Mining

This was the message of some 1,000 residents as they staged a four-kilometer march Monday to oppose the entry of two mining firms.

Last week, Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI) announced the construction of the Tampakan project would cost $5.2 billion, including provision for associated infrastructure like power plant and ports.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/22 Apr) – Catholic church leaders today challenged residents to take up a bigger fight against the proposed 200-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Sarangani province as they warned anew of a possible widespread environmental destruction in the area should the multimillion power project eventually push through.

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/22 Apr) – Mining firm Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI) is inching closer towards utilizing the controversial open-pit mining method for its proposed large-scale copper and gold mining project in the tri-boundaries of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Davao del Sur following the completion of the company's extended pre-feasibility study.

Billanes, 46, married with three children and chair of the anti-mining group, Soccsksargends – Agenda, was gunned down four hours after his three-hour dialogue with barangay officials and an Army lieutenant following death threats he received, allegedly coming from the military.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/02 March) -- Fourteen years after it was signed into law, the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 or Republic Act 7942 has failed to bring development to the indigenous communities, a lumad leader today said.

But no one is celebrating. Instead, there is “kagubot” (trouble).

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/19 Feb) -- A Benedictine nun has accused soldiers of detaining her and three environmental activists in the town of Cateel, Davao Oriental province on Feb. 16.

Sr. Stella Matutina said during the eight hours that they were briefly detained, soldiers of the Army 67th Infantry Battalion poked their guns at them, apparently mistaking them for communist guerillas.

"Mamma Mia! I thought that would be the end of us. Their Armalite rifles are so big," the nun told reporters during a press conference initiated by the Sisters Association in Mindanao (SAMIN).

TAGANITO, Claver, Surigao del Norte  (MindaNews/19 February) –  Representatives of the  Mamanwa tribe here have vowed to continue the barricade they set up since January 29 until the Taganito Mining Corporation (TMC) pays the royalty/share due them. 

TMC officials said they are willing and ready to pay the  P51.5 million royalty from July 2006 to December 2007 but are awaiting guidance from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) on whose bank account the amount would be deposited.

Related story: No missing Mamanwa protesters, Datus say

TAGANITO, Claver, Surigao del Norte (MindaNews/19 February) – There are no missing Mamanwa protesters, tribal leaders here said.

Datu Joel Buklas, Datu Reynante Buklas and Datu Alfredo Olorico told MindaNews that they have no missing members, contrary to earlier reports.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/08 February) -- Some 400 members of the Mamanwa tribe are now on their second week of staging a  “human barricade” along the highway of Taganito in Claver, Surigao del Norte, demanding their right to one percent royalty from the gross output of the operations of four mining firms there.

Mamanwa members earlier sent notice of termination to the mining firms, informing them they will no longer allow mining in their ancestral lands, claiming  the firms failed to pay their one percent royalty fees since 1997.

TAMPAKAN, South Cotabato (MindaNews/13 January) – Investors may have spent billions of pesos for the development of a world-class copper and gold project here, but local church officials have remained firm on their stance to oppose mining operations in the province.

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/02 April) -- Hundreds of civilians are being trained as “barangay tanods” (village guards or paramilitary elements) to serve as “supplemental” security forces for Sagittarius Mines, Inc.,  a move Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez says is “not very good” as “we are becoming violent.”