UACON, Candelaria, Zambales—Even from afar, the scars on the mountain are visible: heavy brown cuts that slashed through the green. These were created by machines that clawed at the earth, ripping apart vegetation in the process, and tearing down whole slopes just to get the nickel-bearing dirt. But only residents of this lakeside village now seem to mind the growing danger this operation poses to their livelihood and home.
Uacon Barangay Captain Daniel Esteron said residents first brought the mining operation to the attention of local officials in February when they saw backhoes digging on the mountainside at Duplac, an area east of the Uacon Lake, which is an important water resource in the community.
Esteron said local officials organized an inspection of the work site with Mayor Napoleon Edquid on February 23, and in confronting the workers there learned that Yinglong Steel Corp., a company based in the neighboring town of Santa Cruz, was constructing roads in the area.
The problem was Yinglong had not applied for permits, and Uacon officials did not know about the project being undertaken in their barangay. “So, Mayor Edquid told Yinglong to stop their operation and to explain before the town council,” Esteron related.
When company officials did explain to the council on March 1, Esteron said they found the explanation hard to believe. “Yinglong reasoned out that they did not know they were already operating in Candelaria,” Esteron said.
No permit to show
AS Esteron and other Uacon residents would learn later, Yinglong has apparently taken over where Westchinamin Corp., a company which had proposed to mine for nickel and build a ferro-nickel processing plant in Candelaria, had left off.
Earlier, Westchinamin presented its project to President Duterte in Malacañang on April 4, 2018, committing itself to be a responsible miner, and assuring Duterte that it will ensure the simultaneous rehabilitation of mined out areas.
Its project, however, was rejected by Candelaria residents in 2019 and, thus, did not prosper.
On the other hand, Yinglong entered the local picture after its proposed steel production plant project at Barangay Pangascasan in Sual, Pangasinan, did not push through in 2017.
Flores Ednave-Mistica, president of the environment group Save Candelaria, Zambales Movement Inc. (SCZMI), said Yinglong could be using Westchinamin’s Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) and Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC), as it is now digging at Parcel VII, a part of Westchinamin’s MPSA.
Mistica said Westchinamin’s mining claim originally covered only 286 hectares in Guinabon, Santa Cruz, but this was later expanded in 2016 to cover 3,336 hectares, including various areas in Candelaria.
Mistica recalled that in a consultation for the passage in April of a town ordinance regulating mining operations in Candelaria, representatives of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Region 3 said that Yinglong was just building access roads, as it was still in exploration stage, and that MGB’s regulatory power did not cover such activity.
“But it’s not only access roads they’re working on,” Mistica said. “They have been making nickel stockpiles onsite and these are later brought down to a depot in Lucapon South [a barangay in Santa Cruz].”
Esteron said Yinglong officials cannot show any mining permit nor tree-cutting permit for all its ongoing activities at Duplac.
“I’ve also asked them if they have any document to prove that Westchinamin has assigned its area to Yinglong, but what they sent me in return was a box of tikoy,” Esteron added, referring to the sticky Chinese delicacy.
Battle for the mind
IN the absence of legal documents, Yinglong has apparently conducted an aggressive campaign to win over the residents of Candelaria, most especially local officials. On its social-media page, Yinglong has posted photos of outreach projects all over Candelaria, Santa Cruz and other neighboring communities that it described as “part of our social development effort”.
Under this program, its community relations team distributed “bundles of joy” (bags of bread and other foodstuff) to the barangay halls of Lucapon North and Lucapon South in Santa Cruz, Uacon in Candelaria, the Santa Cruz Police Station, and the Masinloc Coast Guard office on December 23, 2020; alcohol and facemasks to checkpoints at barangays Lucapon South, Gama, and Maya in Santa Cruz and Infanta, Pangasinan, on January 19 and 26; and boxes of special tikoy on Chinese New Year to barangay offices in Taposo, Pamibian, Malabon, Malimanga, Sinabacan and Uacon.
Yinglong also announced giving financial aid to barangay Sinabacan on January 26 this year for the celebration of the Feast of Saint Lourdes; trash cans to barangay Malimanga on March 18 for waste management; food items, facemasks and alcohol at the villages of Taposo, Pamibian, Malimanga on April 9; burial assistance to two families in Lucapon South and Lucapon North on April 10; and 25 reams of bond paper and eight bottles of printer ink to the Sinabacan Elementary School on April 13 for printing modules.
The company donated to local churches—five sacks of rice, four boxes of facemasks, and two gallons of alcohol each to the Saint Michael the Archangel Parish in Santa Cruz and the Saint Vincent Parish in Candelaria on April 16. On the same day, Yinglong gave medical help to a family and burial assistance to another family in Lucapon South.
On April 21, Yinglong turned over a 32-inch android TV and satellite dish, as well as 11 sets of barangay uniform to Barangay Malimanga, and on the following day, which was “Earth Day”, it conducted a tree-planting event at Lucapon South, a clean-up along the highway in the same barangay, as well as along the coast at Lucapon South.
