Three witches brew plot to mine N. Iloilo
November 15, 2016
Iloilo City
Iloilo Province is "blessed" with enormous mineral wealth but only a handful or even none of its 1.9 million people may enjoy them. Worse this Central Philippine province may be reaping the curse if giant mining firms were to have their way of plundering its mineral wealth.
The mining companies have applied to mine 10,000 hectares of its foreshore for palladium, platinum, silver "and other associated mineral deposits",
Three applicants filed their applications before the central office of the Mines and Geo-science Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) which is a step to process its "exploration permit application" (EPA) that in turn, if the exploratory tests turn positive, would pave the way for the "financial and technical assistance agreement" (FTAA) a nice sounding gobbledygook which simply means a license to proceed with the plunder that includes the right to flatten mountains, poison rivers, and drive residents out of the mining franchise area.
Lucius Sugcang, geodetic engineer of MGB regional office here (MGB-6), at the public hearing called by the committee on environment of the sangguniang panlalawigan here November 14, admitted his office already granted permit to the three applicant -- First Palladium Mining Resources (Phils); Asian Palladium Mining and Development Corp.; and Southern Luzon Exploration and Resources, Inc.
"They applied in April this year at the Central Office," Sugcang said. "Our role is to scrutinize its documents to ensure compliance to procedure before we issue a permit".
The three applicants, incidentally, have a common director and corporate secretary -- Bernardita Cruz-Herrera -- which implies that the trio are into an incestuous relationship.
News of the Three Witches eyeing the foreshore mineral wealth off northern Iloilo, however, have come at the time when Iloilo Governor Arthur D. Defensor, Sr. announced his plant to declare a moratorium on small-scale mining or quarrying along certain river systems in the province.
Atty. Arturo Cangreo, head of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) said the governor already have identified which rivers to be declared temporarily free of small-scale mining operations to allow them to recover.
Large-scale mining representatie Bernadetia Chua-Herrera wrote SP Jeneda Salcedo-Orendain, chair of the SP committee on environment and natural resources, requesting for the enactment of a resolution "favorable" to the entry of the Three Witches to conduct exploratory tests, that is, which in the dry land, entails burrowing two-by-two meters wide pits and extract their contents for verification. Since it is offshore, it requires deployment of ships that will drop tubes to suction soil from the seabed.
The applicants, noted Sugcang, have made a shortcut. "They approached your first before we could process their application". He explained that an mining interest must first secure a permit from the regional MGB before it could proceed to get the nod of local government units down to the barangays. If communities and local government oppose its application, it cannot do the exploration.
Sucgang revealed at the public hearing that the applicants eye the sea off the towns of Concepcion, Estancia, Batad, San Dionisio, Balasan and Carles, all in Iloilo and Pilar in Capiz Province.
Members of the SP committee adjourned the public hearing ruling that the three applicants' request was premature.
SP Val Serag noted that they SP cannot issue any resolution without first consulting with its constituents especially those living in he affected towns. "Mere exploration already disturbs the environment," he said.
SP Salcedo-Orendain said the body cannot grant a favorable endorsement for the mining applicants "without violating our ordinance." She is the author of the Environment Code of Iloilo Province which prohibits commercial activities that pollute streams and the sea, often the natural outcomes of mining operations as experienced in Mindanao, the second largest Philippine Island.
"The towns they are targetting belong to our "Alaska of the Philippines" referring to the old moniker of northern Iloilo for its abundance of marine life providing livelihood to thousands of families. "What will happen to our 'balat' (sea cucumber) and other exotic shells," she asked.
Her office distributed copies of Memorandum Order 2016-01 of DENR Secretary Gina Lopez dated July 8, 2016, ordering a moratorium on new mining projects and the formation of "audit teams" that would inspect mining operations in the country. Several firms have been issued indefinite cease-and-desist orders for violations.
MO 2016-01, however, does not cover applications done prior to its issuance, said the MGB-6 geodetic engineer.
Iloilo City
Iloilo Province is "blessed" with enormous mineral wealth but only a handful or even none of its 1.9 million people may enjoy them. Worse this Central Philippine province may be reaping the curse if giant mining firms were to have their way of plundering its mineral wealth.
The mining companies have applied to mine 10,000 hectares of its foreshore for palladium, platinum, silver "and other associated mineral deposits",
 |
| SP Jeneda Salcedo-Orendain |
Lucius Sugcang, geodetic engineer of MGB regional office here (MGB-6), at the public hearing called by the committee on environment of the sangguniang panlalawigan here November 14, admitted his office already granted permit to the three applicant -- First Palladium Mining Resources (Phils); Asian Palladium Mining and Development Corp.; and Southern Luzon Exploration and Resources, Inc.
"They applied in April this year at the Central Office," Sugcang said. "Our role is to scrutinize its documents to ensure compliance to procedure before we issue a permit".
The three applicants, incidentally, have a common director and corporate secretary -- Bernardita Cruz-Herrera -- which implies that the trio are into an incestuous relationship.
News of the Three Witches eyeing the foreshore mineral wealth off northern Iloilo, however, have come at the time when Iloilo Governor Arthur D. Defensor, Sr. announced his plant to declare a moratorium on small-scale mining or quarrying along certain river systems in the province.
Atty. Arturo Cangreo, head of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) said the governor already have identified which rivers to be declared temporarily free of small-scale mining operations to allow them to recover.
 |
| SP Val Serag |
The applicants, noted Sugcang, have made a shortcut. "They approached your first before we could process their application". He explained that an mining interest must first secure a permit from the regional MGB before it could proceed to get the nod of local government units down to the barangays. If communities and local government oppose its application, it cannot do the exploration.
Sucgang revealed at the public hearing that the applicants eye the sea off the towns of Concepcion, Estancia, Batad, San Dionisio, Balasan and Carles, all in Iloilo and Pilar in Capiz Province.
Members of the SP committee adjourned the public hearing ruling that the three applicants' request was premature.
SP Val Serag noted that they SP cannot issue any resolution without first consulting with its constituents especially those living in he affected towns. "Mere exploration already disturbs the environment," he said.
SP Salcedo-Orendain said the body cannot grant a favorable endorsement for the mining applicants "without violating our ordinance." She is the author of the Environment Code of Iloilo Province which prohibits commercial activities that pollute streams and the sea, often the natural outcomes of mining operations as experienced in Mindanao, the second largest Philippine Island.
"The towns they are targetting belong to our "Alaska of the Philippines" referring to the old moniker of northern Iloilo for its abundance of marine life providing livelihood to thousands of families. "What will happen to our 'balat' (sea cucumber) and other exotic shells," she asked.
Her office distributed copies of Memorandum Order 2016-01 of DENR Secretary Gina Lopez dated July 8, 2016, ordering a moratorium on new mining projects and the formation of "audit teams" that would inspect mining operations in the country. Several firms have been issued indefinite cease-and-desist orders for violations.
MO 2016-01, however, does not cover applications done prior to its issuance, said the MGB-6 geodetic engineer.
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