By Shipra Prakash
18 November 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL] : The land of Macambol in the island of Mindanao in the Philippines lies between two areas of rare natural beauty: the Hamiguitan Mountain range and Pujada Bay. According to the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), approximately 25 percent of the 5,000 people living there are indigenous people. While average family incomes are low, most of the population is still able to make a living from their surrounding natural environment – through fishing and farming mango, coconut and root crops.
And so the fact that the Anglo-Australian mining company BHP Billiton plans to develop a nickel processing plant and operate a mine there for around 30 years is highly relevant to them.
Pujada Bay (CAFOD)
The Philippines’ experience in mining has not been a pleasant one. For instance, the 1996 mining accident in Marinduque Island in the Phillipines – when more than four million metric tons of toxic mine waste spilled from the Marcopper mine – caused widespread flooding and damage to both people and property. According to an Oxfam Australia Mining Ombudsman Case Study in 2004, communities throughout Marinduque said that the effects of the accident were still affecting their livelihoods and health.
But such tragedies are not restricted to mining accidents. CAFOD says that mining can have long-lasting effects on communities: through social division, displacing people from their homes and lands against their will and causing irreversible loss to biodiversity.
A new Report about the situation in Macambol was released by CAFOD last week. Titled ‘Kept in the Dark,’ it warned, “BHP Billiton and the Asiaticus Management Corporation (AMCOR) – a Philippine company BHP Billiton has partnered with – have not listened to the concerns of local communities and failed to live up to high standards of corporate behavior. This raises fundamental questions about the basis of BHP’s ‘social license’ to operate in Macambol and could have potentially dire consequences for local communities and the environment.”
Philippine law gives indigenous people the right to give or withhold their consent for large-scale development projects on the land on which they live. And so, in 2002, a Memorandum of Agreement between AMCOR, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and leaders of the Mandaya and Monobo tribes was signed. “The Agreement states that the Mandaya and Monobo have given their consent for all exploration, development, and utilization of mineral resources covered within the permit areas,” authors of the Report wrote.
However, members of the Mandaya tribe have questioned the authority of Rufino Mapinogos, the person who acted on their behalf. They say that he did not represent their views. Moreover, they told CAFOD that AMCOR paid Mapinogos and the current elected leader of the Macambol village council between PhP 15,000 to 35,000 – (about US $297 to US $692) per month.
Furthermore, the CAFOD Report alleges that members of the Macambol community have not been given accurate information about the mining project. ”People are being kept in the dark,” Sonya Maldar, leading author of the Report and Extractives Policy Analyst at CAFOD, told MediaGlobal. CAFOD’s discussions with community members revealed the depth of knowledge these people did not have: “They lack basic information about the project plans and timelines and have not had access to independent analysis of its potential social and environmental impacts,” authors of the Report wrote.
The mining project falls between two environmentally significant areas. The first is the Mount Hamiguitan Protected Area, which is home to 204 species, 164 of which are found nowhere else in the world, 33 of which are very rare. Meanwhile, Pujada Bay lies beneath the proposed mining area and is home to a collection of endangered species including sea cows, turtles and stingrays. CAFOD says that Pujada Bay is a source of livelihood for an estimated 65,000 people from the nine coastal village council areas within the Mati municipality. The authors allege that there are plans to locate the processing plant on the shores of Pujada Bay, which raises “particular concerns about the impact on biodiversity and on the livelihoods of local farmers and fisherfolk.”
Furthermore, allegations of bribery have only added to speculation that the process for securing approval for the mining project has been flawed. One community leader – who cannot be named because of security reasons – said that Jun Cabisong, a government official from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, offered him PhP 100,000 (about US $1,978) – which could be split between ten community leaders. In return, the community leaders would have to sign an agreement that would state they give their consent to the mining project.
In protest at the situation, CAFOD last week gave copies of the Report to shareholders at BHP Billiton’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and voiced their concerns to them.
But the outcome of the meeting was not what they had hoped. “While we are pleased that we have an ongoing dialogue with BHP Billiton, I feel the response I got at the AGM was unsatisfactory,” Maldar said. BHP Billiton maintained that during the process of gaining consent from the local communities for the mining project, all requirements had been met. “We refute that,” Maldar remarked.
BHP Billiton plans to start mine production in 2014 or 2015. However, before this can start, governmental approval is needed, as the company currently only has mine exploration permits.
CAFOD admits that modern industrial societies cannot function without metals. However, it also points out that “in some cases the risks posed to communities and mining would be too great. If the people of Macambol believe this is not the case, then ultimately mining should not go ahead.”
Maldar said that CAFOD is hoping that BHP Billiton will implement its recommendations – which include starting a new consent process, conducting an independent investigation into the allegations of bribery and publishing ‘full’ information about the project’s potential social and environmental impacts.
If BHP Billiton implements CAFOD’s recommendations, it may lead to the people of Macambol making a more informed choice of their future. But some fear they will continue to be “kept in the dark.”
