BUTUAN CITY (MindaNews/17 February) – Some 2,500 families in the lakeside town of Jabonga, Agusan del Norte were displaced by floods brought by a low pressure area that hit parts of Mindanao last Wednesday. A state of calamity was immediately declared in the town following an almost nonstop rainfall which started last February 13, Monday. [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/07 February) — After banning smoking within its city hall premises last month, the local government of nearby Koronadal City has prohibited starting this month the use of plastic bags and styrofoam containers among its employees and in its offices. Koronadal City Mayor Peter Miguel said Tuesday they imposed the “no plastic, [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/07 February) – Bukidnon Gov. Alex Calingasan announced Monday he will ask the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to deputize the province’s quarantine personnel as forest rangers to better monitor and stop the passage of trucks carrying logs along the province. Calingasan made the announcement before members of the Bukidnon Press Club [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/04 February) — The government’s target to be self-sufficient in rice production by 2013 is “not achievable with mining,” an environmental scientist specializing on economic development said as he claimed thousands of hectares of  ricelands would be affected if the Tampakan project of the Sagittarius Mines’ Inc., is approved. “This is possibly the most [...]

BUTUAN CITY (MindaNews/04 February) — An organization of  Butuanons including US-based groups urged Congress to scrap what it called  a “deceptive” proposed law to  protect Hilong Hilong from destruction but would seemingly allow mining, logging and quarrying in area. Rene Vargas, president of the Ivory Charities Foundation (ICF) in Butuan City, said there are two [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY  (MindaNews/04  February) — Bukidnon Gov. Alex Calingasan has named Bishiop Jose Cabantan as head of the Bukidnon Watershed and River Basin Forum created through an Executive Order issued last month. The Forum convenes civil society organizations to participate in  decision-making, particularly on environment concerns. Calingasan told MindaNews Friday that the bishop is the [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/27 January) —  The two-day International Conference on Mining in Mindanao ended Friday with calls to repeal the 1995 Mining Act, enact a pro-Filipino, pro-environment alternative mining law and declare a mining moratorium. The “Mindanao Declaration: Defending the Dignity of Life, Securing our Future” called for the “promotion of sustainable, responsible and equitable [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/27 January) – Contributions of the mining industry to Mindanao’s economy are meager, compared with agriculture from 2001 to 2009, Margarita “Maita” Gomez, Coordinator of Bantay Kita Action for Economic Reforms, said at the first day of the two-day International Conference of Mining on Thursday. Gomez said that based on her research culled [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/27 January) – Despite the debacle on its application for an environmental compliance certificate (ECC), foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines, Inc. has released a new study showing a significant increase in the volume of copper and gold deposits in the mines site, a mining executive said on Friday Richard Laufmann, Indophil Resources NL, said the [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/22 Jan) –  The Ateneo de Davao University and the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines are hosting a two-day international conference on mining in Mindanao on January 26 and 27. The conference  will focus on business and economics of mining, environmental  impacts, human rights, international standards and state of play in the [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/21 January) – Back in 1993, Bukidnon already had the Bukidnon Watershed Protection and Development Council (BWPDC), a multi-sectoral body to exercise general guidance and oversight functions relative to watershed and environmental management in the province. The council, activated through Executive Order No. 26, formulated the Bukidnon Watershed Management Framework Plan (BWMFP), which [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/16 January) —The Diocese of Marbel has intensified the campaign for the declaration of the mountains in Tampakan, South Cotabato as a protected area, which would effectively ban all forms of mining activities there. Tampakan Vice Mayor Relly Leysa said on Monday that Diocese of Marbel Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez asked him Sunday to [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/14 January) — The Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) lauded the decision of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources denying the application of Sagittarius Mines Inc. for an environmental compliance certificate for its planned $5.9 billion mining project that straddles three provinces of Mindanao. In a statement today, Kalikasan-PNE [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/14 January) — A coalition of religious, nongovernment and civil society organizations today said they will advance “a bigger commitment to prevent more Sendongs by working for climate and economic justice” at the same time that they started giving stress debriefing sessions for survivors of the flood brought by Storm Sendong [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/13 January) — Efforts to bring the massive Tampakan copper-gold project to commercial phase suffered a major blow after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources rejected the proponent’s application for an environmental compliance certificate (ECC). Documents obtained by the Diocese of Marbel showed that Environment Secretary Ramon Paje rejected the ECC application [...]

PANTUKAN, Compostela Valley (MindaNews/06 January) – Local Governments Secretary Jesse Robredo has ordered the closure of  tunnels in high-risk areas and the demolition of houses in “no habitation” zones in the gold rush sites. BRIEFING. Local Governments Secretary Jesse Robredo listens to the briefing of Col. Roberto Domines, commander of the Army’s 1001st Brigade, in [...]

