Online Cantilangnon

By: Solita Collas-Monsod
Philippine Daily Inquirer

9:35 pm | Friday, October 21st, 2011

“All …minerals … and other natural resources are owned by the State….”  That is part of Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution, and is a reiteration of the so-called regalian doctrine (“all mineral wealth was the prerogative of the crown or the feudatory lord”) which is reportedly followed by mining countries in the world except the United States.

The Philippines claims to be the fifth most mineralized country in the world, and to hear Gary Teves tell it (quoting DTI/BOI), our reserves of gold, copper, nickel and chromite are second, fourth, fifth and sixth largest in the world, not to mention silver, coal, gypsum, sulfur, clay.

What is the value of these mineral resources?  In 2004, then Neda Director General Romulo Neri cited the amount of P47 trillion to the Supreme Court (as quoted in Justice Antonio Carpio’s dissenting opinion in the La Bugal case, where the high court reversed an earlier decision and upheld the constitutionality of the Philippine Mining Law, RA 7942 and its implementing rules and regulations) as the “potential mining wealth” of the Philippines.

Since the state owns these mineral resources, how much should its share be of the profits (revenues minus costs) from their exploitation?  At least 50 percent, wouldn’t you say? Or 60 percent, if the government goes into some form of joint venture with a foreign corporation. In any case, something that represents a “fair share” of the profits.

Certainly not a zero share. But that is exactly what the government’s share is of the income from the mineral resources it owns. Zilch. Nada. This, Justice Carpio pointed out in his dissenting opinion.

Only consider.  There are some 30 large commercial mining operations in the country today, all apparently operating under so-called Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSAs) entered into with the government.

Section 80 of the Philippine Mining Law, titled “Government Share in Mineral Production Sharing Agreement,” provides the following:  “The total government share in a mineral production sharing agreement shall be the excise tax on mineral products as provided in Republic Act No. 7729, amending Section 151 (a) of the National Internal Revenue Code, as amended.”

And how much is the excise tax on mineral products? Two percent on metallic and non-metallic minerals.

But isn’t 2 percent greater than zero?  Excuse me.  As Carpio explains, “The excise tax is imposed not only on mineral products, but also on alcohol, tobacco and automobiles produced by companies that do not exploit natural resources owned by the State.  The excise tax is not payment for the exploitation of the State’s natural resources, but payment for the “privilege of engaging in business.” Clearly, under Section 80 of RA 7942, the State does not receive as owner of the mineral resources any income from the exploitation of its mineral resources (emphasis his).

Thunders Carpio: “Natural resources are non-renewable and exhaustible assets of the State.  Certainly, no government in its right mind should give away for free its natural resources to private business enterprises, local or foreign, amidst widespread poverty among its people.”  And further on, “Under the 1987 Constitution, the State must receive its fair share as owner of the mineral resources, separate from taxes, fees and duties paid by taxpayers.  The legislature may waive taxes, fees and duties, but it cannot waive the State’s share in mining operations.”(emphasis his)

So how come the majority opinion didn’t see it his way?  A non-lawyer’s (but one who understands English) take:  it looked to me like a weaseling operation—the reason was that the MPSA wasn’t the issue at bar, but rather the FTAA, which is also provided for in RA 7942.

FTAA stands for Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement, where private companies act as contractors of the State (and in the particular case, a foreign private company, although it has since sold 60 percent of its shares to a Filipino company).   Presumably, the difference between the MPSA and the FTAA is that in the latter, it is the State that is directly exploiting the natural resource, but using the contractor and paying it a share of the income from the exploitation of the resource.

Well, does the government get its fair share under the FTAA?  Here is where Carpio goes to town.  He points out that the State doesn’t begin to get its share until after the contractor has fully recovered its pre-op, exploration and development expenditures—for which there is no time limit (!).  And then, the State’s share consists solely of taxes, fees and duties. Zero share of profits again, this time, says Carpio, because the conditions in the implementing rules and regulations (DAO 56-99) are impossible to fulfill (this in the dissenting opinion to the motion for reconsideration on the case).

