TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc. (TVIRD) and the Philippine government
have agreed to turn over to a private agency and the Philippine National Police
(PNP) the protection and security of the company and its host community in Canatuan,
Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte – functions currently being handled by a Special
Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) Active Auxillary or SCAA, which
is under the control of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
The move is seen as a major step in the civilianization of security and peacemaking in Zamboanga Peninsula, a post-conflict zone in Southern Mindanao.
The detailed plans for the conversion, in which TVIRD and the Government are working
together to bring to, and/or extend government services in a remote Zamboanga
community, was communicated jointly to the community in a meeting on August 2,
involving Secretary Jesus Dureza, Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process,
AFP Western Mindanao Command Chief Major General Eugenio Cedo, and TVIRD President
Eugene Mateo.
The formal turnover will take effect on January 1, 2008, the day after TVIRD terminates
its Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the AFP for the maintenance of peace and
order in Canatuan where the company operates a gold and silver mine. From then
on, security in Canatuan will be handled by a private security agency, supported
by an allied services firm, as well as by a permanent Philippine National Police
(PNP) detachment. The private security company will be associated with TVIRD as
one of the TVIRD group of companies, but operate under the supervision of the
PNP.
“The extension of the PNP jurisdiction to Canatuan for the first time will
bring civilian police protection to the Subanon indigenous people so as to take
land use and other conflicts into the normal resolution processes,” Secretary
Jesus Dureza, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, said.
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Secretary Jesus Dureza (extreme right), Presidential Assistant for the Peace Process, said that with the turnover, TVIRD will be able continue its economic and social development initiatives for the Subanons, unhampered by unwarranted accusations of militarization.
“All these are a welcome development in President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's
program of pursuing peace in Mindanao. With the assumption of a private agency
of the security function in Canatuan from the AFP, the SCAA unit currently assigned
in that area can be commissioned elsewhere to continue its peacemaking mission.
Meanwhile, TVIRD will be able to continue its economic and social development
initiatives for the Subanons, unhampered by unwarranted accusations of militarization,“
Dureza added.
“Since the deployment of SCAA forces in 2002, the people in Canatuan have
been enjoying the benefits of peace and security, but under a military umbrella,”
explained Atty Eugene Mateo, TVIRD President. “However, both TVIRD and the
Government believe that the economic development brought by the Canatuan mining
project, coupled with our joint efforts to extend Government services to an area
previously underrepresented, now enable us to demilitarize security and assist
in normalizing the previously conflict affected community.”
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Engr. Carlos Boteros, Labor Department Regional Director for Zamboanga Peninsula, through representative Atty. Orlando Bernardino (extreme right) noted that the turnover of the task of securing TVIRD's Canatuan Project and its host community in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte from AFP to a private security agency and the Philippine National Police is lawful and favorable to the security personnel.
Added Feliece Yeban, TVIRD Vice President for Social Commitments: “This
conversion is also linked to our human rights initiatives. No one, anywhere, likes
a situation where the use of a military auxiliary unit is required to secure an
area. Predictably, some elements of the SCAA have, in fact, been accused of human
rights violations in the conduct of their duties. We have conducted human rights
training for the SCAA personnel, and we have done our best to ensure proper conduct
by the SCAA even when they are being deliberately provoked by confrontational
individuals and organizations linked to the illegal mining operations of the past.
But ultimately, we and the Government and Civil Society all believe that social
progress involves the establishment of civilian processes, including police and
justice institutions, in all parts of our country.”
After two ambush incidents occurred near its project site on March 13, 2002 and
December 26, 2002 that resulted in the death of 15 and injuries to TVIRD personnel
and their relatives, mostly Subanon, TVIRD and the Government believed that deployment
of SCAA security was necessary for the company to protect itself, its employees,
and its community from criminal and terrorist elements who threaten to harm not
only the company’s physical assets but, more importantly, its on-site personnel.
TVI has invested more than $25 million in developing the Canatuan gold-silver
project TVIRD and is currently investing an additional $23 million for its copper-zinc
expansion project, expected to be operational within the first half of 2008.
SCAA units were established under the auspices of Section 4, Article XVI of the
1987 Philippine Constitution, following former President Corazon Aquino’s
Executive Order 264 and its subsequent Implementing Rules and Regulations. More
than half of the SCAA elements in Canatuan are Subanons themselves.
“To avoid the displacement of the SCAA personnel currently assigned in Canatuan,
they are welcome to join the companies that will assume their SCAA functions,”
Yeban pointed out.
TVIRD holds a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement with the government covering
some 508 hectares within the Canatuan ancestral domain of Subanon indigenous peoples.
(ENDS)