MindaNews » Mamanwas want mining firm out of Surigao.

By Vanessa L. Almeda
May 12, 2012

CAGDIANAO, Claver, Surigao del Norte (MindaNews/11 May) – Mamanwas vowed to continue barricading the mining site of Shen Zhou Mining Group Corporation here until the company shuts down and leaves port.

Vilma Coter, a Mamanwa representative told MindaNews on the same day that they won’t budge despite the reported payment of royalty fees on Thursday amounting to P11 million.

In an interview Wednesday, Datu Renante Buklas said the issue is not about the royalty fees but the cease and desist order of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) issued on January 12, 2012 against Shen Zhou mining.

“Unless the rights of our tribe are not respected we won’t leave,” Buklas said in Cebuano, adding they were perplexed why the local NCIP has not acted on the order until now but instead told them that the company will still operate because it legally holds a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement or MPSA.

He said the royalty fees are not an issue because “this is the obligation of the Shen Zhou.”

On Tuesday, members of the 132nd Regional Public Safety Company (RPSC), Task Force Taganito, soldiers, militiamen, company guards and private security guards stormed the mining site and dismantled makeshift tents and barricades set up by the Mamanwas.

The presence of the group, according to Shen Zhou corporate secretary Jacqueline de Leon was “the decision of the crisis committee” as the company is facing an “ongoing dispute.”

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