Reg’l body adopts guide to responsible mining 05-11-20

	NORDIS WEEKLY November 20, 2005
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Reg’l body adopts guide to responsible mining
*Minerals Action Plan implementation* TABUK, Kalinga (Nov. 17) — The Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC) today adopted a proposed guide to the promotion and advocacy of responsible mining in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) as the framework for the promotion and advocacy of the Minerals Action Plan (MAP) in the Cordillera. The adopted proposal lined up judicious and conscientious enforcement of the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) provision of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act; corporate responsibility at service delivery to host communities; a co-ownership in mining venture by indigenous peoples’ communities; the putting up of a trust fund for mine rehabilitation; and the 40% of mine taxes paid directly to the local treasury. “Our concern is not only to enforce the law but also to protect our constituents, as well as topromote the welfare of workers in case the mines close,” RDC Chairperson and Mountain Province Governor Maximo Dalog pointed out in approving the proposal. Lawyer Leilene Marie Carrantes-Gallardo, regional director of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP-CAR), reiterated the RDC Executive Committee Resolution 051 dated November 7, 2005. This endorsed the recommended guidelines as the core of regional communications plan on responsible mining. Gallardo enumerated concerns in an executive summary prepared by the RDC Committee on Indigenous Peoples Concerns. The five-point guide include issues on the application of the FPIC; adherence to the principles of open and balanced project valuation; establishment of co-venture agreements on mining projects with IP stakeholders; establishment of a trust fund for mining rehabilitation; and ensuring IPs/ICCs equitable share to national wealth. Issues raised against mining Gallardo pointed out “wanton operations in the light of seeking profit made earlier mining initiatives socially unacceptable due to its low regard to the environment”. This resulted heavy tolls on health, the ecological balance and the overall landscape. She said these ill effects of mining are still felt today even in abandoned mine sites. The executive summary also frowned at transnational companies’ (TNCs) lopsided valuation of resource development projects and their least-cost approach to maximize the return of investment. Thus bringing home wealth exacted from local communities and leaving behind all the unwanted and disadvantageous remains of mining. IPs in the Cordillera have rarely benefited from mining ventures, and that in some instances, the original land occupiers were forced out of the mining areas by military operations, which resulted in human rights violations. Gallardo also pointed out in the executive summary that the government could not bill mines that closed down for the full rehabilitation of the devastation that their operations have left on the land and environment. The paper also criticized the mining TNC’s little sense of and concern for IP communities and continuous defiance of their corporate responsibility. Gallardo said the taxes collected from mining were never equitably shared among the rightful partakers, specifically the IPs in whose lands and ancestral domains the incomes from mining were extracted. MAP drew the guidelines for implementing the Mining Act of 1995, which the Supreme Court ruled as constitutional sometime in February. It has been criticized by the organized sections of indigenous populations nationwide for advancing foreign capitalists’ interests in mining. Meanwhile in this locality, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance and its ally organizations such as Kalinga Agkakaysa a Salakniban ken Gameng (KALASAG), Timpuyog Dagiti Mannalon iti Kalinga (TMK) and Kalinga Adhoc Committee on Mining Advocacy, have consistently opposed large mining operations and have been advocating clean mining. To date, the RDC notes that 92% of the region’s population is IPs and 95% of its lands are within the IP ancestral domains. # *Lyn V. Ramo for NORDIS*
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	NORDIS WEEKLY November 20, 2005
Home \| To bottom	Previous \| Next
Reg’l body adopts guide to responsible mining
*Minerals Action Plan implementation* TABUK, Kalinga (Nov. 17) — The Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC) today adopted a proposed guide to the promotion and advocacy of responsible mining in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) as the framework for the promotion and advocacy of the Minerals Action Plan (MAP) in the Cordillera. The adopted proposal lined up judicious and conscientious enforcement of the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) provision of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act; corporate responsibility at service delivery to host communities; a co-ownership in mining venture by indigenous peoples’ communities; the putting up of a trust fund for mine rehabilitation; and the 40% of mine taxes paid directly to the local treasury. “Our concern is not only to enforce the law but also to protect our constituents, as well as topromote the welfare of workers in case the mines close,” RDC Chairperson and Mountain Province Governor Maximo Dalog pointed out in approving the proposal. Lawyer Leilene Marie Carrantes-Gallardo, regional director of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP-CAR), reiterated the RDC Executive Committee Resolution 051 dated November 7, 2005. This endorsed the recommended guidelines as the core of regional communications plan on responsible mining. Gallardo enumerated concerns in an executive summary prepared by the RDC Committee on Indigenous Peoples Concerns. The five-point guide include issues on the application of the FPIC; adherence to the principles of open and balanced project valuation; establishment of co-venture agreements on mining projects with IP stakeholders; establishment of a trust fund for mining rehabilitation; and ensuring IPs/ICCs equitable share to national wealth. Issues raised against mining Gallardo pointed out “wanton operations in the light of seeking profit made earlier mining initiatives socially unacceptable due to its low regard to the environment”. This resulted heavy tolls on health, the ecological balance and the overall landscape. She said these ill effects of mining are still felt today even in abandoned mine sites. The executive summary also frowned at transnational companies’ (TNCs) lopsided valuation of resource development projects and their least-cost approach to maximize the return of investment. Thus bringing home wealth exacted from local communities and leaving behind all the unwanted and disadvantageous remains of mining. IPs in the Cordillera have rarely benefited from mining ventures, and that in some instances, the original land occupiers were forced out of the mining areas by military operations, which resulted in human rights violations. Gallardo also pointed out in the executive summary that the government could not bill mines that closed down for the full rehabilitation of the devastation that their operations have left on the land and environment. The paper also criticized the mining TNC’s little sense of and concern for IP communities and continuous defiance of their corporate responsibility. Gallardo said the taxes collected from mining were never equitably shared among the rightful partakers, specifically the IPs in whose lands and ancestral domains the incomes from mining were extracted. MAP drew the guidelines for implementing the Mining Act of 1995, which the Supreme Court ruled as constitutional sometime in February. It has been criticized by the organized sections of indigenous populations nationwide for advancing foreign capitalists’ interests in mining. Meanwhile in this locality, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance and its ally organizations such as Kalinga Agkakaysa a Salakniban ken Gameng (KALASAG), Timpuyog Dagiti Mannalon iti Kalinga (TMK) and Kalinga Adhoc Committee on Mining Advocacy, have consistently opposed large mining operations and have been advocating clean mining. To date, the RDC notes that 92% of the region’s population is IPs and 95% of its lands are within the IP ancestral domains. # *Lyn V. Ramo for NORDIS*
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