TACLOBAN CITY—Frustrated at the promining stance of local officials in Eastern Samar, residents of the small mining island of Manicani marched to the regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in an attempt to stop the reopening of open-pit mining in the island.
Joined by environmental groups based in the city, Manicani Island residents are holding a campout at the DENR gates to pressure the environment department to deny the mining company an environmental compliance certificate (ECC), required before mining companies can operate.
Mining applications need to secure the ECC and the environmental impact assessment from the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the DENR before a mining permit is granted.
Campout organizers said they will stay until November 18 or until they get assurance that no mining permit is issued.
The Mutual Product Sharing Agreement (MPSA), or the mining permit, between Hinatuan Mining Corp. (HMC) and the government expires on October 28. HMC, a subsidiary of Nickel Asia, has applied for a renewal of the MPSA to allow them to continue its open-pit nickel-ore extraction in Manicani for another 25 years.
The four barangays comprising Manicani Island, as well as the municipal council of Guiuan and the provincial board of Eastern Samar, have already given favorable endorsements to the mining company.
The provincial board resolution passed on October 9 even went as far as asking the Mines and Geosciences Bureau to lift the suspension order that was imposed since 2002 for lack of scientific bases that the mining operations has caused environmental destruction in the island. The resolution is a complete departure from a provincial ordinance passed in 2005 declaring a total ban of large-scale in the whole Eastern Samar province.
“We are dismayed by this position taken by the provincial board. The whole island is still in ruins even if it has been 15 years since the mining operations was suspended,” said Rebecca Destajo, spokesman of Progressive Manicani Island Society. “We cannot agree to another 25 years of mining operations.”
For Fedelino Atrejinio, 53, a resident of Barangay Hamorawon in Manicani Island, the mining operations totally damaged the island, depriving its residents of their livelihood.
Atrejinio recalled that, as a boy, his family used to plant cassava, potatoes and other vegetables while he also tended a fish pen his father set up to support the family. “The land in Manicani is fertile. We were sent to school out of the harvest we got from this land. Whatever you plant there, it will surely grow,” he said.
Now a commander of Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary based in Metro Manila, Atrejinio took a leave from work to join his neighbors in the campout at the gate of DENR.
“If we who grew up in the island cannot care for Manicani, who will?” he asked.
“It may just be a speck in our maps but, for us who grew up there, it is our whole world,” he said.
Antimining groups are asking the EMB to review the track record of HMC before it acts on the application for the renewal of the MPSA.
Destajo said the EMB has already approved the ECC application of HMC for its berthing place on August 18.
“This is a bad sign that it might also approve the ECC for the actual mining operations. This means they will be giving permit for the mining operations. What will they do with the berthing place if no MPSA is issued?” she said.
Environmentalists argue that mining operations in Manicani is illegal because it is within the Guiuan Protected Landscapes/Seascapes, a marine-protected reserve of Guiuan town. The declaration was issued in 1994 by former President Fidel V. Ramos, two years after the first MPSA of HMC was approved in 1992.
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Tama yang ginawa nyo. Kung hindi kayo kikilos, yari kayo sa delubyo ng minahan na sisirain ang mga buhay at kabuhayan nyo. Meron ba kayong nakita na open pit na maayos? Hindi nasira ang watersource nyo? Meron ba kayong nakita na walang erosion at flashflood? Meron ba kayong nakita na naibalik nila ang kalikasan lalo na ang mga ilog at karagatan? Tingnan nyo ang mga videos na pinakita ni SecGina tungkol sa open pit mining at malaman nyo ang pinaglalaban nya na isara lahat ng open pit! Ang mga Oligarchs lang lalong yumayaman sa ganitong negosyo. Kung gusto talaga sila magmina, ipatunnel sa kanila ang mode of extraction!