Bayog Officials Get a Glimpse of the Future

And they like what they see!

Despite the fact it was their very first meeting, anyone who witnessed how they bid each other goodbye when the meeting ended would think that these people had known each other for many years. Officials of Bayog town, in Zamboanga del Sur Province, Mindanao, which is the host municipality to TVIRD’s Balabag Gold Project, and the company’s management and staff in Canatuan, were full of conviction as they forged a partnership to implement community development projects that will benefit the Bayog community, 60% of whom are Subanon Indigenous People.

The government delegation went home with high hopes that the progress they saw in Canatuan will be duplicated in Bayog as the company presses forward with its exploration activities in the sub-village of Depore in the said municipality.

A total of 94 people, led by Bayog’s chief executive Mayor Leonardo Babasa, Jr., and his delegation participated in the mine tour to see for themselves the company’s facilities and operations. The mine tour is a program of the company that is part of its ‘open door’ policy to inform people about the responsible practices of one of the most misunderstood industries in the Philippines.

The officials of Bayog, who were invited to tour the mine site by TVIRD’s Community Relations and Development Office (CreDO) were interested in seeing the benefits that responsible mining brings to the community, specifically, how much the environment is protected and how the laws that protect the rights of its gracious Subanon hosts are implemented. Included with the mayor were his chiefs of offices and their staff.

TVIRD has been operating in Canatuan village, Northeast of Siocon town since mid 2004, first mining gold and silver and currently, copper and zinc. The operations are located entirely within the ancestral lands of the Subanon people, who form the largest tribe among the various indigenous peoples within the Zamboanga Peninsula.

Bayog, which is located in the Northern part of Zamboanga del Sur, is a farming community and one of the top rice producing areas within the Province. Nearly 4.5 metric tons of rice per hectare are produced annually within the 1,351 hectares of fully irrigated rice lands. It is part of the ‘cluster of 7’ municipalities known for being the Province’s top rice producers owing to its fertile soil and reliable irrigation system. Ms. Nora Paredes, municipal agriculturist, was interested in finding out whether mining and farming go together. She learned that the municipality of Siocon – just like Bayog – has extensive rice farming lands downstream of Canatuan, and the productivity of the farms has continued to excel. The Siocon area is also known as one of the top rice producers within the Zamboanga Peninsula.

Bayog is also rich in other natural resources, proof of which is the fact that four mining companies are applying to operate within the municipality, according to Mayor Babasa. TVIRD plans to develop a gold-silver mine in Balabag.

Mayor Babasa and his delegation were impressed with the neatly benched mine pit as well as the Sulphide Dam and Impoundment used to store the mill process tailings. Built in a valley, the TVIRD engineering crew, headed by Engr. Ed Nercuit, is currently raising the dam to further increase the impoundment storage capacity.

“The project is an expansion of the dam’s embankment so it can accommodate a higher volume of tailings from the Process Plant. The Stage 4 “lift”, or raising of the dam will bring it to its final height and dimensions,” says Engr. Shaun Persaud of Knight Piesold, an international consulting company providing engineering design, construction and Quality Assurance /Quality Control services for the tailings management program. Persaud oversees the implementation of the project that he estimated to be completed 1st quarter of 2012.

“When Stage 4 is completed, the dam will be able to accommodate 4.4 million tons of tailings from the plant and sediment from the upstream watershed. All the plans and construction have been reviewed by the Environment Management Bureau and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau as part of the Environmental Compliance Certificate and the Minerals Processing Permit,” added Nilda Callora, Environment Department manager.

Following their visit to the mine area and the tailings storage facility, the officials also toured the nurseries of both the Community Relations and Development Office (CreDO) and Environment Department. The mayor was impressed with potted seedlings of rubber trees, fruit trees and wildlings of natural grown trees. “TVIRD is really into responsible mining, I hope they can operate immediately in Balabag,” said the Mayor enthusiastically to his entourage.

Engr. Cirilo Carcueva, head of the Office of Barangay Affairs and the concurrent Municipal Employment Officer commended TVIRD for its adherence to the law against the employment of children. He was referring to the sad practice of employing children done by the small-scale miners in Balabag.

“It is clear to us your employees are well taken care of. You are following our laws on Occupational Health and Safety,” he says.

An emotional Judy Generoso, a member of the delegation who grew up in Balabag, asked what the company’s plans are for the abanteros or laborers, who work for big operators and financiers of small scale miners. “They are human beings too,” she said as she asked the question to the management. Yulo Perez, Chief Operating Officer and Vice President for Operations assured her that the commitment of the company is to extend livelihood to them to the fullest extent possible.

“If a development plan is approved by both the Company and the Government, our short term plan would be to buy their ore. We would offer employment to those who are employable and develop an attractive resettlement program for others.” Perez also informed the officials that the Company’s policy is to give priority to qualified local residents. “The longer-term plan is to offer alternative livelihood. Currently, we are in the process of identifying what livelihood to extend, by way of survey,” Perez told the delegation. In adherence to the Mining Act, the company will give priority to the locals during hiring of employees.

Buying of ores already stockpiled would be very much a part of TVIRD’s clean-up drive in Balabag before the start of the mining operation. Prior to operating the mine In Canatuan, a year-long clean-up drive was launched to remove and process the contaminated tailings and toxic chemicals left behind by the small-scale miners’ use of mercury and cyanide during their regime in Canatuan from early 90’s up to early 2000’s.

As to the question of the municipal budget officer on when TVIRD will pay its taxes due to the government, Perez assured the group that taxes will always be paid to the full amount due, and in accordance with the law and its timelines.

When asked why she saw ‘benching’ at the mine pit and dam areas, Engr. Pete Remoto, Mines Department manager, explained to Melly G. Madamba, municipal budget officer, “That is an engineering design to prevent erosion of soil. It is more expensive but we’re doing it to protect the downstream river environment and for our brothers living downstream.”

“This is the advantage of organized mining. There are regulatory bodies that monitor us. Here, everything is checked and monitored. We cannot operate without complying with the laws. The Multipartite Monitoring Team (MMT) comprising the Local Government Units, non-government organizations, indigenous people, Environment Management Bureau (EMB), Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), and church based organizations check the quality of waters discharged from our tailings facilities and the surrounding bodies of water within and outside the mine site. We operate safely and protect the environment as required by the regulatory agencies,” adds Perez.

“That is true”, Bonifacio Patoh, former barangay chairman of Tabayo, the host barangay confirms Perez’s claim. “TVIRD brought us development. It constructed our schools, our Clinic and the road that connected our barangay to the town center. This is why we don’t want the company to leave us even if it develops a mine in your town,” he adds.

General Manager Ely Valmores, candidly answered Virgilio Zamora, the mayor’s executive assistant, who asked the question if the provincial road that will link Bayog and Balabag, is for free. “Libre yan,” (It’s free) he says.

Perez assured the local government that there is no truth to the allegation that commuters and farmers will have difficulty in using the road because of checkpoints that will be put up by the company.

“It is not true. We do not have the right to do so. Like here, whenever there is checking made by our security, it is done for the safety of our community,” he says.

“Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to tour the mine facility. Thank you too for the warm welcome and the good food offered to us,” Babasa said.

The Bayog delegation was the largest to visit TVIRD’s mine site in Canatuan since it started the program in 2007. Like other delegations who have visited before, they went home convinced that indeed mining is a catalyst to propel progress in the countryside. That mining, if done responsibly, will help solve poverty and unemployment without sacrificing the environment, the ancestral lands or future of the highland people. (Lullie A. Micabalo)