What conditions?  Well  government will get an additional “share”  (to the taxes, etc), only if the contractor’s net income after tax amounts to more than 40 percent of gross output, for two successive years.  Carpio, using data from the six largest Philippine mining companies, shows that the highest net income after tax/gross output ratio was only 25 percent, with the average ratio being 16 percent over a nine-year period.

Carpio then cites data from the mother company of the FTAA contractor (average ratio of 10 percent), as well as the world’s largest mining companies (largest average ratio was 13 percent).  Clearly the 40-percent “trigger” will never be reached.

So who benefits?  Not the government. While the people are left to deal with a devastated land.

By Satur C. Ocampo

(The Philippine Star) Updated October 08, 2011 12:00 AM

The New People’s Army’s well-executed raids last Monday on three mining firms in Claver, Surigao del Norte  razing a smelting plant, 28 heavy equipment, 132 dump trucks and nine barges, but not physically harming or killing anyone  has provoked all kinds of reactions.

One good outcome: the incident spotlights the dire consequences of mining operations in the area since 1989 that should jolt the government, and the Supreme Court, into taking urgent positive action.

The policy of opening up the country to foreign mining firms needs rethinking, pronto.

Failure of the state security forces to stop the NPA attacks, which “dismayed” President Aquino, is a relatively minor issue. Beefing up security around the mines will not solve the problems that prompted the NPA attacks.

More compelling are the issues raised by the indigenous peoples and environmentalists against the mining companies  including the three that were raided: Taganito Mining Corp., Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp., and Platinum Group Metals Corp.

The companies are accused of: 1) degrading the environment, and 2) dispossessing the communities of their lands and water resources, ruining their cultural heritage, and withholding royalty fees due to them.

Raising the ante further, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, with whom the government is engaged in peace talks, vows to ban mining corporations “that destroy livelihood, the environment, and the aspirations for industrial development, and violate the rights and welfare of the indigenous peoples and the entire Filipino nation.” (The NDFP is pushing national industrialization, including mining policy, in the socio-economic reforms agenda at the negotiations scheduled in a few weeks in Oslo, Norway.)

Last May 30, the Tribal Coalition of Mindanao filed at the Supreme Court a petition for a “writ of kalikasan,” a novel judicial remedy initiated by then-Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno to aid people who are aggrieved by environmental degradation.

The petitioners urge the SC to issue a Temporary Environment Protection Order (stop mining operations) against TMC, PGMC, Oriental Synergy Mining Corp., Shenzhou Mining Group Corp., and Marcventures Mining Development Corporation. They charge these firms with “destroying and polluting (their) ancestral domain… by failing to provide proper siltation venues for their nickel mines, thereby irreversibly damaging marine resources, mangroves, corals and creating serious health risks… to the tribes and inhabitants of the provinces of Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur.”

As proof, the petitioners cite the UP Natural Science Research Institute finding that the water and soil samples taken from rivers and water systems near the mines contained nickel levels that far exceed the maximum acceptable level of nickel in drinking water set by the Department of Health and the Bureau of Food and Drug Administration.

The Supreme Court’s action on the urgent petition is anxiously awaited.

Leaders of the Mamanwa tribe in Claver, interviewed by the Philippine News Agency, affirm the “continuing injustice” their communities suffer because of the mining operations.

Datu Alfredo Olorico and Datu Totoy Bago lamented: “Our hope for peaceful living has gone. Our rivers that we used to fish and swim in and to irrigate our farms are gone… Our clean shores with crystal-clear waters… the forest, mountain springs that provided fresh potable water, all gone. What is left is harmful pollution and total environmental degradation.”

Overall chieftain Datu Heidi, holder of the Mamanwa ancestral domain claim, avers the mining firms have not paid P160 million in law-mandated royalty fees, representing one percent of their net income. From 1998-2010, the mining firms allegedly remitted only P43 million of the more than P200 million due to the communities.

Even the Internet provides evidence confirming the communities’ grievances.

Researcher-editor R. Luis Flores (user name @Liquid Druids) has blogged an incisively critical piece titled, “The Ugly Side of Surigao del Norte.” It encloses a Google Maps satellite image of Claver’s coastal mountain area with a strikingly reddish hue (which to me looks like a wide gaping wound). This is because, Flores points out, “the entire coastal mountain range is denuded of its forest cover.”

