Benguet town folk nix Philex mine operations

BY DEXTER A.SEE

TUBA, Benguet – Residents, mostly tribal folk of this town passed a resolution opposing mining operations of Philex Mining Co. saying these destroyed their environment and depleted their water sources. Despite this, residents of 14 sitios of Barangay Camp 3 held a dialogue with company executives saying there are still claims which the company has to settle.

Philex earlier filed a motion for reconsideration with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples resulting to the meeting. On water sources, the communities and the company agreed to hire services of a hydrologist who will conduct a study on the depletion of the underground water. Residents earlier said the depleted water supply was caused by the mining operation of Philex.

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau earlier granted to the mining company a one-year special permit that allows it to continue its operations provided that it gets a free and prior informed consent (FPIC) from affected communities.

On the issue over unsettled claims, both parties agreed Philex would delineate the 200-meter buffer zone of the natural subsidence area together with the representatives of the NCIP, MGB, the provincial government and the affected communities.

This would determine if their areas were located n the company’s buffer zone. Residents said they were not aware of the existence of the buffer zone, saying they did not know if their claims would be paid by the company. The NCIP and the provincial government required that the results of the survey of the hydrologist and the report on the delineation of the buffer zone will be discussed at a consultation set on Nov. 13 to settle the impasse over issues.

This, as lawyer Amador Batay-an, Cordillera NCIP director, said economic development would be boosted if the brewing dispute between indigenous cultural communities and the management of the Philex Mining Corp. in Tuba, this province is immediately settled. But he said valid public interests of affected communities must always prevail over individual or personal claims.

Batay-an, citing the vital role played by mining industry in the efforts to improve the economy, said the recent breakthrough in the bid to settle the local mining feud was an indication there was a solution to the dispute over the company’s natural subsidence area being protested by the affected communities.

The NCIP official said the boom in the mining industry, fueled by record-breaking prices of metal in the global market, meant a bright future not only for the company but also for the communities directly and indirectly benefiting from Philex’s operation. “This is the reason why there is an urgent need for all-out efforts to settle the conflict arising from misunderstanding and misinterpretation that could adversely affect both parties,” he said.