KORONADAL CITY  (MindaNews/06 January) — Water level in Lake Maughan in T’boli, South Cotabato has risen due to a clogged waterway, an official said on Friday. Silverio Tandog, project manager of the Allah Valley Landscape Development Alliance (AVLDA), said boulders have impeded the flow of water at the mouth of Lake Maughan. “There’s a need [...]

SITIO DIAT UNO, Napanapan, Pantukan (MindaNews/06 January) – As early as 2008, the local government here had ordered small-scale miners in the gold rush sites to vacate areas already identified as high-risk but they refused to leave, citing economic reasons, Arnulfo Lantaya, spokesperson of the local disaster council, said. Lantaya also said that after the [...]

PANTUKAN, Compostela Valley (MindaNews/05 January) — Landslide struck a gold rush site here at 3 a.m. Thursday, killing at least 18 persons, including a six-year old girl. LANDSLIDE. Rescuers dig through the dirt and rubble at the landslide site in Barangay Napnapan, Pantukan, Compostela Valley on Thursday, January 5. At least 18 persons were killed [...]

NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews/05 January) – It is difficult to imagine that this frail little girl of 8 years would survive the blind fury of Storm Sendong.  Abegail Jamero was swept and was buffeted by rampaging floodwaters for eight hours in pitch dark at the advent of the storm on 16 December 2011 in Cagayan [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/05 January) — Filipino-owned Alsons Power Holding Corporations (AHPC) has acquired additional shares in the exploration company Indophil Resources NL, allowing it to nominate two board seats in the publicly-listed Australian mining exploration company. AHPC is the power group holding company of Alsons Group owned by the Alcantara family. In a press [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/05 January) – Sixteen months after the petition to review the open bit ban  was brought before the Sangguiang Panlalawigan of South Cotabato, the matter is  “still under serious study” by the legislators. The petition was aimed at allowing Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI)  to go on commercial stream in 2016. SMI, which is [...]

DAVAO CITY  (MindaNews/05 January) – At least 16 persons were killed and a still undetermined number were reported missing when a landslide struck a gold rush site in Pantukan, Compostela Valley at 3 a.m. today (Thursday). Col. Camilo Ligayo, chief of the Army’s 73rd Infantry Battalion, said 16 bodies had been recovered from the landslide [...]

TAMPAKAN, South Cotabato (MindaNews/3 Jan) – Foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines, Inc. has failed to secure an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) last year, as was the target, for its massive Tampakan copper-gold project, a company executive confirmed on Monday. John Arnaldo, Sagittarius Mines corporate communications manager, told MindaNews that the ECC application for the Tampakan mine is [...]

VALENCIA CITY (MindaNews/27 December) – Search and rescue teams, including three helicopters were deployed to this city Tuesday morning following reports from Governor Alex Calingasan that hundreds were trapped in Inawaan, Barangay Batangan and in Purok 2 after floods inundated communities along the Pulangi River. Calingasan reported that as of  8:30 a.m. 300 persons were [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/22 December) – The local government units of Cagayan de Oro City and Misamis Oriental decided not to hold any form of Christmas gatherings and parties as a way of expressing sympathy to the victims of the flash floods brought about by Typhoon Sendong that hit mostly in Northern Mindanao. “How [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/22 Dec) – Journalists, more often than not, are among the first to respond to distress calls and to arrive in disaster areas by reason and force of their trade. Many have developed the kind of distance needed to objectively report on breaking incidents, some of them very traumatic events. On Saturday, [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/18 December) — Village officials in two South Cotabato towns were instructed to intensify their monitoring activities in a bid to lick the destructive sluice mining, locally called “banlas,” and other illegal mining operations. The directive was contained in Executive Order 28 recently issued by South Cotabato Gov. Arthur Y. Pingoy, Jr., which [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/17 December) — A Christmas miracle happened in the high seas of Macajalar Bay Saturday as 275 men, women and children swept to sea by the mammoth floods unleashed by tropical storm Sendong were rescued by fisherfolk, a ship’s crew and Air Force personnel. The daring rescue  from the clutches of [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/17 December) –  The death toll in Saturday’s flash floods in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan had, as of 7 p.m., risen to 327, most of them children. At least 260 persons remain missing in the worst flooding in Mindanao in the last 25 years. In Cagayan de [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/17 December) –  Tropical storm Sendong brought 180 mm of rainfall in less than 24 hours starting late Friday afternoon, flooding 23 of this city’s 80 barangays by early Saturday morning, weather specialist Mario Guya of the Philippine Astronomical and Geophysical Services Administration (PAGASA) said. Guya said Sendong brought rains with [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/17 December) —  Six bridges were destroyed in two towns in northern Bukidnon leaving the town of Baungon, in the province’s border with Cagayan de Oro City, “totally isolated,” Bukidnon Governor Alex Calingasan said Saturday morning. Calingasan told MindaNews by telephone that no one can get in and out of Baungon town because [...]

