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Kalinga junks comm’l mining

TABUK, Kalinga (May 12) — Indigenous peasant communities and advocates from the middle sectors in this lowland province want to stop all corporate mining operations in Kalinga as a result of the mining summit here last week. The summit put the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) in hot waters because of its negligence in the issuance of the free, prior informed consent (FPIC) to two exploration permitees over ancestral domains of Kalinga tribes.

As of January 31, this year, two out of 12 exploration permit applications (ExPA’s) have been approved. The European Wolfland Resources, Inc. EP 0001-2004 covering 496 hectares in Magnao was approved in July 2004 while that of Makilala Mining Co. Inc. EP 003A-2006 with 1494 hectares in Pasil was approved in January this year. Makilala reportedly has American Phelps Dodge equity shares.

More Applications
Reports from the regional Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (MGB) in Baguio City show 12 new mining applications, in varying stages of completion, in Kalinga. Two of these are applications for financial and technical assistance (AFTA), the rest are exploration permit applications (ExPA). There are no reported applications for mineral production sharing (APSA).

Both undergoing sectoral area clearance, the two AFTA’s by the Patrick Resource Corporation and the Mt. Franz Mining Corporation cover an area of 160,836.6 hectares in Kalinga and Mountain Province. The area subjected to these mining applications alone is more than half of Kalinga’s total land area of 311,940 hectares.

Wolfland has three other ExPA in Pinukpok (3,240 has.); Balbalan and Tabuk (1,715 has.); and Pasil (1,458 has.) while Makilala has another application in Pasil (1,776).

An ExPA covering 16,000 hectares by Facets Minerals, Inc.(13) was under appeal with the Mines Adjudicaton Board. That of Cordillera Exploration Co., Inc. (CEXI) (14) covering 15,880 hectares in the Kalinga border with Abra was due for posting and publication. The same company’s ExPA (37) in Kalinga and Apayao covering 9,332 hectares lacked certification from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). ExPA by Asia Pacific Basin Inc. (20) covering another 16,000 hectares also in Kalinga and Abra was under evaluation by the regional MGB. Malibato Minng Co., Inc. In Pasil (1715 has) and Odd Resources and Management Corporaton in Salegseg and in Madocay Abra (15,522 has) are processing area clearances.

Earlier CEXI AFTA’s in Kalinga and Apayao have been abandoned in 1996. Likewise, five ExPA’s by Newmont Philippines in Kalinga, were withdrawn in 1999.

People’s response
The summit, which gathered some 40 delegates representing peoples’ organizations, religious groups and women and youth sectors, formed an ad hoc committee, which vowed to conduct an array of activities that include massive information and education campaign, grassroots organizing, research, documentation, and mass actions all geared towards achieving a corporate mining-free Kalinga.

The Kalinga Religious Sector Association (Karsa) organized the mining summit, the third of its kind in Kalinga. # Lyn V. Ramo for NORDIS

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