Having observed the area from a distance last September 22-24, Flores adds: “Claver supposedly has the largest iron mineral deposit in the world, and one can surmise that this denudation of the mountains is partly due to the mining activities that has gone on in the past years.”

He asks: Who should be called to account for allowing this to happen?

For good measure, Flores inserts a three-minute video on Barangay Taganito, taken from a moving vehicle last year and uploaded on YouTube by @taureanfate. It shows the denuded mountains, dump trucks running on the dusty road, and four ships (which load the nickel ore) docked at the pier. The note accompanying the video says: “The first time we passed this place, there were still a lot of ‘red mountains’ visible. The second time, almost everything was just flat and lifeless.”

In an update after the raids, Flores remarks: “While I’m no fan of the NPA (in fact I’m very much against it) I feel assured that there are at least people who are actively struggling against the environmental destruction, for whatever reason.”

Paging P-Noy: Take note and act fast.

by Haribon Foundation on Monday, October 10, 2011 at 9:11am
PRESS RELEASE
Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) Statement on the NPA Attacks in Taganito Mining Project
October 7, 2011

Alyansa Tigil Mina expresses its deep regrets and anguish to the resulting social disorder brought about by the NPA attacks to the Taganito Mining Project in Claver, Surigao del Norte. Beside the destruction of equipment and damaged structures, our alliance is disturbed that the communities in and around the mining site are the biggest losers in these unfortunate events.

ATM believes that challenging the Philippine government’s policy on revitalizing the mining industry as a misplaced priority, is a sound position. Our advocacy is based on the analysis that the political, environmental and social costs of large-scale mining far outweigh the economic benefits it claims.

We believe that active non-violence is one of the most effective way of pushing our messages, and we will continue our work using non-violent strategies. The lives and livelihoods of rural poor communities, especially indigenous peoples, remain to be the central element in our advocacy. Mining operations in the area formed the driving force resulting to severe environmental damage. The attack of the rebels was a response, for which they and only themselves will decide. Indigenous peoples in the surrounding areas were neither participants to the environmental genocide nor punitive NPA attacks. In both cases, the IPs bear the brunt of the impacts.

This incident reveals several flaws on the way the government is pursuing its mislaid policy on mining, as its reactions to the people’s struggles against mining is unconvincing. The initial responses from both the government and the mining industry are both over-reactive and ridiculous, bordering on disrespect.

Both are mistakes.

The event is a wake-up call to the Aquino government and the Philippine mining industry.

We caution the government in its reliance to sweeping and simplistic reactions to the incident. To respond with pure military power without addressing the social issues will only increase the tension and threaten the already fragile peace situation in the area. We believe that this incident must not compromise the peace negotiations. Militarization of the area must not be an option, and must be avoided.

The claim of the military that the attack was purely motivated by revolutionary taxes is almost a mockery. There are legitimate grievances, including consent, social acceptability, working conditions and environmental costs, that need to be addressed. We know that there is a pending case at the Supreme Court questioning the legality of this mining project. Claiming that extortion is the basis for the attacks is simplistic sidestepping of the issues, and a case of self-absolution.

To accuse insurgents and activists as anti-development because they thrive in poverty to swell their numbers, reflect an immature and irresponsible appreciation of the issues surrounding large-scale mining. The Chamber of Mines has a different view on development from the environmental and IP-support groups opposing mining operations. The roads to these development scenarios are as varied and divergent as the modes and strategies to combat poverty. But to put premium on their “view” of development as the correct path to development, mirror the narrow perspective of the miners.

It is understandable that the government and the mining industry will be concerned with investors’ confidence. We sincerely hope that the Aquino administration display the same eagerness in promoting and protecting the general welfare and sound environment of the communities being impacted by mining.

We also hope that the DENR will come out as strongly for the protection of key biodiversity areas and watersheds, as they have come out emphatically worried about the status of the mining industry after this incident. The DENR is coming out as a well-informed agency on how to utilize our mineral resources. We look forward to the day they also demonstrate heartfelt conviction to be the stewards of the earth that is also their other mandate.

