Published February 16, 2017, 12:10
AM By
Ellalyn De Vera-Ruiz
Following the government’s crackdown
on mining activities, environment advocates appealed to the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) yesterday to take the next important
step and support calls for a new mining policy.
“(DENR) Secretary (Gina) Lopez must
work with Congress to push for House Bill 2715, the People’s Mining Bill, to
replace the Mining Act of 1995 that is the root of these problems,” Kalikasan
National Coordinator Clemente Bautista said.
“A new progressive mining policy
will strengthen the mandate of the current thrust to effectively regulate
mining and balance environmental protection, national development, and people’s
rights,” he said.
Bautista lauded the DENR’s move to
cancel 75 mining agreements located inside watershed areas.
“By removing the threats of forest
denudation, water pollution, marine degradation, and biodiversity loss posed by
impacts of large-scale mining, we are assured our agriculture and fisheries
productivity can be better developed,” he said. “Maintaining healthy watersheds
in these areas will guarantee that our population will have adequate, clean,
and safe water supply for irrigation and domestic water needs.”
Two weeks after releasing the
results of the DENR mining audit, Lopez announced last Tuesday the cancellation
of a total of 75 mineral production sharing agreements (MPSAs) in watersheds
all over the country.
According to DENR, there are 37
MPSAs in Mindanao, 11 in Visayas, and 27 in Luzon that will be cancelled.
“If we can maintain our remaining
forests intact and our rivers free of siltation from mining operations, there
is lesser likelihood of flashfloods and landslides during heavy rainfall and
typhoons,” Bautista said.
“The crackdown of DENR Secretary
Lopez against erring large-scale mines and the junking of MPSAs in the
watershed areas are excellent actions for environmental protection,” he added.
The group urged other government
offices to work with the DENR to cushion the immediate impacts of the mining
crackdown to its workers by providing aid and alternative livelihood.
“The P2-billion aid announced by
President Rodrigo Duterte for displaced mine workers can be coursed through the
Department of Social Welfare and Development. Agencies for rural development
such as the Department of Agriculture and Department of Agrarian Reform can
help mining communities by distributing land and support services to the
displaced mining communities,” he said.
Collateral damage
Meanwhile, a worker at the nickel
mine operated by Eramen Minerals, Inc., near Sta. Cruz, Zambales, that was
initially suspended in July for environmental offenses, and later ordered to
shut for good, was found dead and hanging in his kitchen. A laptop charger
cable was tied around his neck.
His brother had kept on telling
Winston Ordonez that the mine would reopen and he would be hired again: but
when Ordonez didn’t get a call from the mining firm, he was later found
hanging.
“He became depressed. He said his
life was worthless,” his widow, Leni Modelo, told Reuters from their home where
she is now raising their seven-year-old boy on her own. “He tried to find work
in city hall but there was none.”
The Philippines is the world’s top
nickel ore supplier and China’s huge demand for the raw material that makes
stainless steel meant there was a captive market for the four big mines in the
Sta. Cruz area.
But the suspension and closure of
the mines by Lopez has meant thousands of jobs have disappeared in Sta. Cruz. A
crusader for the environment, Lopez has ordered the shutdown of 23 of the
country’s 41 operating mines. She stepped up her crackdown on Tuesday,
cancelling almost a third of the country’s contracts for undeveloped mines.
The mining sector employed 219,000
people as of end-September last year, according to government data. But the
planned closures and the suspension of another five mines will affect about 1.2
million people, including families and businesses that rely on mining for a
livelihood, according to Artemio Disini, head of the Chamber of Mines of the
Philippines.
At Eramen’s mine, company president
Enrique Fernandez said the headcount had dropped to 150 from more than 1,000
previously and more workers could go by the end of this month.
In a nearby mine run by Zambales
Diversified Metals Corp. (ZDMC), owned by property-to-power firm DMCI Holdings,
Inc., the number of workers has fallen to under 50 from a peak of 1,200, said
Hendrik Martin, manager at ZDMC.
Ronald Esquiray, 39, was among those
laid off. He now weaves bamboo strips to make walls for small huts, which pays
half of what he used to earn in a day.
Many who lost their jobs tried their
luck in Manila, Esquiray said, including his 20-year-old son who found work at
a construction project.
Residents hit mines
Many residents of Sta. Cruz
won’t miss the mining. They say it denuded mountains, leading to heavy flooding
in valley villages. Locals also blame the mines for the siltation of farmlands
and rivers, and the destruction of the main road that heavy trucks used to
rumble along carrying ore to the port.
Martin from ZDMC said mining is
demonized so routinely in sermons at his local church that he has stopped
attending the weekly service.
When it rains heavily here, thick
mud rolls down from mine sites in the mountains, contaminating farmlands and streams
below with nickel laterite ore.
Mining companies scrape the laterite
off planting areas, but farmers and residents say it is only pushed to the
side, submerging parts of houses. And the crop yield is far smaller than
before, forcing farmers to use more fertilizer.
Rice farmer Eduardo Morano lost
money on his last crop as the harvest from his one-hectare plot more than
halved. “I had to sell one of my animals to pay off debt. Then I had to take a
new loan to buy more fertilizer,” he said.
The siltation has spread to rivers,
said Edgardo Obra, vice chairman of the Concerned Citizens of Santa Cruz,
pointing to one that he says had almost dried up because of the silt. “Kids
used to dive here.”
Fishermen have to go farther into
sea due to the sediment build-up closer to land, he said, adding that only a
few town officials benefit from the funds allocated by mining companies to help
communities around them.
“I feel like we were fooled,” said
Obra, a Baptist pastor. As a former village official, he approved mining in the
area but was dismayed two years later by the environmental damage. (With a
report from Reuters)
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