Bill filed in Congress to stop open-pit mining

By Andrew Mangibin

BAGUIO CITY — Environmental activists joined the Makabayan Bloc in the House of Representatives in filing House Bill 6450 that seeks to impose a 25-year moratorium in prospective open-pit mining projects in the country.

The group filed the bill on March 3, the 25th anniversary of Republic Act 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, which, according to them, caused "unbridled destruction by open-pit mines for export" in the last 25 years.

Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (KPNE) National Coordinator Leon Dulce stressed that President Rodrigo Duterte's pronouncements against open-pit mining, coupled with the late former environment secretary Gina Lopez's Department Administrative Order and other local ordinances, being defied by mining corporations provides the impetus for the passage of the bill.

According to him, open-pit mining operations have high environmental risk and records of human rights violations to local communities. He cited the cases of mining projects in Mindanao like Tampakan in South Cotabato and King King mine in Compostela Valley.

The KPNE coordinator urged the government to halt the operations "until we have a National Industrialization Program that will ensure a needs-based, rights-based, and environmentally safe utilization of our mineral resources."

Lia Alonzo, Executive Director of the Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC)– Philippines and bill co-filer, said that damage to ecosystems and landscapes from 25 years of open-pit mining's "destructive methods" must likewise be compensated with 25 years of respite from such practices.

"We must learn from our bitter experiences of ecologically disruptive open-pit mining such as in the OceanaGold mine in Didipio (in Kasibu), Nueva Vizcaya, and the Philex Padcal mine in Benguet," she added.

The Philex Padcal mine is notable for spilling 20.6 million metric tons of toxic mine tailings onto tributaries leading to the Agno river in 2012, due to the structural failure of its tailings dam. Meanwhile, an environmental investigation mission conducted by CEC and Advocates of Science and Technology for the People on OceanaGold's Didipio operations found that the water pollution in the affected area was 2-8 times above safety levels for biological and agricultural purposes.

A Congressional hearing was also held last month regarding Oceana Gold's reported human rights violations reported in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. However, groups opposing the company's operation noted the inquiry only served as a platform for the Oceana Gold's campaign to renew its Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement.

Lumad activists, who were among those who backed the bill's filing in the house, slammed open-pit mining projects for the militarization in Mindanao communities who continue to resist "destructive" mining operations and related activities.

Alviena Wali, a South Cotabato Lumad representing Save Our Schools Network – Mindanao, decried the military presence in their ancestral lands, even before the establishment of commercial mining operations.

"At least 12 environmental defenders have been killed since 2001 for opposing the Tampakan mine's threats to our [ancestral] domain's forests, fields, schools, and villages," she said.  -- nordis.net