TVIRD’s State-of-the-Mine Address draws praises from employees, LGU officials
Sundays are always special for Sebastian “Ateng” Agabon. A Bobcat and crane operator for the Canatuan Copper-Zinc mining operations of TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc. (TVIRD) for several years now, Ateng sees Sundays as his date with his Creator. He is happy in his role as a guitarist in the “dry mass”, attended by his fellow employees and celebrated by lay ministers – also TVIRD employees – of the Roman Catholic Church, at the small makeshift chapel within the mine site.
The fourth Sunday of last October made Ateng doubly happy. He and the rest of the more than one hundred Maintenance Department personnel were among the first to attend the State-of-the-Mine Address (SOMA). The SOMA is a quarterly meeting of TVIRD Canatuan employees usually presided over by the company Vice President for Philippine Operations, Yulo Perez, who provides a report on the mine’s performance. Ateng’s experience has it that in every SOMA, issues and concerns raised by employees in the previous meeting will be discussed, usually already with answers or resolutions. Usually, too, there are announcements that make employees happy. Thus, everybody is more than eager to listen.
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TVIRD Vice President Yulo Perez (top left photo) has been conducting the SOMA since 2006. Since then, the SOMA has become a much-awaited activity of the company’s Canatuan employees, who can freely exchange ideas and information with TVIRD officials in an atmosphere of open communication and in a constructive manner.
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The quarterly SOMA has been practiced by TVIRD in Canatuan since 2006. Perez, then the facility’s General Manager, thought that by providing a venue where company officials and employees can freely exchange ideas and information in an atmosphere of open communication and in a constructive manner, both management and rank-and-file personnel can seek solutions to problems, and build on successes and best practices, together.
TVIRD also holds SOMAs for the host community, particularly with the tribal leaders, as well as for local government officials of Siocon, the company’s host municipality in Zamboanga del Norte, Southern Philippines.
“During the SOMA for employees, the concerns of the lowest-ranking member of our workforce can be heard,” Perez says. “This is not to say that they are heard only during the SOMA. This activity, however, is specially structured in a way that employees are given the time to ventilate their concerns to – even grievances against – the company in a group setup, where they are more likely to have the courage to speak up.
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An excellent communicator, Perez never fails to draw the attention of his listeners, whether they’re employees or officials of the host local government unit. “SOMA is an important component of TVIRD’s continuing business literacy education program. It is where employees and management as well as the company and the community meet and share each other’s sentiments in the context of the overall business performance,” Perez says.
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“The SOMA seeks to promote pride among our employees; to make them feel that they are really the ones who make – or can break – the company. We also want to encourage individual employees to relate their work or accomplishments to the company’s performance so that they have a clearer understanding of their place and the importance of the roles they play in the organization. If, for instance, we had a good safety record during the previous quarter, or our production performance was excellent, it is clear that all these happened because our employees, their supervisors and the management team did their jobs well.”
Florence Guinagag, Fire Assayer of the Assay Laboratory Department and a member of the company’s host Subanon tribe, was profuse in his praise for TVIRD for holding the SOMA regularly: “The activity makes our company distinct from other private companies operating in Mindanao. With the SOMA, employees like me are informed of everything that is happening within the company. We are informed of TVIRD Canatuan’s financial performance – including quarterly gross income and expenditure – as well as production and safety performance. We also know the company’s projects for employees and host communities, its performance on environmental protection, and its direction for the following quarter. SOMA’s significance also lies in the time given to us to express our concerns with the end view of improving the delivery of basic services to employees, as management and employees listen to each other. I think this is the very reason why our Management team always enjoys the support of employees in meeting the objectives it sets for the coming quarter.”
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Above, Siocon Acting Vice Mayor Julius Lobrigas and below, TVIRD Canatuan Bobcat and crane operator Ateng Agabon are all praises for the company for holding the SOMA regularly. “With the SOMA, my co-workers and I will always be reminded that along with the benefits that we are enjoying as employees are responsibilities that should be taken seriously,” Agabon says.
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For his part, Siocon’s Acting Vice Mayor Julius Lobrigas, the presiding officer of the Municipal Council during TVIRD’s last SOMA for officials of the local government unit, has nothing but appreciation for the company’s holding of the regular information-sharing activity. “We are able to know if TVIRD is paying us properly and on time with its real property tax and other local taxes, which adds to the local government coffers. We are also thankful of the excise and income taxes that TVIRD pays to the national government. Our municipality also has a share on these excise taxes based on the Internal Revenue Code.”
Lobrigas also was also elated upon learning through the SOMA that the company makes the people of Siocon its priority in the hiring of employees. “This partly solves our town’s unemployment problem. Indeed, we are not wanting of accurate information because of the SOMA. With it we get to know about the company’s community projects, such as the regular medical missions it conducts in several Siocon barangays, the scholarship program for children of our constituents, and even the infrastructure projects like the construction of the two-kilometer Busicong Access Road that gave our town’s electric cooperative the opportunity to install power generation facilities in areas populated by our Muslim brothers and sisters.”
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TVIRD Canatuan Fire Assayer Francisco Guinagag says “SOMA’s significance also lies in the time given to us to express our concerns with the end view of improving the delivery of basic services to employees, as management and employees listen to each other. I think this is the very reason why our Management team always enjoys the support of employees in meeting the objectives it sets for the coming quarter.”
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“SOMA is an important component of TVIRD’s continuing business literacy education program. It is where employees and management as well as the company and the community meet and share each other’s sentiments in the context of the overall business performance,” Perez says. “This is in keeping with our Transparency Policy, an integral part of TVIRD’s management philosophy. With this Policy, TVIRD affirms its commitment to be more responsive to the increasing demand from all sectors of society for information and accountability regarding the Company’s goals, activities and results of its business.”
“I wish our SOMA will continue as a means of keeping communication lines open between the company and its employees,” says Ateng. “With the SOMA, my co-workers and I will always be reminded that along with the benefits that we are enjoying as employees are responsibilities that should be taken seriously. After all, our aspirations and those of the company are intertwined.”
Lobrigas adds: “The SOMA opened our eyes to the reality that mining can propel economic development in an area, in the process uplifting the condition of its inhabitants – in this case our Subanon brethren. But, mining should be consistently done in a responsible manner. Development is nothing if the environment is sacrificed. While mining is ongoing in Canatuan, I always encourage our constituents to be ever watchful.” The SOMA, he concludes, underscores TVIRD’s sincerity in keeping the citizens of Siocon – residents or employees alike – well informed. (Lullie Micabalo)
