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No endorsement for Teresa Ore Project

Mankayan SB to consult communities

BAGUIO CITY (Apr. 7) — The Sangguniang Bayan (SB) of Mankayan, Benguet failed the representatives of the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMC)-Lepanto Mines Division (LMD) when it did not endorse the Teresa Ore Project.

In its regular session on April 4, the Mankayan dads instead exercised the council’s mandate to conduct consultations with the communities affected by the project.

Company representatives were at the session apparently to convince the local government unit to give its endorsement of their Teresa Ore Body (Teresa) Gold mine project.

Teresa is a newly discovered gold ore body in LCMC’s mining area in Mankayan. It is projected to add another 15 years for its mining operations. This deposit is parallel to the Victoria Gold Projects I and II, and is believed to have a higher gold value than the two latter projects.

Before the session started, SB Denver Tongacan walked out from the hall as he anticipated that the LCMC representatives were there to acquire favorable endorsement from the SB members. In a letter to the SB, LCMC asked for a chance to present its projects. Tongacan, ABC (Association of Barangay Councils) president and chairman of MAQUITACDG (Mankayan, Quirino, Tadian, Cervantes Danggayan a Gunglo), hoped his fellow SB members will look forward and realize the expected worsening of the socio-economic activities of the town’s peasant and small scale mining communities. He told NORDIS that he was concerned with the plight of hundreds of thousands of peasants living along the Abra River once endorsement to the said projected is granted.

In the said session, Engr. Ernesto B. Lawagan, LCMC-LMD assistant resident manager, made clear that LCMC wanted the SB endorsement to smoothen its mining operations. He claimed that there are not enough areas left for LCMC to mine.

Lawagan discussed through a PowerPoint presentation the new mine project and claimed that LCMC is environment friendly. He presented clear water samples from LCMC’s tailings dam, which he said is now home to domesticated ducks.

Lawagan’s report also said that the fumes emitted at the Tohking exhaust tunnel is “natural vapor”. He boasted that the company built school facilities and introduced improvements and development of community roads, including some portions of the Halsema Highway.

The company, he said, has provided baseline data and monitoring for a safe and responsible mining.

LCMC has reportedly generated P2 billion yearly for beneficial business and indirect employment, and that it contributed to employment, education and food security among the employees and their beneficiaries.

Community members however noted that the SB reportedly was agitated as the councilors observed a discrepancy on the data presented by Lawagan. SB member Cellong K. Campos aired the possible effects of the opening of the Teresa Ore project as he revealed the damages caused by mining to community structures which included depletion of water sources and its ill-effect to agricultural lands.

Community, peasant, and people’s organizations like the Danggayan Dagiti Maseknan nga Umili ti Mankayan (DAMAYAN), Colalo Residents’ Organization (CRO) and Barangay Bulalacao Movement (BBM) also strongly reacted that the said lobby is a clear effort of LCMC-LMD to railroad the endorsement and to persuade the members of SB to favor their endorsement. These organizations urged SB members not to endorse LCMC’s project.

DAMAYAN members pointed out that 67 years of LCMC’s large-scale mining is enough.

Environmentalists in the region claim that mine wastes are dumped in the Abra River including the alleged 3,000 kilograms of cyanide daily and 1,300 tons of debris daily that devastate the agricultural productivity of farm lands in the low-lying area.

The Save the Abra River Movement (STARM) earlier conducted environmental investigatory missions and found that LCMCO-LMD’s 67 years of mining operations have thrown massive silt and dangerous chemicals into the Abra River and that it has deprived the peasant communities of the abundance from the river.

SB member Peter Banagi observed the massive devastation of Colalo, a community above LCMC’s Tailings Dam- A. He said the problems remain unaddressed. SB members also revealed that the town’s share in excise taxes in the past was unfair. They challenged LCMC to support a bill giving the host communities the right to collect their actual excise tax share.

SB member Richard Kilaan raised questions on the existence of the projects as reported by Lawagan as he claimed that the SB is not aware of these projects.

Put on a defensive situation, Agusto Villaluna, LCMC senior vice-president and resident manager, was forced to admit the misleading reports in the said projects. He said there was a problem in implementation and that he is aware of these.

This includes the installation of a school toilet at the Balili Elementary School. Mayor Manalo Galuten, who was in the Session Hall, walked out irritated by the reports of questionable projects.

Tongacan and leaders of DAMAYAN, CRO and BBM further asserted that the key to effective and comprehensive development to their municipality is absolutely not large scale mining but the unity and cooperation of the people and their public officials to sustain and develop their agricultural lands and other natural resources in the framework of sustainable development that answers the basic social services and basic needs of the people.

LCMC has explorations in Binucong, Loo, Bugias in Benguet and barangays Dacudac, Lenga, Cadad-anan, Am-am and Inodey Falls in Tadian, Mt. Province, where exploration is done in partnership with the Shipside, Inc.; Poblacion, Lubon, Kayan, and Bunga, all in Tadian, where exploration is done with the Diamond Drilling Corporation; and Mainit, Bontoc, Mt. Province where the exploration is done solely by the LCMC.

Earlier, Mankayan residents and various people’s organizations including MAQUITACDG petitioned against LCMC expansions several times and submitted these to the different government agencies and concerned LGUs. Also, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Ilocos Sur passed Resolution # 082, series of 2004, strongly opposing the LCMC-LMD mining expansion to the Teresa Ore Body, the re-opening of the Tohking exhaust tunnel for the expansion and the revival of copper mining production. The SB of Cervantes similarly issued Resolution # 042 democratically supporting the MAQUITACDG’s clamor to stop the LCMCO expansion.

Aside from Villaluna and Lawagan, other LCMC staff in the session included the vice president for exploration, manager for finance, two engineers in charge of the tailings dam and for environment, counsel Atty. Welby Manlong, a newly hired geologist company COMREL, and Fernando Agustin, a local LCMC official. # Arthur L. Allad-iw, with reports from NORDIS Mankayan

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