A feature on the Multi-Partite Monitoring Team’s stewardship over the Canatuan Project
Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte / March 2014 – Since 2004, Timuay (Chieftain) Erdulfo Comisas has been a Subanon representative and member of the Multi-Partite Monitoring Team (MMT) assigned to the Canatuan Project of TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc. (TVIRD). When asked if he is willing to be part of the team again, Comisas said he will not hesitate in rejoining the monitoring body if the government invites him for TVIRD’s next project in the Subanon tribe’s ancestral lands in Siocon town, Zamboanga del Norte.
Comisas was once critical of the extractive industry. On the one hand, he wanted the development of his homeland and tribe. On the other hand, he feared that mining might devastate their environment. That was over ten years ago.
Today, the chieftain actively supports responsible mining practices and the wider participation of stakeholders in an area that attributes its economic development to mining. These are achieved through MMT, which includes representatives from the host municipality of Siocon, the host barangay, the indigenous community, as well as national and local governments and concerned agencies.
Recounting the MMT mandate
“Being the indigenous people’s representative on the MMT, I saw that TVIRD has religiously complied with conditions set by its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC),” Comisas declared, citing that the group is organized to ensure that a mining company adheres to specified environmental standards.
Also part of the group are representatives of the local farmers’ organization, the DENR’s Environment Management Bureau (EMB) and Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), the Department of Health (DOH), and the local governments of Siocon and Barangay Tabayo.
“We monitored the quality of the water in and around Canatuan and the waters downstream Siocon, including Pisawak and Lituban rivers – two of the municipality’s biggest rivers. We also ensured that TVIRD’s re-vegetation and reforestation projects within and outside our lands were done accordingly,” he recalled.
Comisas also played an active part in his fellow Subanons’ chosen resettlement area in nearby Tanuman, where Gawad Kalinga and TVIRD led the development of a community that is built in the spirit of brotherhood or bayanihan. Residents are provided with individual housing units with water and lighting facilities as well as a dedicated school bus that ferries their children to and from the nearest school.
Compliance and corporate citizenship
“TVIRD is compliant and a good corporate citizen. Its environmental plan and projects showed that it remains mindful of the environment as it operates,” said Rey Jalandoni, a forestry specialist from the DENR-Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) of Siocon.
“If an NGO or Siocon resident will ask me if the government’s objectives in organizing the MMT are achieved during the company’s mining operations, I would say yes,” he added.
Jalandoni further explained that the purpose of the MMT is also to gain public trust and to demonstrate that waste material is disposed properly during mining operations. The monitoring body also submits water samples to an independent third party laboratory for periodic analysis.
To date, independent results show that water at the mine site, including the tailings impoundment facility, are within the parameters set by the government. It has no contamination from toxic chemicals or minerals like lead or arsenic, according to Jalandoni.
A green legacy beyond mining
TVIRD’s progressive rehabilitation assures the Subanons and the local government of Siocon of a greener Canatuan that will last beyond the life of its mine. The company has planted a total of 380 thousand trees of different species inside and around its Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) area, which spans 508 hectares.
“It (reforested area) is five times bigger in density since the company set foot in Canatuan,” revealed Environment Manager Nilda Callora who represents TVIRD in the MMT.
“I witnessed TVIRD reforest 80% of the areas affected by its operations, and I am proud to be part of MMT. I will insist to be part of it when the company will start another project in my homeland,” Comisas said, admitting that their mountains were once denuded during the regime of the illegal miners prior to TVIRD’s entry.
“Our mountains became unsafe with the makeshift tunnels of the illegal miners. They cut trees without replanting while our waters were laden with toxic chemicals. Now it is different. TVIRD has a reforestation program and projects that help improve the condition of our people,” the chieftain concluded.
Some ten years after TVIRD ramped-up operations in the area, Siocon’s Pisawak River is teeming with fresh water fish. Residents in nearby barangays often catch native varieties of fish like tilapia and pasayan.
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