Press release
14 July 2010

Environmental activists and indigenous peoples led by Defend Patrimony! Alliance expressed dissent on the looming privatization of gold-rich Mt. Diwalwal, Monkayo, Compostela Valley.

There is a growing local and national campaign to urge the new Aquino administration to stop the bidding of the 729-hectare Mt. Diwalwal on July 30. by Philippine Mining Development Corp. (PMDC) which manages the mining site.

“Mt. Diwalwal is part of the rich patrimony of our nation. The government should protect, utilize and develop Mt. Diwalwal for the benefit of the people and the country,” explained Clemente Bautista of environmental activist group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment.

Diwalwal mine site sits within the 8,100-hectare mineral reservation area declared by the Arroyo government in 2002. It is believed to contain $14 billion worth of gold and $4.5 billion worth of silver.

Mt. Diwalwal is a village found at the top most of the Monkayo municipality, Compostela Valley province. The population is around 46,000 with more than half are small-scale miners.

This is why part of the staunch opposition are small scale miners and environmental groups which already held a protest action in the office of PMDC in Davao City last Monday.

“Selling this to private and foreign hands will bring massive displacement of small scale miners and indigenous people, grave ecological degradation, fast depletion of our resources, and eventually extensive environmental disasters,” Bautista forewarned.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) estimates that some P2 billion worth of gold is produced in Diwalwal yearly. According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Diwalwal produces 25% of the country’s gold.

“The abuse of Diwalwal’s natural resources of private companies has long been the source of conflict and tragedy to the residents of Diwalwal,” said Rey Elijorde, spokesperson of NAGKADIWA (Nagkahiusang Katawhan sa Diwalwal), a local peoples’ organization.

PMDC has already privatized 4,275 hectares of mineral lands to private and foreign mining companies namely: Paraiso Consolidated Mining Corp., Carrascal Nickel Corp., and Blackstone Mineral Resources Inc.

“The management of PMDC under the direct control of former President Arroyo has not given harmony to Diwalwal’s mining industry but more environmental destruction and militarization,” Elijorde said.

In 2009, ComVal Provincial Governor Arturo Uy professed that while mining firms earn from the province’s natural resources, they pay excise taxes directly to the national government and lamented that in 10 years time, the province’s revenue from mining in the province was only P 305,000.

In the statement of Defend Patrimony, the groups challenge the Aquino administration to prove that if it is different from Arroyo administration and truly wants reforms in the mining industry, it must discontinue the mining liberalization program.

“Genuine development of the mining industry should gear not towards to the sell-out to foreign corporations and export of our mineral resources but on the efficient utilization of these to meet the basic demands of the people and local economy,” said Clemente Bautista (Bulatlat.com)

Reference: Clemente Bautista
National Coordinator Kalikasan PNE

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