Tampakan Mining Project cause of conflicts in B’laan Tribe
Communities want SMI out

Sarangani Province—Peace and order situation in Malungon, Sarangani Province faces new threat as B’laan communities in different sitios and barangays contend over the Tampakan Mining Project of Sagittarius Mines Inc. which continues to undertake its activities in the tribe’s homestead despite being denied of an Environment Compliance Certificate (ECC) by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) last January 9.

“Hindi pa man sila nakakapagsimula madami na silang dinadalang problema dito sa lugar namin, nag-aaway-away ang mga magkakapatid at magkakamag-anak” lamented Robina Poblador, a Bae tribal leader of B’laans in Sitio Samlang. (They have not even started the project and yet they are already bringing many problems to our community, people are fighting with each other even though they are related by kinship).

Robina who is actively opposing the Tampakan project received allegations that she was the mastermind to the shooting incident of their barangay captain last December 2011. According to Robina, the barangay captain, who is also her cousin announced during last month’s barangay general assembly that unlike before when he was kind, now he is set to kill people.

In February 20,2012 Robina with the other five members of their community were requested to visit the office of the Municipal Mayor after they refused to participate in the barangay survey for a Community Based Monitoring System conducted last February 8 because they received reports that it was being commissioned by SMI. They were also confused about the purpose of the survey since there was already a census administered earlier in January this year.

In the community of T’Murok, Delia Malayon who is also against the Tampakan project is always in confrontation with SMI staff who tries to pass through their community and refuses to sign in their logbook. “Ayaw nilang sumunod sa panuntunan namin. Kaya namin ginagawa yung pagpapasulat sa logbook kasi gusto namin malaman kung sino ang pumapasok sa lugar namin at kung ano din ang pakay nila sa amin. Ayaw naman nila kaming pakinggan, siyempre hindi namin sila papapasukin.” (They do not want to follow our rules. We have a logbook because we want to know the people and their intentions in visiting our community. They do not listen to us and so we will not let them in).

Delia felt being harassed by a barangay official in Bulol Salo, Kiblawan, Davao del Sur who told her that there would be a warrant of arrest to be served for her grandfather who is a Sitio leader. But the official did not reveal the accounts of the warrant. Delia relates this as a coercion to change her mind and finally say yes to mining.

“Although Sitio Samlang and T’murok in Malungon are not directly covered by the mine site of the Tampakan project, SMI should also get consent from the said communities because these are being considered as relocation sites for the indigenous peoples in Bong Mal and other areas in the mountain,” explained Rene Pamplona of the Diocese of Marbel in South Cotabato.

“What is happening in the B’laan communities in Sarangani also shows that mining is not just an economic concern. With its societal impact that is often destroying good relationships among people, whether it is intentional or not, calls for an attention from the authorities. If conflicts will remain unresolved, aggression will be intensified with people hurting or killing each other,” said Jaybee Garganera, national coordinator of Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM).

Atty. Mario Maderazo, project officer of the Philippine Misereor Partnership Anti-Mining Campaign and lead convenor of the Tampakan Forum added, “We call on the DENR and other national government agencies to check on the reports of the communities. We know that under the law, SMI cannot proceed with any development activities since they were denied an ECC. Their continued presence and activities in the area is creating a situation of heightens the conflict in the communities.”

An Environmental Compliance Certificate is a permit they need to secure before they can proceed to the development stage of the Tampakan Copper-Gold Mining Project.

Garganera concluded, “With the Tampakan project creating clash in the community and threatening their safety, ATM stands firm on its position that the projects deserves not just a denial of its ECC but a total rejection of the project.”

Tampakan Forum is a technical working group on the Tampakan mining issue convened by the Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc. Anti-Mining Campaign (PMPI) in collaboration with Social Action Marbel, Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), Philippine Association for Intercultural Development (PAFID), Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Friends of Earth Philippines (LRC-KSK), Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links (PIPLINKS) and the London Working Group on Mining in the Philippines and IUCN CESP-SEAPRISE.

Press Release
February 24, 2012

For more information:
Jaybee Garganera, ATM National Coordinator, (0927) 761.76.02 
nc@alyansatigilmina.net
Atty. Mario Maderazo, PMPI-AMC Project Officer, pmpsecretariat@yahoo.com
Farah Sevilla, ATM Policy & Advocacy Officer, (0915) 331.33.61 policy@alyansatigilmina.net