We pray that the Dept. of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) will be as enthusiastic in recognizing and respecting local autonomy when LGUs decide to reject mining in their localities, with the same fervour they displayed in being concerned with the security of the mining companies and their executives.

We wish that the Dept. of Trade and Industry (DTI) will be equally concerned about genuinely producing a National Industrialization Plan, as it is gravely concerned about the impact of this attack to mineral trade and investments in the Philippines. Without this industrialization plan, the current rate of extraction and exportation of minerals is as irrational as the incentives and tax breaks given to mining companies.

We urge the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to conduct a fact-finding mission to determine the extent of human rights abuse that were perpetrated. For those responsible for abuses, they should be held accountable. In the same way that mining companies must be held accountable when they infringe on the rights of communities to move freely, access to water, self-determination and just compensation.

Finally, we challenge the national government and the Chamber of Mines to a national policy dialogue to discuss and confront the issues surrounding large-scale mining in the Philippines. We believe that a reasonable and sensible discussion is possible. But a dialogue will only be fruitful if there is honest resolve to find solutions, taking into account all perspectives, and not only from the mining industry. We have posed this challenge to then newly-appointed DENR Secretary last year. We are still waiting for an invitation.

Should the government fail to respond adequately and in a balanced way to this incident, we fear that local resistance to mining can only escalate.

In behalf of Alyansa Tigil Mina

Jaybee Garganera
ATM National Coordinator
nc@alyansatigilmina.net
(0927) 761.76.02 / 434.46.42

Signed by the ATM Council of Leaders and Core Group

Judy Pasimio
Legal Rights and Natural ResourcesCenter– Kasama sa Kalikasan/Friends of the Earth-Philippines
(LRC-KsK/FOE)

Nymia Pimentel-Simbulan
Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights)

Giovanni Reyes
Koalisyon ng Katutubong Samahan sa Pilipinas (KASAPI)

Tess Tabada
Visayan State University (VSU)

Miguel Magalang
Marinduque Council for Environmental Concerns (MACEC)

Fr. Edwin Gariguez
Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines- National Secretariat for Social Action (CBCP-NASSA)

Anabelle Plantilla
HARIBON Foundation

Dave de Vera
Philippine Association for Intercultural Development (PAFID)

Fr. Joy Peliño
Social Action Centre, Diocese of Marbel

by: Bebong Arreza

If there’s one food that’s close to being endemic to Cantilan, then it would probably be the kinilaw. All those sarsiado putajes – those swimming in sauce that they make a glooping sound when you ladle them on to your plate – are either imports from China, or imitations of Spanish cooking .

Kinilaw , on the other hand, is true-blue Cantilangnon cuisine , something which has been handed down through generations, that a kinilaw loving- gene has probably morphed in our DNA. It is a food that intertwines with our cultures, and captures who we are . If you want a gastronomic definition of what a Cantilangnon is , the kinilaw may come close it.

For example, if many are wondering why Cantilangnons are so passionate in their defense of the environment, they may find the answer in that dish.

You don’t burn fossil fuel or wood to prepare a fish kinilaw . Because it must be prepared fresh, then you need not refrigerate it . Hence, spared of the trip to the icebox, it will not consume a single watt of electricity . No other dish can boast of such green credential.

And because of this premium for freshness, then the fish to be “kilaw-ed” must be locally-sourced. Unlike Wagyu beef which must be flown halfway across the world, the kinilaw must jump from the fishpond to the plate, in minutes, not in weeks, in meters, not in miles.

It’s preparation likewise leaves a small carbon footprint . You don’t have to burn a forest of wood to cook it, the way lechons are roasted to cardiac perfection . Even the ingredients to accompany the raw fish are locally available . Basic kinilaw can be made out of two ‘S’ – suka and salt. Make it four ‘S’ – by adding ‘sibuyas and sili’ , then its perfect . Add balibajon and luj-a, then welcome to kinilaw Nirvana.

