Cordillera IPs, Workers Hit Gov’t Mining Safety Week Fete

Cordillera indigenous peoples and workers’ groups condemned the mine safety week celebrations of the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau-Department of Environment and Natural Resources (MGB-DENR), saying that large-scale corporate mining is unsafe.

BY KIM QUITASOL
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 42, November 25-December 1, 2007

BAGUIO CITY (246 kms north of Manila) — Cordillera indigenous peoples and workers’ groups condemned the mine safety week celebrations of the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau-Department of Environment and Natural Resources (MGB-DENR), saying that large-scale corporate mining is unsafe.

“MGB and DENR officials are at Camp John Hay enjoying themselves while indigenous peoples in mining host communities continue to suffer the ill-effects of corporate mining,” Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) Deputy Secretary-General Santos Mero said during a recent press conference.

Mero added the MGB-DENR mine safety celebration does not show the real situation in host communities. He said environmental degradation continue to worsen in communities that host the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (Lepanto) and Philex Mining Company.

Mero further said that the plight of host communities would worsen after the over 100 mine applications covering 1.2 hectares of the total Cordillera land area of 1.8 hectares are approved. He added with the mining revitalization program of the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration that aims to fast track mining applications, the 125 various applications would be approved.

“The abandoned mines of Benguet are living examples of the irreversible environmental destruction caused by corporate mines,” he stressed.

Mero also said that large-scale mining corporations’ mines applications most of the time cover indigenous peoples land. He said mining companies do not respect the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA), which provides that mining firms should get a free prior and informed consent (FPIC) from affected indigenous peoples. Mero challenged the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) to uphold IPRA to protect the indigenous peoples’ rights amid the Arroyo administration’s mining revitalization program.

Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May 1st Movement)-Cordillera spokesperson James Tulipa said mine workers remain unsafe. He said Lepanto mine workers remain vulnerable to the hazardous chemicals and pollution in mine tunnels as the company could not provide safety gears for its workers such as eye goggles, gas masks and ear guards.

Tulipa added mine workers are also prone to accidents especially underground.

“What is more outrageous is that Lepanto does not give assistance to its workers who incur work-related injuries,” Tulipa stressed. “The company even fails to remit the SSS payments of its workers despite regular deductions from the workers’ meager wages.”

From January to March this year, there were 21 underground and 39 surface accidents in the mine site, according to LCMC records.

Dr. Carol Domalsin, who represented the Dalicno Community Traditional Small-Scale Mining Association in the press conference, said years after the Balatoc Mines and Sangilo Mines closed down, Dalicno residents continue to suffer the destruction the mines brought to the community.

Domalsin said the mining companies’ years of operations destroyed the communities’ water sources and forest. She added that the community water until today has cyanide and mercury.

Domalsin added the mines did not bring development to their community. Northern Dispatch / Posted by (Bulatlat.com)