NUEVA VIZCAYA

‘We are now facing starvation’ – villagers:UK-owned mine firm forced to stop project

BY JOAN CAPUNA

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – A British-owned mining company was forced to temporarily stop its ongoing exploration in the mountainous town of Quezon, even as around 1,300 residents of the town appealed to Gov. Luisa Lloren-Cuaresma to stop the closure of the mine say8ing they would face starvation.

Besides displacing at least 94 workers, the shutdown of MTL Philippines in the remote village of Runruno also affected some 20 day care and grade school teachers which the company is financially supporting.

The firm’s move also makes uncertain the fate of a number of students whom it had granted scholarships for technical courses in a memorandum of agreement with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, other government agencies and non-government groups.

MTL Philippines earlier had filed for an extension of its exploration permit two months before its lapsed last July 25.

But it decided to temporarily stop its exploration after anti-mining residents raised complaints and after Cuaresma sent a letter to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources blaming the company for last year’s flash flood in its host community and seeking the withdrawal of its exploration permit.

“Due to the persistent complaints that the company is receiving from anti-mining groups followed by the letter of Gov. Cuaresma, our company decided to temporarily suspend our exploration activities effective July 25,” said Leo Sosa, manager of MTL Philippines’ Runruno project.

Ironically, only months earlier, Cuaresma, in her keynote speech during the induction of the officers of MTL Philippines Inc.-- Runruno Livelihood Foundation, expressed her “great appreciation” to the mining firm for its assistance to the villagers.

The same sentiment was also conveyed recently by Quezon Mayor Aurelio Salunat who lauded the mining company for all its assistance.

Lawyer Rosalie Soriano, who heads the MTL project’s administrative office, said the temporary shutdown directly affected at least 94 field personnel.

“The 66 regular employees will be maintained. However, employees involved directly in the drilling activities will be assigned to other tasks during the temporary (stoppage), Soriano informed the provincial labor office.

Those engaged in the replanting and rehabilitation of the exploration area will also be affected by the stoppage, company officials said.

In a report, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau’s regional office, said that contrary to the claims of anti-mining groups, MTL’s mining activities did not cause the flash floods that killed at least eight Runruno residents last year.

“The devastation was caused by different events that occurred either simultaneously or one after the other,” said Marinell Monteclaro and Felicitas Piligan, senior geologists of the MGB regional office in Tuguegarao City.

But they said these events were not attributable to MTL’s exploration.

Runruno, about two hours from this capital town, is said to be commercially rich in gold, copper and other mineral deposits.