You also need no fancy gadgets to prepare it. You just need two. Slice the fish with sundangay, mix the four ‘S’ in a plate, then it’s done. Leave the Oysterizers to the Bobby Flays of this world. In kinilaw, the recipe can be summed up in six words : Have knife and plate , will kilaw .

Kinilaw also captures the Cantilangnon traits of dili kun buraho and mahinatagon . In kinilaw , you only prepare what you can eat at the moment . It is not humba that can be hoarded . It is not adobo that can be reheated. It is not a glutton’s food because if you overeat kinilaw your stomach will punish you for your greed.

Kinilaw is meant to shared and not be savored in solitude. The man who eats kinilaw alone is probably the loneliest in the world. Kinilaw is Cantilan’s original boodle fight food. It is a communal dish that you share with kith and kin. In fact, the joy in eating kinilaw is not in the tasting but in the sharing.

Kinilaw is Cantilan’s party food. You serve it and the feast will automatically follow. It loosens wine bottles ,and tongues too , for serving it heralds drinking and bakak-bakak. It is bonding food that is the predicate for drinking , the premise for singing, and the preamble for drinking.

Because kinilaw must be sourced nearby, then it necessitates the imperative to protect its source . The right to enjoy kinilaw carries it with the duty to protect and preserve the seas which yield this bounty. Kinilaw and bad ecological practices don’t mix. You don’t poison the fishpond nor pollute the seas. What motivates the intrepid fishermen of Ayoke to protect their seas ? Kinilaw . Haven’t you noticed that they and the rest of Cantilangnons measure environmental degradation in kinilaw terms : “Waya nay bolinao na makilaw., Nihit na an angsuhan na puyde kilawon”

The kinilaw allowed our ancestors to sail far and wide , nourishing them in their long journeys, as they traded with villages and , yes, occasionally raiding them too . It was the convenient food-on-the-go , needing no firewood to prepare and with the teeming source just under their boat’s hull. It was also probably the combat rations of the Bajujo-Calagdaan-Palasao bravehearts when they drove the Moros out of Tandag fort in the 1750s. It could be the reason that until today, “kinilaw “ is the ultimate trash talk to one’s opponent for no threat drips with much insult and sarcasm than “kilawon ko kaw !”

I hope that like our forefathers, kinilaw remains our comfort food in the years ahead .

Kilaw ta !

Early morning of October 3. Three barricades are set up by the rebels. At the first barricade, Baoy Bridge, about 7 kilometers from the site, the road is blocked by a dump truck and gravel.

At the second barricade, about 5 km from the site, various vehicles block the road while at the last barricade, about 2 km from the site, the road is dumped with materials.

9:00 a.m.  About 200 to 300 guerrillas of the NPA led by Ka Edron (son of George Madlos aka Ka Oris) attack  the Taganito Mining Corp. (TMC) compound in Barangay (village) Taganito. They are on two dump trucks, wearing fatigue and police uniforms, and armed with M-16 and AK-47 rifles.

The rebels also swoop down on the compound of Platinum Group Metals Corp. (PGMC) in nearby Barangay Cagdianao. They have other comrades posted on the mountain ridges.

Outnumbered, the company guards of both companies abandon their posts.

At the TMC compound, the rebels raise the communist flag atop the company flagpole and take away personal and company laptops, and cell phones of employees.

They herd all the people in the compound in an open area and burn down equipment and facilities.

TMC general manager Jose Anievas asks the NPA to release all other employees on the TMC site. Some 5,000 to 6,000 workers start to walk out of the area toward the town proper of Claver.

Edron and leaders take Anievas and his staff to the THPAL construction site to look for the company’s “strike force” (Sumitomo has a 12-member reaction team with high-powered firearms) but failed to locate it as the Sumitomo security manager hid it earlier.

Another group of NPA leaders talk to Japanese engineers from two Japanese firms in their quarters. They are left unharmed.

The NPA conduct an “indoctrination” session among the employees outside the TMC gate.

11:00 a.m.  Governor Sol Matugas convenes a crisis committee and is joined by Jake Miranda (representative for the Mindanao Business Sector)

1:00 p.m.  TMC administrative officer Rogel Cabatuan gets back his cell phone and calls Miranda who in turn gives the phone to Matugas.

