comes from the taps, fearing cyanide
contamination. A community leader remarked, "Ang cyanide ba at iyong ibang
kemikal nadadaan sa kulo?" (Can cyanide or other chemicals be removed by
boiling?)
In Barangays Binosawan and Tinopan, coconut farmers said their trees have become
stunted even if these were still young. The fruits have also become smaller and
fewer, meaning decreased yields. The farmers said that this was the first time
that this happened.
The farmers further told IBON that the blasting activities of Lafayette have
weakened the rock foundation in the area, making it vulnerable to landslides.
When typhoon Reming (international name Durian) struck the Bicol region,
landslides occurred in Barangays Malobago and Tinopan, killing eleven people.
Residents stressed that stronger typhoons had visited Rapu-Rapu before but no
landslides happened until last year.
Stark contrast
In stark contrast to the poverty of the affected communities, wherein 60 percent
of families are forced to live on less than P100 ($2.10 at an exchange rate of
$1=P 47.46) a day, the Lafayette Group expects to earn $350 million a year over
the entire duration of the mine. But the local government in 2005 received only
P2.1 million ($44,247) in excise tax collections from Lafayette's gross revenues of P134.4 million ($2,831,858). The national government also
lost tax revenue from the many incentives the mining firm was granted, earning
only $8.68 million from a possible $20.48 million.
Further, although Lafayette claimed to hire 900 residents as workers, in reality
only some 300 were hired. Residents said that of this number, only five percent
were regular workers (meaning that they would be employed for five years,
although the projected span of the project is eight years) while the rest were
hired on a contractual basis. There is no labor union and the workers are
discouraged from negotiating for better pay and more benefits.
The aftermath of the spills saw an increasing number of locals opposing
Lafayette's operations. Thus, more soldiers and policemen were deployed to the
area, plus 150 militiamen in civilian clothes. Residents reported that these
military forces roam the barangays in an apparent effort to intimidate them.
The basic services promised by the Australian mining firm to the communities
also did not materialize. Malobago, Tinopan and Binosawan do not have health
facilities and personnel except for one or two barangay health workers. Malobago
residents, however, have occasional access to the mining company's health
clinic, but only in case of emergencies.
On February 8, 2006 the government Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) permanently lifted the cease-and-desist order it had earlier
issued on Lafayette's operations on Rapu-Rapu in the wake of the spills. In
doing so, it went against the wishes of the residents who are demanding for a
stop to mining operations on the island.
Although Lafayette's operations were supposedly turned over to Filipinos, it is
clear that the company is exploiting loopholes in the Mining Act and the
Philippines' corporate laws in order to avoid its accountability to the people
of Rapu-Rapu and Prieto Diaz.
By 2013, Lafayette will have packed up and left after extracting all the minerals from Rapu-Rapu. All that will be left for the residents is a
giant pit and a damaged eco-system, which can no longer provide for their needs.
Residents and various environmental groups demand that government step in now to
prevent irreversible damage to Rapu-Rapu's fishing waters and the residents'
livelihoods, or should be held to accountable for it. IBON Foundation/posted
by Bulatlat