Last month saw Yinglong donating “assorted goods” to tricycle operators and drivers in the villages of Catol, Babancal and Taposo, and the Malabon community pantry on May 11; financial assistance and assorted raffle items on May 14 to barangay Malimanga for the upcoming feast of the local patron saint; and burial assistance to a family in Lucapon North and three families in Lucapon South, as well as medical help to three other families in Santa Cruz town on May 14.
On May 25, the mining firm gave away water jugs to six tricycle operators and drivers’ groups, and turned over 20 reams of bond paper and 16 bottles of printer ink to the Lucapon South Elementary School.
Yinglong’s latest post on June 15 showed that it turned over a set of computer and printer to the Candelaria police office, donated an audio-speaker to the San Antonio de Padua Chapel in Lucapon South, and financial aid to barangay Libertador for the celebration of its fiesta.
Change of heart
THE barrage of “social development efforts” somewhat eroded the anti-mining solidarity among locals who overwhelmingly rejected Westchinamin’s ferro-nickel processing plant project just two years past.
On October 15, 2018, Candelaria Sangguniang Bayan member Mac Eay successfully shepherded in the town council Resolution 50 to enact Ordinance 2018-19, which banned open pit mining and disallowed the establishment of the proposed ferro-nickel plant and all types of environmentally destructive activities in the municipality.
Eay’s motion was passed unanimously by the municipal council and approved by Mayor Edquid on October 29, 2018.
A video of a prayer rally organized by the Concerned Citizens of Candelaria in October 2018 to reject the proposed ferro-nickel plant showed the town executive expressing his solidarity with the people.
“Ang pulso ninyo ay ang pulso ni Mayor [Your pulse is the pulse of the mayor],” Edquid declared then. “Kung ang pulso ninyo ay hindi, hindi rin si Mayor [If your pulse is against the project, the mayor will also be against it].”
Yet the ordinance was not implemented. And worse, Edquid, who was reelected in 2019, soon changed his pulse about the project, said Charmie Barrera, secretary of the Save Candelaria, Zambales Movement Inc.
“After the anti-mining resolution was passed, the residents somewhat relaxed their guard. So, we were really surprised when the nickel processing plant proposal was revived after the 2019 election,” she added.
Barrera recalled that an ocular inspection by the Sangguniang Bayan at Duplac on March 26 established that Yinglong continued its road construction and nickel extraction activities despite having promised to stop operations when it appeared before the council on March 1.
The inspection team also noted, among others, new stockpiles near the Duplac River, which were not there during inspections on February 23 and 28; trees felled to make way for access roads; more build-up of bunkhouses and guard stations; and that a portion of the Pader Creek was filled in with dirt so that dump trucks can cross it to transport nickel to the Yinglong yard in Lucapon.
Meanwhile, as Yinglong continued to operate at will, local officials moved for the repeal of the anti-mining resolution and crafted what would become Ordinance 16 of 2021, or “An Ordinance Strictly Regulating the Operations of Mining Agreements Within the Territorial Jurisdiction of the Municipality of Candelaria, Zambales, and Providing Penalties for Violation Thereof.”
Outnumbered
On the surface, Ordinance 16 bode good for it asserted the local government’s power to be co-manager, alongside the national government, of the resources within its area, and sounded the LGU’s commitment to protect and promote a balanced ecosystem and to sanction environmentally destructive activities.
The new ordinance also identified areas closed to mining, set requirements on stakeholder consultation, created the Municipal Mining Monitoring Council, empowered the municipal government to take action when there is a clear and present danger in mining operations, demanded compliance with ecological solid waste management, required miners to submit periodic reports, and expressly prohibited destructive mining methods.
However, SCZMI director Marilyn Evalle pointed out that the penal provisions of Ordinance 16 appear to make it easy for mining firms to get away with violations, as extraction without mining agreement, lease, permit, or license, and stealing mineral ores, were fined a measly P2,500.
Only the use of destructive mining methods merited six months imprisonment on top of the P2,500 fine. Violation of other provisions of the ordinance even carried a lesser fine of P1,500.
Despite the stated intent to strictly regulate mining operations, the new ordinance made a clear about-face from the Sanggunian’s previous anti-mining stance, Eay pointed out.
The reversal in community acceptance was hammered home by Mayor Edquid during a public consultation by the town council on March 1.
Harking back on his previous “people’s pulse” rhetoric, Edquid said: “Kung ayaw ng tao, ayaw ko rin. Pero mas marami nang may gusto [If the people don’t want it, I wouldn’t want it, too. But more people are in favor of it now].”
Edquid went on to say that the mining industry would benefit the poor people who needed jobs, and that these poor people’s voices don’t get recognized because they are not on social media.
“Ang mga anti-mining, kayang-kaya nilang suportahan ang kanilang sarili—kakain sila nang tatlong beses isang araw, hindi katulad ng mga mahihirap [Those who oppose mining can feed themselves three times a day, unlike these poor people],” the mayor said.