Matugas talks to  Edron.

Edron requests a  halt in the military operations. Matugas agrees on the condition that  Edron release  all “hostages” (about 3,000 workers, including 100 Japanese nationals).

Matugas  tells the  “crisis team,” composed of  Miranda,  Provincial Administrator Ramon Gotinga and  Ireneo Piong to proceed to TMC.

3:00 p.m.  The team arrives in Claver and catches up with advancing Army units. The military asks for a written request to halt military operations.

4:00 p.m. Matugas and the crisis team completes coordination with the police and military, which agree to halt an offensive at the first barricade line.

Upon hearing from the crisis team that the military operations have been stopped, the NPA takes with them   three persons—Anievas,  Cabauatan and the TMC chief of the security on their way out. The NPA and the TMC executives are on board seven vehicles and proceed to Barangay Cabugo, Claver, in the north.

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo arrives in Surigao City and proceeds to the TMC compund.

The crisis team finally arrives at the TMC gate as the first government representatives to enter the area.

4:30 p.m. The rebels alight from the vehicles in Cabugo and release Anievas and two others who drive back to the TMC compound. There, Anievas and Robredo talk.

Efforts to put out the fires begin. Soon after, all fires were put under control.

The crisis team conducts an inventory of Japanese nationals in the area. Ramon Gotinga debriefs the Japanese.

7:45 p.m. All roads are cleared of traffic.  The crisis team finishes its preliminary information gathering.

Around 50 AFP/PNP personnel are still on foot patrol and clearing the road leading to TMC.

10:00 p.m.  AFP/PNP personnel finally arrive at TMC.

Source: Surigao del Norte local leaders

By Franklin A. Caliguid
Inquirer Mindanao

BUTUAN CITY—No one was killed in Monday’s raid by communist rebels on three mining facilities in Claver, Surigao del Norte province, according to a police official and a rebel spokesperson.

Superintendent Martin Gamba, spokesperson of the Caraga police, on Tuesday said that contrary to earlier reports,  all security guards at the companies of the Taganito Mining Corp. (TMC) that were raided, were safe and all accounted for.

“The three reported deaths were  not true when verified by the Claver town police,” Gamba told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone.

The supposed fatalities were initially reported by the Claver police chief, Senior Inspector Diomedes Cuadra, Claver Mayor Rosemarie Gokiangco and  Colonel Rodrigo Diapana, commander of the Army’s 402nd Infantry Brigade in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur province.

No resistance from guards

Jorge Madlos, spokesperson of the communist-led National Democratic Front in Mindanao, said the reports on the deaths came as a surprise because the New People’s Army guerrillas did not harm any  company guard.

Madlos said in a radio interview yesterday that the guards offered no resistance.

“As far as reports from our field commanders  are concerned, no company guard was killed or hurt during the raid,” Madlos said.

Gamba said the rebels late Monday freed the two remaining TMC officials they took hostage during the raid. He identified them as TMC group manager Rogel Cabauatan and company chief security officer, Rene Ferenal.

Earlier Monday, TMC resident manager Jose Anievas and another TMC official were also set free by the rebels.

Imbes kay mopanaw na kaw tana kay magduwa nan Bilin-bilin Nan Kawit, tagtawag na sab kaw ni Nanay nimo: Ibuyad an battery kay moayop na an radyo. Mamati ak naz-an nan Handumanan Sa Usa Ka Awit kay bagan gana ad-on na kaagi!

(kodak: jamactivewear.com)

By Dennis Santos, Franklin Caliguid
Inquirer Mindanao

BUTUAN CITY – Communist rebels late Monday freed the two remaining hostages they took following the simultaneous raids they staged on three mining companies in Claver, Surigao del Norte, police said Tuesday.

Superintendent Martin Gamba, spokesman of the Caraga police, did not identify the two freed hostages, who also works for Taganito Mining Corp. (TMC), but said they were unharmed.

Gamba said security had been tightened in Surigao del Norte as pursuit operations continued against the rebels.

As this developed, the National Democratic Front (NDF) said there would be more attacks against companies violating its “environmental policies.”

