Cagayan rejoices mass black-sand mining suspension

The towns of Apari, Buguey and Lal-lo, Cagayan are celebrating after Mines and Geosciences Bureau National (MGB) office suspended the Minerals Processing and Sharing Agreement (MPSA) of mining companies which had been extracting black sand minerals in the area.

Suspension orders to Huaxia Resources Corp. ,Hao Ren International Mining Group Corp., Feiron Steel Inc., Global express Mining and Dev’t Corp., Nova International Cagayan KR Corp. and San You Philippines Mining Trade Ltd., were issued last April 28 and are still in effect as of to date.

“God is Good. After so many years of fighting, justice has been finally served.” Said Rosbin Martin, leader of Alliance for Buguey Committed for Development Association (ALBUCODA), one of the people’s organizations (PO) that spearheaded the fight against mining in Buguey, Cagayan.

Martin has been fighting the mining operations in the area since 2008 with other POs like Aparrianos Movement for the Conservation and Environmental Protection (AMCEP)  and Concerned Laloeno Against Illegal Mining (CLAIM), both established in 2010.

She recounted the event that lead to their victory that was in an Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) convention in Ortigas last March 25, 2014.

With the help of national anti-mining group Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), representatives of local POs from Cagayan, including Martin got a chance to personally talk to MGB national director Leo Jasareno and exposed the illegal mining operations in Buguey, Lal-lo and Apari.

“We showed Dir. Jasareno photos of mining operations that were happening in our area and at first he couldn’t believe it because as far as MGB was concerned, they already ordered these mining companies to stop dredging our coastal areas and river banks.” Martin recounted.

As a result of ATM and the POs’ talk with Jasareno, MGB made a site visit in Cagayan on April 8 which resulted to the issuance of the mining companies’ MPSAs suspension.

“MGB representatives saw with their own eyes the continuous mining operations in our respective areas. They saw the adverse effects black –sand mining was doing to our environment.” Said Martin.

According to POs, black sand mining in Cagayan affected at least 53,684 hectares of coastal lands and foreshore areas. It also caused erosion of northern coastline and the riverbanks of Cagayan River.

Black-sand mining in the area had been also blamed for the depletion of fisheries, worsened flooding in coastal and riverside communities, and salt water and chemical intrusion into the freshwater that caused shrinking of rice fields which resulted to huge drops in harvest.

The suspension orders according to Martin “give the people of Cagayan a chance to live in a safe and sustainable environment.” She also said that “the victory of Cagayan is an eye opener to mining-affected communities, that nothing is impossible with an empowered and unified people.”

Meanwhile, ATM commended MGB national office for its response in the mining situation in Cagayan.

“We would like to thank Dir. Jasareno for helping the people of Cagayan in their plight against the destructive black-sand mining in the area.” Said Jaybee Garganera, ATM national Coordinator.

Garganera warned “all mining companies which continue to desecrate and exploit the country’s natural resources” that “people will not fall silent to their atrocities.”

He also stressed that organizations like ATM, ALBUCODA, AMCEP and CLAIM “will always be on the watch to ensure that justice will be served to environmental offenders.”

Alyansa Tigil Mina is an alliance of mining-affected communities and their support groups of NGOs/POs and other civil society organizations who are opposing the aggressive promotion of large-scale mining in the Philippines. The alliance is currently pushing for a moratorium on mining, revocation of Executive Order 270-A, repeal of the Mining Act of 1995 and passage of the AMMB.

For more information:
Jaybee Garganera, ATM National Coordinator, (0917) 549.82.18  <nc@alyansatigilmina.net>
Check Zabala, ATM Media and Communications Officer, (0927) 623.50.66 checkzab@gmail.com

Additional Notes: ATM has copies of the suspension orders, as well as a letter from DENR-MGB Director Leo Jasareno on their advisory to the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) on the legality of black-sand mining and small-scale mining operations.  ATM also has a copy of the DILG Memorandum Circular issued by Sec. Mar Roxas, instructing LGUs to suspend or cancel all illegal small-scale mining operations, particularly black-sand mining in coastal areas

ATM Press Release
27 June 2014

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