LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March Fianza
Long before the Sitio Palatong, Tabio,
Mankayan barricade incident, I covered a picket line of “mining oppositionists”
sometime in the late 90s composed of Ibaloi kakailians,
many of whom were blood relatives. The barricade was organized at the gold rich
Camote Vein of Benguet Corp. just a stone’s throw away from the company’s
controversial open pit mines at Barangay Loakan, Antamok, Itogon. The Camote Vein would then become a
major source of ore for BC in 1996-97.
Many
of the picketers then were descendants of legitimate landowners who were born
there long before American gold prospectors operated the area in the late
1800s. The landowners were not really against the operation of the mines as
they have already accepted the truth that their ancestors and they themselves
and the American miners have co-existed in the community for a hundred years or
so. Landowners and the mining operators understand as well that both have benefited
from the yellow metal dug out from the bowels of the earth. Due to mining, they
have built homes, were able to send their children to college, bought for
themselves Elf trucks to ferry the accumulated ore to privately-owned bormils (ball mills) operating nearby.
But what stirred them to oppose the operation of BC’s
Benguet-Antamok Gold Operations (BAGO) was the fact that the small-scale mining
operations of each family was threatened by the bigger operations of the
company that boasted its ownership of a legitimate mining right over the Loakan
Camote Vein area in Itogon. Remember, there was no small-scale mining law or EO
79 to talk about in the 90s then, hence, every small-scale mining operation in
the country was “illegal,” so that the courts were on the side of the mining
company. The local police who personally knew the Loakan residents said the
picket lines were infiltrated by leftist activists, a fact that was admitted
later by cousins who actively manned the barricades.
Around 240 protesters were hauled to the Benguet provincial jail
on police trucks dispatched from Camp Dangwa as a result of the enforcement of
the court order. Eventually, the picketers were released and open pit mining
operations resumed right after the mass arrest. When the picketers were hauled
to the provincial jail, the outsider-instigators of the barricades were nowhere
to be found.
The weather was bad that time, and those in jail and their family
members who were left in their homes had to be fed. After instigating a barricade
that resulted to the arrest of innocent camote miners who were apparently
stage-managed by outside elements who successfully got what they wanted, not a
grain of rice nor a single single centavo was contributed by the so-called
“environmentalists and IP rights advocates” to help ease the hunger felt by
those they manipulated.
********
More than a decade and half later, I
found myself in De Javu,
in a similar situation two weeks ago when I was asked by newsmen Frank Cimatu
(Baguio Chronicle), Thom Picana (Amianan) and Jessie Maguiya (Bombo Radyo) to
tag along in their coverage in Mankayan. I felt fully awake even with barely a
two-hour sleep prior to our travel to Sitio Palatong, Barangay Tabio, Mankayan.
Until now, I am still wondering why we had to travel very late at night to
Mankayan when we needed the energy and much desired sleep as the incident we
had to cover was scheduled very early morning of the following day. We could
have traveled earlier a day before and enjoyed breakfast, lunch and supper on
the road, even if that meant additional expense for the tightly zipped purse of
the powers that be. What was important was that we were not sleepy and were
fully energized to cover the event. But that is another story.
Upon reaching Sitio Palatong at 6AM of September 17, 2012, we
were surprised to find farmer-residents already standing arm-in-arm, shoulder
to shoulder behind a diagonally parked boom truck that blocked the road leading
to the drill site at Sitio Madaymen. This was to stop the delivery of fencing
material to the mine drill site in one of the Far Southeast projects of Lepanto
and prevent law enforcers from delivering a special court order by Judge
Agapito K. Laoagan, Jr. of RTC Branch 64. Deputy Sherrif Henry Longay said this
was unexpected. The sheriffs were assisted by more than 70 policemen led by
P/Supts. Glen Lonogan and Darnel Dulnuan.
Aside from around 100 resident
picketers, I saw several Ninja-like masked men and women who were apparently
hiding their identities from cameras and authorities. With that, I asked
myself, “why would these people have to wear masks and hide their faces to
confront the authorities if they have no other interests except to really fight
for a good cause?” The rest of the crowd was composed of young out of school
children, “uzis” (uziseros) and residents who just wanted to witness the
incident and did not want to participate in the barricade, but who were
affected just the same because the ingress and egress to their community was
blocked by none other than their own neighbors.
