Micro-entrepreneurs reap benefits of development in remote mountain village
motorcycle loaded with iceboxes full of fish, unmindful of the cold wind biting
on his rain-soaked body. On sunny days, he takes the same roads, dusty this
time, that lead him to several mountain villages of R.T. Lim and Siocon towns.
The weather does not matter to fish peddler Roderick Salazar. What is important
for him is to be able to bring fresh fish to his waiting patrons.
Salazar is among the many small-scale entrepreneurs who are
able to make a living in Canatuan. This ancestral domain of the Subanon indigenous
people has been teeming with economic activity since mid-2004 when it began
hosting the mining operations of TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc.
(TVIRD). The company has provided employment and livelihood opportunities and
socio-economic development programs to hundreds of people in and around its
operations.
|
Fish
on wheels. Roderick Salazar is one of the many small entrepreneurs who find the thriving community of Canatuan a reliable income source for their families. |
Canatuan has become the haven of small entrepreneurs who find
the thriving community a reliable income source for their families. Their regular
customers are TVIRD employees and equipment contractors who have steady income.
Gerry Marcellana, manager of the company’s Human Resources and Administration
Department, says TVIRD currently employs more than 700 people, many of them
Subanons. The contractors helping the company build its production and support
facilities for the Sulphide Project, the second phase of its operations here,
have more than 200 people working in the area. “This makes TVIRD the largest
employer from the private sector in Siocon and the province of Zamboanga del
Norte,” he says.
“Our regular customers are company staff and employees
from contractors like Monark, MSKS, CRS, KTHS and others,” says Joy Gonzaga,
a sari-sari (variety) store-owner and fish vendor herself. “We allow them
to buy goods on credit because all of them pay on time.” Monark is TVIRD’s
heavy equipment contractor, while the rest provide dump trucks for hauling.
|
Joy
(middle) and her husband and namesake (left) have a thriving variety store and fish business that cater to employees of both TVIRD and its contractors. “We allow them to buy goods on credit because all of them pay on time,” she says. |
Gonzaga, whose husband was a former small-scale miner, manages
the family business. Now a supporter of large-scale mining, the Gonzaga couple
owns a few hectares of rubber and coconut farm. They were able to purchase the
property after TVIRD provided them just compensation for their crops and shanty,
which were affected by the company’s mining activities.
Ely Pacatang was a housewife more than two years ago until
she put up her small variety store that sells milk, salt, cooking oil, vegetables,
dried fish, rice, and bread to her neighbors, many of whom are employees of
the company. She also provides cellular phone e-load to employees, especially
those who are not from the area and are only too happy to stay connected with
their loved ones. Because of TVIRD’s presence, a major telecommunications
firm set up a transmitter in the area. “The income I get from my store
has enabled me to save money for the future, particularly when my husband has
become old and it’s time for him to retire from being a school bus driver
for the company,” she says.
The Sibugay Provincial road that connects R.T. Lim town in
adjacent Zamboanga Sibugay province to Canatuan is a “come on” to
entrepreneurs like Salazar and other vendors, including bread suppliers like
Jonaldo Alabastro and Dolphing Jumawan, both from RT Lim.
|
Fish
vendors galore. Fidela Gutoman (above, far left) and Rene Sumatra (below) are among the many fish suppliers in Canatuan. In remote highland communities like this, fish is a much sought after commodity. |
“If not for this business, my father would not have been
able to send my sister to college,” says Alabastro. “My three other
siblings are studying in elementary and high school, too, also made possible
through the income we earn from selling bread in Canatuan.”
Canatuan has eateries, variety stores, and videoke bars for
those who want to unwind after a day’s work, all owned by budding businessmen
in the village.
“The presence of these entrepreneurs is a must since
they supply for the basic needs of our employees,” Marcellana adds. “In
addition, the videoke bars provide a venue for our employees to chase the stress
away through singing – a favorite pastime of music-loving Filipinos –
from 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm.”
Sebastian Agabon, a TVIRD Maintenance Department employee,
is glad that there are fish peddlers in Canatuan. “I love to eat fish
for lunch, especially when I am on the night shift. Fish cooked with vegetables
is good for the health.”
|
TVIRD
Canatuan Human Resources Manager Gerry Marcellana says that with its over 700 staff members and more than 200 contractors working on its Sulphide Project, TVIRD is the largest employer from the private sector in Siocon and the province of Zamboanga del Norte. |
Bus owners Cirilo Dumasapal and Sabino Gallo say the presence
of TVIRD in Canatuan is advantageous to their business as well as to their passengers.
The Sibugay Provincial road and the Siocon-Canatuan road, which TVIRD has taken
upon itself to regularly maintain, have saved the bus owners a considerable
amount of money in terms of spare parts and fuel costs. Commuters, meanwhile,
also benefit in terms of greater mobility and accessibility to urban areas,
the centers of entertainment as well as trade and commerce. Many of the commuters
are TVIRD employees and contractors, as well as members of their families. The
Dindo buses owned by Dumasapal and Gallo Lines owned by Gallo ply the Siocon-Canatuan-RT
Lim-Zamboanga City and the Siocon-Canatuan-Ipil-Dipolog City routes.
Aside from Salazar, other fish vendors plying their trade in
Canatuan are Rene Sumatra, also from RT Lim; Fidela Gutoman from Canatuan; Ito
Pangilisan from Siocon; and Jubael Mussadin, from Siocon town proper. Mussadin,
president of the Fish Vendors Association of Siocon and a Muslim, supplies fresh
tuna, white squid, blue marlin, and prawns to TVIRD’s Mess Hall every
week. According to Flor Bade, Mess Hall purchaser, she buys 60 to 70 kilos of
seafood from Mussadin.
|
Jubael
Mussadin and wife. “While it is true that not everybody will have the chance to be employed by TVIRD, people can still earn through goods that the mining company purchases from businessmen like me.” |
“This is one of the benefits of mining,” Mussadin
says. “While it is true that not everybody will have the chance to be
employed by TVIRD, people can still earn through goods that the mining company
purchases from businessmen like me.” As such, he is able to send his eldest
daughter, Radznali, to nursing school in one of the colleges in Dipolog City,
the provincial capital of Zamboanga del Norte.
Sumatra and Pangilisan agree. They say their income from selling
fish is sometimes far better than employees of local government units in some
towns of the province.
Gutoman, a mother of four, helps augment the salary of her
husband, a security worker, also by selling fish. “I have to help him
because it is difficult if there is only one earning in the family. This is
why I sell bangus (milkfish), among others,” she says.
|
These
businessmen recognize the benefits they and their families receive as a result of the development brought about by TVIRD’s presence. For Mussadin, their businesses may be small, but they sure are decent and profitable. |
The municipal government of Siocon gets to have a share of
the business pie, too – in terms of fees for business permits that entrepreneurs
are required to secure before they are allowed to do their trade, says Bonifacio
Patoh, chair of Tabayo, the barangay that encompasses Canatuan. The entrepreneurs
are also required to get sanitary permits from the Municipal Health Office.
“They also pay certain fees for that,” Patoh adds.
Indeed, business is the engine of growth. In Canatuan, mining
has spurred the growth of other businesses. With its commitment to sustainable
development through responsible mining, TVIRD hopes to see this growth continue
long after the company has left Canatuan. (Lullie Micabalo)