30 pieces of silver for SMI’s security

Statement of Tampakan Forum on SMI’s funding of KITACO and CAFGUs
25 February 2013

It is deplorable. Kiblawan Mayor Marivic Diamante disclosed during the Congressional hearing of the National Cultural Communities of the House of Representatives last 21 February 2013 that Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI) is actually providing funds for the allowance and operations of the military and paramilitary groups within the towns of Kiblawan, Tampacan, Columbio, all covered by the SMI mining permit.

Speaking in a matter-of-factly manner, Diamante in her testimony before the members of the Committee, explained that a memorandum of agreement was signed in July 2006 by the local governments of Kiblawan, Tampakan and Colombio with SMI. This MOA was the basis of the deployment of 120 Civilian Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU) men in the areas, and the creation of the military led Task Force KITACO. Task Force KITACO has been implicated in killings of B’laan leaders and anti-mining activists in the provinces.

The mayor’s report corroborated the testimony of the Col. Norman Marcos Flores, new commander of the 1002nd Brigade, who confirmed that the Philippine Army is providing security to the KITACO growth area and to implement SMI’s community-based security plan in Tampakan and Kiblawan.

Mayor Diamante last October 2012 even posted a reward of Php300-thousand for the capture of Daguil Capion immediately after the killing of Capion’s wife Juvy and two children. To her this was a gallant move though she claimed it was not her own brainchild but due to the prompting of her colleagues who rationalized that the B’laan’s will not cooperate with them if the bounty is too small. This is callous and deeply insulting to the honor and integrity of the B’laans.

This deadly deal between the Local government units (LGUs) of KITAKO and SMI defies the latter’s claim to the legitimacy of its claim to bring development in Tampakan. It negates its corporate policy and commitment to respect the human rights of the communities where it operates .

Supporting the CAFGUs and the military can never be justified by SMI. It has only fanned the divide between those who are for and against the Tampakan Mining Project. And it is a conflict created by SMI’s undue persistence to pursue the mining project despite the legal impediment imposed by the provincial ordinance banning open-pit mining in South Cotabato.

Unfortunately, the Mining Act of 1995 and despite Executive Order (EO) 79, is focused on mineral extraction and administrative procedure on how mining and its various phases should be done. We know that conflict is always central to extractive activities like mining given its socially invasive and environmentally destructive nature and processes. Yet the conflict resolution mechanism provided by RA 7942 is not even sufficient and are not appropriate not to mention the capacity and political will of the regulatory agency such as the MGB to handle and address such conflicts. It also lacks among others, provision on access to justice in cases of corporate abuses.

Under the UN “Respect, Protect and Remedy” Framework on Business and Human Rights to which our country is one of the signatories, its foundational principles provide that the state has State duty to protect against human rights abuses by third parties, including business enterprises, through appropriate policies, regulation, and adjudication; business enterprise has the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, which means that business enterprises should act with due diligence to avoid infringing on the rights of others and to address adverse impacts with which they are involved; and the state should provide greater access to victims HR violations to effective remedy, both judicial and non-judicial means.

Betrayal is what the Congressional Investigation has uncovered from the testimonies of Mayor Diamante, the military and police officers. A betrayal by the government who sworn to protect the human rights of the people and by SMI which has callously and persistently dangled the billions of pesos of expected mining investment unheard of in Southeast Asia. A betrayal with irreparable consequence of digging a big huge and deep hole big enough to sink Marbel right in the heart of the mountains and forest in Bongmal where the majority of the B’laan communities have lived since time immemorial.

Mayor Diamante’s claim to peace and security along with the police and military seemed like a hallowed pact to secure the interest of SMI and the PNoy government’s fetish for investment to sustain the economic growth that it has been bragging about. Yet, the human rights of our B’laan sisters and brothers seemed just a bargain in exchange of the proverbial 30 pieces of silver for which Judas betrayed Jesus that led to His Passion and Death.

Today’s 27th year celebration of EDSA People Power Revolution seemed empty and hallow as we are hounded by the spectre of the Tampakan Mining Project and the conflict it has created among the B’laan communities.

STOP SMI’S DEADLY DEAL WITH TASK FORCE KITACO. DISMANTLE TASK FORCE KITACO. CANCEL THE FTAA OF SMI.

UPHOLD THE RIGHTS OF THE B’LAAN IP COMMUNITIES

Tampakan Forum is is a technical working group on the Tampakan mining issue.

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Contact persons:
Atty. Mario E. Maderazo, PMP-AMC Advocacy and Legal Officer, pmpsecretariat@yahoo.com, 0922-8501873
Jaybee Garganera, ATM National Coordinator, nc@alyansatigilmina.net, 0927-7617602?
Farah Sevilla, Policy Research and Advocacy Officer, policy@alyansatigilmina.net, 0915-3313361

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