As the morning sun warmed the tense atmosphere and after Sheriff
Longay explained to the barricade leaders their position and purpose, the
protesters turned into an unruly mob that started shouting invectives and
throwing rocks at the law enforcers. Supt. Dulnuan’s mouth was seriously hit by
a rock while the police were breaking open the barricade to arrest defiant
protesters. My right shoulder blade was also hit by a UFO. I could not point my
camera to the rock-throwing protesters behind the boom truck for fear that they
might hit my one and only Lumix DMC-FZ10, but I saw children follow after the
actions of the adults and picked up stones and threw them to any direction.
What kind of mother or guardian would allow innocent children to do things that
they are too young to grasp? This was a manifestation that the protesters would
not obey any lawful court order, and seeing Dulnuan bloodied in the face, Atty.
Lyman Salvador of the Commission on Human Rights said, this clearly is a “mob
rule.”
The assistance of former Mankayan councilor Atty. Richard
Kilaan, the protesters’ counsel, in helping pacify the aggressive mob of
protesters at that moment was sought after, but he was a no-show at the time
when the violent confrontation was at its peak. I was later informed by Longay
that he did show up later in the afternoon and the boom truck that was blocking
the road was removed. There was also a political circus in the air that time
with some elected politicians who came to persuade Longay and the law enforcers
to postpone enforcement of Laoagan’s order.
What puzzled me was while they
talked about delaying enforcement of a court order, they were not keen on
asking the protesters to remove their barricade because they were blocking a
public road and were stopping economic flow to and from the area which were
clear violations of laws. My only answer to the puzzle that came to my mind
that time why they were obviously acting in favor of the protesters and going
against the order of Judge Laoagan was that the sheriffs and majority of the
policemen, including the Judge in the case were not voters of Mankayan.
Yesterday, I was told by my spies in Mankayan that last
September 21, unidentified “foreign observers” were seen on site at Sitio
Madaymen. I said, “awan manen,
nausar manen ti kakailian.” Now I know why the barricades had
to be maintained for days – for the foreigners to see and assess for themselves
the situation on the ground. You have the answers as to who invited them and
why they are here, but I can only conclude that the foreigners who were
“interfering in the affairs” of another sovereign state were here to monitor
the financial assistance they have been sending to their NGO solicitors who
would surely report that the moneys have “really been going to the Third World
IP communities who are fighting for their rights,” and not to the pockets of
NGO leaders who now have built their mansions somewhere.
Who benefit from the
barricades? Not the mining camp, not the resident-protesters, not the misguided
and uninformed kailians and kabagians in the barricades, but the instigators
who are your “user-friendly,” I mean your friendly user neighbors. I wish these
foreign NGO partners tell the world who really benefit from the barricades and
stop sending financial assistance that do not trickle down to the real
beneficiaries.
I was also told that last September 26, some pseudo participants
in a community consultative assembly led by the NCIP at Barangay Tabio spoiled
the meeting by staging a walk-out when information about the FSE gold project
was about to be reported out. The additional info would have been necessary to
help the assembly decide on whether to go for or against the Lepanto-GoldFields
partnership project in a voting process during the FPIC to be conducted soon.
But those who staged the walk-out who misleadingly pulled away from the
assembly some of the elderly participants did not want the latter to be well
informed nor become more knowledgeable about the FSE project. How then can one
vote intelligently during the FPIC? I was told that an elderly woman who was
crying due to confusion was heard saying “haan
ku maawatan ti garaw dagituy u-ubbing” (I
cannot comprehend the actions of these youth).
********
The objectives of the self-styled oppositionists are no longer
firm, as far as I am concerned. I do not see consistency in placing
“environmental destruction” as a reason, because if that is so, then mining
should have been stopped even before the Americans took over from the Chinese
in the early 1900s. And by the way, if one is a true-blue Mankayan denizen,
then certainly he or she has benefited from the gold and copper in one way or
the other. As in Itogon, residents of Mankayan have built homes and were able
to send their children to school. Land ownership would be a better reason to
fight Lepanto, even if the court says otherwise. But decisions can be appealed.
I also have the feeling that there must have been something wrong that occurred
in the process of land transfer from the IP owners to Lepanto, but until the
court reverses itself, Lepanto owns the disputed property. On the other hand,
Lepanto has to exert more effort in “courting” her host community. I am quite
sure they have not been up to date in fulfilling their commitments. After mining
the gold and copper for almost a hundred years now, only Lepanto and Poblacion
as the centers were being improved. Lepanto has a golf course and an airstrip
but we see that the communities around the centers have yet to experience
cemented roads, and have yet to have 24 hour water in the kitchens supplied
through taps and pipes. – marchfianza777@yahoo.com
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