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Mining ruins Kalinga environment — CPA

BAGUIO CITY (June 23) — The Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA)–Kalinga chapter reported that mining activities in the Laocon-Buaya area in the said province would cause environmental destruction and pollute several rivers which serve as the irrigation source for many farms in the area, including Conner in Apayao province.

The Cordillera Exploration Inc. (CEXI) has applied for a two-year renewable mineral exploration which covers 8,000 hectares at Laocon in Balbalan town. Laocon is composed of six villages: Tawang and Buaya in Balbalan; Nabuangan, Bonog, Karikitan and Pugin in Apayao. The Igubang tribe of Malibcong, Abra, the Buaya tribe of Kalinga, and the municipality of Conner are each asserting ancestral land domain claims and boundary jurisdiction.

In a press release, CPA said that CEXI’s mining activities “cause disturbances to the Buaya ancestral forest, which will eventually cause wild animals therein to abandon the area”. This ancestral forest has provided for the Buaya tribe’s many needs, from the household to the children’s schooling, the CPA said.

The third Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) consultation took place this month in Balbalan, with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). Here, MGB and NCIP representatives allegedly explained to the i-Buaya that mineral exploration is limited to “research studies on the deposited mineral resources in the area of application and that it assures no environmental destruction,” the CPA said in its statement.

At this point, CPA said it is important to clarify that exploration is a part of mining operations.

According to MGB, CEXI works with the Anglo-American Mining Company.

At the consultation, the Buaya tribe has initially agreed to the CEXI’s application, but points out that the company’s Community Development Assistance (CDA) of P400,000 is insufficient for the villages of Tawang and Buaya, the communities inhabited by the Buaya tribe. The CDA will cover the tribe’s demands, such as the construction of two school buildings at Bassaw, and Buaya; 3-room buildings at Tawang Elementary School; Taggay-Bassaw Loquing road rehabilitation; Bassaw-Bagwang road construction; gravelling of provincial road from Aciga, Pinukpuk and Brgy. Buaya; four scholarship grants for a 4-year degree course; construction of a micro-hydro project; and rehabilitation of exploration areas.

In this regard, CPA called for the review of the agreement, including the Buaya tribe’s claim that CEXI has intruded their ancestral forest since August 2004. # NORDIS-Kalinga

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