Jorge Madlos, NDF Mindanao spokesperson, said the simultaneous raids were not prompted by money but by the NPA’s enforcement of policies to protect the environment.

By Franklin A. Caliguid
Inquirer Mindanao

BUTUAN CITY—Some 300 New People’s Army guerrillas staged coordinated raids on three mines operating in Claver, Surigao del Norte province, on Monday, killing three security guards.

The communist rebels burned down 10 dump trucks, eight backhoes, two barges and a guest house, according to police and military officials. The rebels also seized several guns from private security guards and smashed computers in offices.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which is currently holding peace talks with the Aquino administration.

The military said the refusal of Taganito Mining Corp. (TMC), Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp. and Platinum Group Metals Corp. (PGMC) to give in to the NPA demand for a revolutionary tax prompted the attacks.

In Malacañang, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa said “this incident is an isolated case and the business community and the public can be assured that the government is on top of the situation, and that this will not deter this administration from luring investors into the country.”

“The situation in the area has been contained,” Ochoa said. “We are now exerting efforts to ensure that those responsible for these attacks are brought to justice.”

Days earlier, a rebel leader called for the dismantling of mining operations that wreak havoc on the environment and displace indigenous communities.

TMC and PGMC are among the country’s leading exporters of nickel ore to Japan, China and Australia.

TMC is owned by Nickel Asia Corp., the Philippines’ largest nickel producer with Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. as its partner. Taganito HPAL is a sister company of TMC.

In June, Nickel Asia said its sales volumes were likely to increase about 20 percent this year, with about 60 percent of output going to China. The company was looking to sell about 10 million tons of ore this year, topping last year’s record of 8.3 million tons.

Guards outnumbered

Some 300 rebels, wearing police uniforms and on several dump trucks, simultaneously swooped down on the compounds of TMC in Barangay (village) Taganito and PGMC, in nearby Barangay Cagdianao, at 10 a.m., according to a police spokesperson in the Caraga Region.

Superintendent Martin Gamba said company guards of TMC and PGMC were outnumbered and were forced to abandon their posts.

In the TMC raid, Gamba said the rebels set on fire the firm’s administrative office, several dump trucks and mining equipment.

Killed were three TMC security guards, said Colonel Rodrigo Diapana, commander of the Army’s 402nd Infantry Brigade based in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur province.

4 taken hostage

Gamba said the rebels also seized four people, including Jose Anievas, the resident manager of TMC.

Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Rafal, the police chief of Caraga, said the rebels, some wearing military uniforms, seized three TMC  officials at roadblocks, using them to gain entry into the mining sites.

After disarming private security guards at the site, the rebels herded all the people in an open area and burned down equipment and facilities, Rafal said.

Another group of rebels attacked the nearby PGMC also in Claver town. Three hours later, another mine site operated by Taganito HPAL,  was also attacked by rebels.

Three barges bombed

Before retreating, the rebels bombed three barges docked at the TMC wharf.

As of press time, Gamba said the police had yet to assess the extent of damage on the nearby PGMC area, citing continued skirmishes between pursuing troops and the rebels.

Hours later, the rebels freed two of the hostages as military and police authorities continued to pursue them.

Gamba said one of those freed was Anievas. He did not identify the other freed hostage.

The police spokesperson said two more people, including the TMC chief security, remained in captivity.

20 Japanese unharmed

None of the 20 Japanese working for a joint-project between TMC and Sumitomo were harmed during the raid, according to Gamba. The Japanese live on the same compound that the rebels raided in Taganito village.

In Camp Aguinaldo, a military spokesperson said the attacks in Surigao del Norte were extortion-related.

“The New People’s Army is already losing mass-base support so it uses force or coercion to get financial support. That’s why this happened,” said Colonel Arnulfo Burgos Jr., public affairs chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Soft targets

Burgos considered mining firms and other private businesses “soft targets” for the NPA.

The attacks came days after the spokesperson of the National Democratic Front in Mindanao called on the NPA to dismantle “environmentally exploitative and destructive large-scale mining companies” operating in Caraga.

