Environmental activist groups condemned what they described as the “persistence” of “illegal mining” operations in the country even in the wake of recent disaster brought by a series of typhoons that hit the northern Philippines.
The group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment reported on November 26 that five fuel tankers escorted by at least 30 policemen and 50 private security personnel overran a barricade set up by the people of Kasibu town who oppose mining operations in the area.
The fuel shipment was supposedly meant for equipment inside the gold-copper mine of Australian-Canadian firm Oceanagold.
It was the second police-escorted shipment to the mine site that the activists claimed violated a standing restraining order issued by the provincial government of Nueva Vizcaya against Oceanagold last year.
On April 6, policemen dispersed a people’s barricade that was implementing the restraining order issued by the provincial government against the mine’s operations.
The group Alyansa Tigil Mina said the entry of the fuel tankers was an “illegal act” because the company’s mining contract has expired more than a year ago.
In a statement, the group “denounced” the reported order of Interior Secretary Eduardo Año for police personnel to escort the fuel trucks.
Village officials and representative of environmental groups tried to prevent the entry, but the policemen allegedly threatened the protestors of arrest.
“We are deeply frustrated that the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of [the Environment department] has failed to implement the closure and decommissioning protocols” for the mines,” said the group.
In January this year, the Environment department permitted the entry of fuel allegedly for the mine’s dewatering activities.
Alyansa Tigil Mina said they hold the Environment department and the Mines bureau “accountable for the continued destruction of the forests and livelihoods of affected communities … in light of the floods and landslides brought by the recent typhoons.”
“We demand that [Interior] Secretary Año immediately revoke any order to the [police] to escort fuel deliveries to the Didipio mines,” read the group’s statement.
Leon Dulce of Kalikasan said the mining company’s refusal to implement mandatory rehabilitation as mandated by law and contractual obligation resulted in “worsened flooding and other disaster risks faced by the local communities.”
The group claimed that an overflow of the massive tailings pond of the mining company submerged access roads of the upland village, isolating it for days after typhoon “Ulysses (Vamco)” brought down massive amounts of rainfall over the province.
“We demand for an immediate watershed audit that will investigate and penalize these extractive and destructive projects that worsened the massive floods that came with the series of typhoons leading to “Ulysses,’” said Dulce.
He said government agencies that have played a role in maintaining the “business as usual operations” of the mines “must likewise be probed and held to account.”
The environmental groups said it is high time for the government to impose a moratorium on the mines and immediately press for an independent audit.
With the support of the local government, environmental groups, scientists, professionals, church workers, and advocates, the barricade in Nueva Vizcaya was able to suspend the operation of OceanaGold following the expiry of its Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement renewal in June last year.
