Company to build on gains of sustainable development initiatives since mid-2004
In the area of Community Infrastructure,TVIRD hopes to complete the Tanuman Settlement Area that the company will build together
with the IPs.
After many months of consultations with residents of communities within and around its gold-copper project in Canatuan, Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc. (TVIRD) has successfully completed the approval process for its Social Development and Management Plan (SDMP) from the Philippine Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB). The approval enables the Company to build on the gains of its social development initiatives in its host and impact communities since it began production in 2004. This will be done through the enhancement of ongoing initiatives via the introduction of various organizational and program mechanisms that are responsive to the needs identified by these communities.
Under the SDMP Education Program, TVIRD will, among others,
strengthen the Functional Literacy Program for Canatuan; expand the College
Scholarship Program; and continue to provide daycare and elementary
schoolteachers in nearby barangays.
“While we have endeavored to fulfill our initial community development objectives in the first two years of our operations, we have also been working hard to finalize this important document that would formalize our commitment to the sustainable development of Canatuan and its neighboring barangays,” Eugene Mateo, TVIRD president, says. “We are glad to have finally accomplished this requirement, and we thank the MGB for acknowledging the tangible projects we have done for the improvement of the quality of life in our host community prior to the approval of our SDMP.”
Felice Yeban, TVIRD Community Relations and Development Organization director, concurs: “The consultation process and amount of time taken to produce many iterations resulting from feedback from the community and accommodating the community’s wishes took us a while to complete the SDMP. We are happy with the result but we view the Plan as a living document…a work in progress. We intend to do more and, as can be gleaned from our concrete development initiatives in the First Phase, that is, from mid-2004 to mid-2006, our actions will speak louder than our words.”
These initiatives include the cleanup of mercury and cyanide tailings left by illegal small-scale miners that previously operated in Canatuan, the planting of more than 62,000 trees in 2 ?