Addressing the anti-mining advocates in the session hall, Edquid said they are not the majority of the residents. “Wala pa kayong 10 percent [You are not even 10 percent of the residents],” Edquid said. “Maingay lang kayo [You are simply noisy].”
Reminded of the anti-mining resolution which he approved previously, Mayor Edquid denied signing the Sanggunian ordinance. “Hindi ko pirma ’yan; may nag-peke [That was not my signature; somebody faked it],” Edquid declared during the meeting.
On April 19, 2021, Ordinance 16 passed muster at the Sangguniang Bayan of Candelaria with a vote of seven ayes and three nays. “We were badly outnumbered,” Eay said.
Like wildfire
ON June 13, a Sunday, the BusinessMirror joined a small group of writers invited by the SCZMI to document the extant anti-mining struggle. From our vantage point at the Uacon Barangay Hall on the shore of Uacon Lake, we motored deep into the grasslands of the village and crossed creeks.
In the foothills of Duplac more than a kilometer away, we watched three yellow backhoe loaders gouging the mountain face, their nimble movements uphill toylike in what was really a destructive dance.
But drone photos taken there revealed more: nine orange dump trucks and a smaller white dump truck were in the area and positioned near the backhoes. And lined up along the “access roads” that crisscrossed the mountainside were neat mounds of nickel-bearing dirt that these trucks haul down to the lowlands.
Just below the mined-out slopes were two ponds filled with orange-brown water. These are supposed to be sump pits that would contain rainwater and prevent the same from leaching. And just below the two ponds lay the Duplac River that drains into the Uacon Lake.
This is precisely what bothers Uacon farmers like Rey Estella. Now 52 and a farmer since birth, Estella has witnessed how mud from the mining site ruined hectares of farmlands that provided sustenance and livelihood to about 86 families in the Uacon area.
There are about 50 hectares being farmed here, Estella said. And water from the uplands flows directly into the farmlands to nurture them.
“Noon, umaani kami ng mga 100 hanggang 120 cavan ng palay bawat balitang,” Estella said, using the local measure for land area that is roughly equivalent to 0.625 hectare. “Ngayon mga 60 cavan na lang [We used to harvest from 100 to 120 cavans of palay; now we’re down to 60].”
He added that the decline in farm productivity began in 2014 when Westchinamin began mining the area.
The siltation from mining projects also affects fishpond owners east of the Uacon Lake, as well as local fishermen who noticed that mollusks in the lake rapidly decreased since 2014.
And it has degraded the water quality of Uacon Lake, as well. For a time, the lake was the pride of Zambales, as it was always a national finalist for the Gawad Pangulo sa Kapaligiran’s best inland body of water from 2000 to 2003.
Just two years later, in October 2015, mud from mined-out areas uphill cascaded into the lake when Typhoon Lando whipped up heavy rains, SCZMI records showed.
A video of a village elder recorded previously by SCZMI vividly expressed the fears of residents about mining. He said: “If the mountain is destroyed, we will not have water. Instead, when the rains come, all that dirt loosened by mining will be washed into rivers and creeks and farms, and when these bodies of water get filled up, the silt will enter our houses,” the man added.
“Mining,” he concluded, “is like a huge wildfire—it doesn’t choose victims.”
Fighting back
As of now, it is only Barangay Uacon that is keeping up with its fight against the destructive effects of mining, said the village executive Daniel Esteron. The rest of the 15 barangays have reportedly aligned themselves with the pro-mining camp.
Still, Esteron and SCZMI said they must continue with the fight—not only for themselves but for the residents of other barangays who may be keeping their silence on the mining issue at the moment.
Uacon, the northernmost barangay of Candelaria, abuts Santa Cruz, the most heavily mined town in the province. If Uacon gave up the fight, the destruction of mountains would likely spread to other barangays and even nearby towns down the line. Like wildfire.
Which is why, even if they constituted just 10 percent of the population, they had to keep being noisy for everyone, Eay said.
On March 15, despite the passage of the town’s Ordinance 16, the Uacon Barangay Council passed a resolution denying the request of Yinglong Steel Corporation and Westchinamin Corporation to operate and undertake mining activities within the territorial jurisdiction of Barangay Uacon.
In separate resolutions, the council also blocked a similar request by Shangfil Mining and Trading Corporation and denied the request of Zambales Diversified Metals Corporation (ZDMC), which is a subsidiary of the mining giant DMCI Mining Corporation, to amend its MPSA and include 81 hectares in Uacon.
The council also pointed out that it has never endorsed the amendment of ZDMC’s MPSA, as alleged in a letter sent to the town council by the firm’s lawyer on February 1.
In all these resolutions, the Uacon village council asserted its policy to protect and conserve the environment and natural resources, and to boost and enhance local tourism.
It also made clear that the Uacon LGU is adopting the enacted Ordinance 2018-19, which has banned open pit mining and disallowed all types of environmentally destructive activities in the municipality.
Uacon’s fight for the environment, livelihood and home goes on.