Jorge Madlos alias Ka Oris said the Aquino administration’s failure to protect the environment was displacing indigenous communities and was causing  massive environmental havoc.

“The revolutionary movement shall continue to uphold and to carry our national policy of banning and dismantling large-scale mining, logging and agribusiness companies with a track record of violating revolutionary policies,” Madlos said in a statement.

Irregularities, lumad

The mining operations of TMC and PGMC in the hinterlands of Claver were marred with controversies amid alleged irregularities in the acquisition of mine permits, displacements of “lumad” (indigenous people) communities and environmental destruction.

In May, the Tribal Coalition of Mindanao Inc. (Tricom) asked the Supreme Court to cancel mining permits, licenses and agreements granted to TMC, PGMC and three other mining firms over supposed spurious tribal consent documents in securing licenses and permits.

Clashes

Tribal communities also alleged that open-pit mines operated by the firms posed danger to the environment and health of the lumad communities in Claver.

Sporadic clashes between soldiers and communist rebels were  reported in Claver and adjacent towns of Gigacuit and Bacuag as government troops pursued the rebels.

No casualties have been reported from the clashes, according to Diapana.

“More troops have been deployed as part of our relentless pursuit operations against the rebels,” he said.  With reports from Dona Z. Pazzibugan in Manila and Reuters

The Philippines is building a new kind of army.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has announced that it needs a green army composed of “hundreds” of forestry graduates to supervise the reforestation of the country’s 8 million hectares of denuded forest land.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said the DENR would draft graduates of forestry schools to ensure the success of the Aquino administration’s National Greening Program (NGP).

“The department, beginning next year, will hire hundreds of foresters,” Paje said at an annual meeting of over 1,500 Filipino foresters. “I will hire new foresters to evaluate plantations and ensure 80 percent survival rate on these plantations.”

Assistant Secretary Marlo Mendoza, the DENR official in charge of the greening program, said the department expected to hire 400 to 500 new foresters in the next five years.

“Under the NGP, there will be a massive reforestation of our denuded uplands. We need foresters and technical people to make things happen on the ground,” Mendoza said.

Massive reforestation

The Philippines’ forests are among the most threatened in the world. The Conservation International recently said years of logging and invasive human activities had degraded millions of hectares of forests in the country.

The NGP seeks to reverse the situation by replanting some 1.5 billion trees on 1.5 million hectares of government-selected lots from this year until 2016.

By launching a massive reforestation campaign, the government aims to rejuvenate the economy in rural areas, reduce poverty, promote  food security and environmental stability, conserve biodiversity, and enhance the country’s climate change mitigation and adaptation program.

Among the areas targeted for planting are forest lands, mangroves and protected areas, ancestral domains, civil and military reservations, urban areas under the greening plan of local government units, inactive and abandoned mines and other suitable lands.

‘Planting is easy’

On September 26, the second anniversary of Tropical Storm “Ondoy,” Paje announced the reforestation of the Marikina watershed to increase its capacity to carry rainwater, which would mitigate the flooding in the low-lying cities.

The DENR and the mayors of the cities and towns surrounding the watershed promised to plant 5 million seedlings over 10,000 hectares of the watershed from this year up to 2016.

Mendoza said the department needed people who could apply scientific knowledge on the ground. They must know the best kinds of species to plant in certain areas and how to ensure their survival in the face of extreme weather and infestations, he said.

“Planting trees is easy, but taking care of it is difficult,” he said.

1.5 billion seedlings

Aside from making sure that the seedlings survive, the new breed of foresters will also be responsible for establishing nurseries.

Mendoza said the DENR planned to build tree nurseries in 10 agriforestry schools nationwide to fill the demand for the reforestation project. The DENR has alloted P35 million for the building of nurseries nationwide.

The government needs from 750 million to 1.5 billion seedlings for the greening program, Mendoza said.

The DENR wants to plant indigenous and endemic trees in protected forests. It also wants foresters to tend to fast growing trees in plantation zones, which would provide more revenues to the government.

Fruit-bearing trees and species ideal for urban greening are also part of the reforestation plan, Mendoza said

By Kristine L. Alave
Philippine Daily Inquirer