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/17 December) –   Tropical storm Sendong raged across Northern Mindanao at 1 a.m. today, sending thousands of residents to their roofs as floodwaters rose rapidly in the cities of  Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. A still undetermined number of persons died in the two cities but Chief Inspector Lemuel Gunda, head [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/15 December) — Three Mindanao bishops in the areas where the Tampakan copper-gold project of the Sagittarius Mines, Inc. reiterated in their joint statement Wednesday that they cannot support the project. “As pastors of the flock, (we) are deeply troubled and concerned on the irreversible damage to the environment particularly to the biodiversity [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/14 December) — On the same day that it effectively gave the green light for the controversial coal-fired power plant project of Aboitiz Power Corp., the city council made the initial step toward declaring Davao as a mining-free city. During the regular session on Monday, Councilors Victorio U. Advincula Jr. and Paolo Z. [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/13 December) — The Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources -10 today served a cease and desist order issued earlier against illegal mining operators in Gango, Libona, Bukidnon, a bureau official told MindaNews. Engr. Daniel Belderol, officer in charge of the MGB mine management division said via [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/12December)—At least 100,000 signatures gathered in three Mindanao dioceses against the Tampakan copper-gold project will be submitted to Malacanang to persuade President Benigno S. Aquino III to issue a directive stopping the foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines Inc. from proceeding, an official said Saturday. Rene Pamplona, advocacy officer of the Diocese of Marbel’s Social [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/06 December)—A foreign conservation group is all set to conduct a two-month research on tarsiers, a “near threatened” species, in Mt. Matutum, South Cotabato’s landmark peak, officials said. Dr. Pierre Fidenci, president of Endangered Species International (ESI), said that a four-man team would be fielded starting December 9 to study the habitat of [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/1 Dec) – This city is least vulnerable to climate change compared to three urban areas in the country, namely, Baguio, Ilo-ilo and Cebu, a recent study conducted by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Philippines and the Bank of the Philippine Islands Foundation revealed. The study entitled “Business Risk Assessment and the [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/30 October)  –  The Mines and Geosciences Bureau has given its nod to Sagittarius Mines, Inc. and a mining firm in Misamis Oriental to resume exploration activities. The two firms in Mindanao were part of 10  nationwide whose applications to resume exploration activities were approved recently by Leo Jasareno, MGB acting national director. [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/15 Sept) – Small-scale gold miners in at least 58 hectares in the municipality of Libona in Bukidnon being financed by foreigners are operating illegally and using mercury and cyanide, an environment official said. Samuel Cadavos, chief of the Bukidnon Environment and Natural Resources Office (BENRO), warned members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan that [...]

ALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/13 Sept) – The province of Bukidnon is one of 10 provinces in the country selected as a pilot area for the Joint Programme on Strengthening the Philippines’ Institutional Capacity to adapt to climate change, according to the National Economic Development Authority, which spearheads the program in the country. The joint program, dubbed [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/1 September) – The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Northern Mindanao 10 (DENR-10) has ordered a stop of the illegal small scale gold mining operations in Dao, San Fernando, Bukidnon Rodante Felina, officer in charge of the MGB mine management division, said the MGB [...]

ORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/24 August) – Mercury contamination in the Pulabato River, which straddles the mines development site of foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI), has reached 1.7 microgram per liter (mc/L) or 340 times beyond the maximum limit for the protection of public health. Eileen Estrada, environment officer for Tampakan town in South Cotabato, confirmed on [...]

ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews/27 June) – People living in low-lying and coastal areas should begin moving out now in anticipation of the likely impact of climate change, an official warned alluding to the projected rise in sea levels once polar ice melts as a result of higher atmospheric temperatures due to the phenomenon called global warming. [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/22 June) – Foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines, Inc. has started recently a new round of stakeholder consultation to run for three months in a bid to win public support for the controversial Tampakan copper-gold project, it was learned on Wednesday. The company’s move immediately caught critics on guard, with a local Catholic Church [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/25 May) – An Australian mining company having an interest in the Tampakan copper-gold project expressed frustration Wednesday on the failure of the national government to resolve the open-pit mining ban imposed by the provincial government of South Cotabato. Brian Phillips, Indophil Resources NL chairman, viewed the failure of the national government [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/16 May) – The provincial government of South Cotabato has permanently closed down at least five small-scale mine tunnels located at a gold rush area in T’boli town due to safety concerns. South Cotabato Gov. Arthur Pingoy Jr. said Monday they issued a permanent closure order on the gold mining tunnels at [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/8 May)– The Bukidnon provincial board renewed pronouncements it is opposed to large-scale mining, even mining explorations, with a resolution passed on May 4 for its “unwavering objection” amid the influx of new large-scale mining applications. “The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Bukidnon remains steadfast in its statutory responsibility to be in the forefront of [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/28 April) — The total carbon stocks at the Manupali watershed in Lantapan town in Bukidnon reduced by 12.9 percent within a 17-year period, from 1990 to 2007, according to a study presented Thursday at the Bukidnon Watershed and River Basin Forum in this city. From 1,645,690.24 tons in 1990, the carbon stocks [...]