It was as if a giant used a shovel to gouge the face of the mountain in Barangay Buhawen, San Marcelino, Zambales. Below the towering rocky façade, reddish-black liquid formed a pool of poison. This is the legacy of open pit mining 15 years ago. And now mining companies are about to come back with the signing of a new memorandum of agreement in line with the Arroyo government’s aggressive promotion of investments in mining operations.
BY ABNER BOLOS
Gitnang Luzon News Service
Posted by Bulatlat
San Marcelino, ZAMBALES — It was as if a giant used a shovel to gouge the face of the mountain in Barangay Buhawen, San Marcelino, Zambales. Below the towering rocky façade, reddish-black liquid formed a pool of poison.
It has been 15 years since the Benguet Mining Corporation ceased open pit mining operations in this village, but its legacy of destruction remains.
Apo Kutis, 63, a full-bloodied Aeta recalls that this was once a lush hunting ground with its streams teeming with fish and where his family grew rice, root crops and vegetables. In 1965, he was asked to vacate his “gasak” (farm) to make way for the mining exploration.
Unlettered and helpless, he reluctantly obliged. He moved his family near the village center and cleared another portion of the mountain to farm. Sometime in 1980, bulldozers arrived in his farm and began tearing away his plots of sweet potatoes and vegetables.
This time, he could not contain his rage. “Hinabol nya ng itak yung nagbu-bulldozer,” (He chased the bulldozer operator with a long knife) his son, Romy Pulagay, 42, told GLNS.
“Noon lamang nila ako kinausap ng mabuti at pinangakuan ng trabaho pati para sa aking mga anak,” (It was only then that they talked to me properly and promised jobs for me and my children.) Apo Kutis recounted. He left his gasak for the second time and settled higher up the mountain.
The mine is popularly known here as Dizon Mines, named after the powerful family who actually managed the open-pit mining concession.
Leveled and poisoned
Residents estimate that at least 500 has. of the mountain was leveled by the mining company in three sitios (sub-village) of Buhawen—Naban, Tikis and Sayasay. What was left is a hellish landscape of rock and desert. Chemicals used to extract gold, silver, copper and chromite have poisoned all nearby rivers and water sources.
Before the Mt. Pinatubo eruption of 1991, the company constructed a huge dike separating the mining site and the village center. But not to protect the village, residents say.
“Yung tubig mula sa mina, kahit may lason na ay mayroon pa ring ginto, kaya naiipon ito sa gilid ng dam para makuha pa rin ng kumpanya,” (Run-off water from the mine even if already contaminated, contains traces of gold that settles at the dam’s edge and which the company intends to collect later.) Peping Pulagay, 40, the village chieftain told GLNS.
