Diwalwal part 2

Mount Diwalwal in Compostela Valley epitomizes what happens when the government allows the unhampered operations of so-called “small-scale mining” which in truth is controlled by big-time operators.

The Diwalwal gold rush which started in the early 1980s has attracted a horde of more than 30,000 small-scale miners and turned the Diwalwal area into an environmental disaster.

Safety standards are something alien to Diwalwal miners and deaths of miners from collapsed tunnels are common occurrences. They usually go unreported.

Worse is problem of mercury contamination. Mercury is extensively used by the small-scale miners to extract the gold from ores. After more than three decades of mining, mercury pollution is so bad that in a study conducted by the University of the Philippines/Philippine General Hospital showed that 36 percent of Diwalwal residents have dangerously high levels of mercury.

Mercury pollution has spread to the river systems in that part of Mindanao. Already, fish and other marine life have been found contaminated.

Sadly, the government has to address the many problems created by the illegal mining in Diwalwal including massive pollution and environmental degradation even as it does not get any revenues at all from mining operations.

Tons of gold must have been mined in Diwalwal but the financiers and big-time syndicates who really control the Diwalwal mining are the ones who profit from all that gold.

The big-time syndicates and operators behind Diwalwal mining are apparently expanding their operations. They are targeting gold-rich Balabag in Bayog town in Zamboanga del Sur.

In a recent news report of the Manila Standard Today, Bayog Mayor Leonardo Babasa said that thousands of people have descended on his town in search of gold.

The problem of the people who want to exploit Balabag’s gold resources and turn it into another Diwalwal is that there is already a large-scale mining operator, TVI Resources Development Philippines Inc. — a publicly-listed Canadian company which has a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement approved by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the development of nearly 5,000 hectares in the Balabag area.

When TVIRD obtained its MPSA from the government to conduct mining operations in Balabag, it implemented a community relations and environmental protection program. It also offered relocation packages to the illegal small-scale miners who were operating in the area.

Most of the small-scale miners accepted the offers but some refused. Instead they organized the Monte de Oro Small Scale Miners Association and refused to relinquish their claim.

The Provincial Mining Regulatory Board of Zamboanga del Sur has recommended to the issuance of a cease and desist against MOSSMA in its mining operations in the Balabag area, citing that MOSSMA has been “using mercury and cyanide to extract precious metals” from the mine site. MOSSMA has no permit to conduct mining operations and its operation involves the use of “sophisticated equipment and hazardous chemicals which is detrimental to the health of the people and of the environment.”

Gov. Cerilles issued a cease and desist order on June 24, 2010. MOSSMA ignored the CDO.

DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Region IX, which has jurisdiction over the mine site at Balabag, has also issued a Cease and Desist Order against MOSSMA . It even called for the assistance of the military and the police.

MOSSMA has also ignored MGB’s CDO.

The illegal miners apparently will stop at nothing to be allowed to continue its operations and neutralize TVIRD.

Pacific Strategies and Assessment, an international private risk assessment and security agency, has come up with a “Special Report on the Coordinated Attack Against TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc.”

The attacks included the circulation of fake emails supposedly implicating TVIRD executives in a murder and other criminal conspiracies against people identified with MOSSMA.

The fake emails were sent to the Office of the President, Secretary Paje, other Cabinet Secretaries, heads of government agencies, private institutions, military and police officers and media.

PSA said “The emails are impressive when read by a non-expert, but a forensic analysis of the emails showed glaring inconsistencies with the company’s actual emails.”

The NBI agreed with the findings of PSA. “The emails…did not come from the authentic source (TVIRD) and are maliciously created,” NBI Agent Francis V. Senora said in his July 13, 2012 memorandum.

Some people might have the impression that the fight between the large Canadian mining company and the small-scale illegal miners is a fight between David and Goliath. They might be surprised that David is no weakling and packs a lot of wallop if you go by his ability to defy cease and desist orders and even wage a sophisticated demolition campaign against Goliath. –Alvin Capino, Manila Standard Today