MINDANAO MONITOR ONLINE NEWS

Ozamiz City: If the Catholic Church starts criticizing the irregularities of mining industries and badmouths it in the public—that it violated the rights of indigenous people and destroyed the environment—then it is not immune from libel charges and harassments. But what if such harassment were perpetuated by business interests? This was how the Bishops and clergy of DOPIM questioned the harassment of TVI Canadian Mining Firm to Dipolog Bishop Jose Manguiran and Fr. Albert Bael of the committee on mining for exposing TVI’s apathy..

DOPIM is acronym for the archdiocese and dioceses of Dipolog, Ozamiz, Pagadian, Iligan and the Prelature of Marawi.

The DOPIM, in a five-page statement last Nov. 14 said "they could hardly believe the alleged shameless and senseless action taken by TVI Canadian mining firm for filing a libel case against Bishop Maguiran, Fr. Bael and other hardworking people."

"We condemn the curtailment of freedom to express what we believe to be the truth," DOPIM said in their statement drafted during their 31st Annual Convention held here at Naomi’s Botanical Garden.

The 136 delegates of DOPIM bishops and priests have concurred their position paper in a serious deliberation and exchanges of ideas until they ended up to support the nine victims of harassment and those charged with libel.

The convention’s position paper stands by and supports the efforts of the DIOPIM Committee on Mining Issues (DCMI) headed by Bishop Jose Manguiran in denouncing the excesses of these mining companies and fighting for the rights of the oppressed.

"We call on the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to listen to the cries of our marginalized and oppressed countrymen; to give them redress to their grievances; and to stop curtailments of the rights of the people to speak for the truth," the position paper reads.

The clergy signatories said they are worried about the plight of the indigenous communities, whose ancestral domain is encroached by big-scale mining operations using open-pit mining method, depriving them of their cultural rights.

The paper relates how destructive mining is to a certain place, giving example two environmental disasters involving mining—that of Marcopper Mining in Marinduque and that of Rapu-Rapu Mining at Albay, the position paper narrates.

The position paper added that until this point in time no foreign mining firm operating in the Philippines employing open-pit method can guarantee protection to the environment and to the cultural rights of the tribal-Filipino.

The paper also scored TVI’s "employment of a heartless, shameless and senseless demolition of the house of couple Floro and Manolita Galves in Mount Canatuan, Tabayo, Siocon Zamboanga Del Norte."

In it, the paper said that TVI allegedly employed CAFGU members and ordered the demolition of Galves house at about 11:30 midnight without any court order and or pertinent legal papers.

And for bringing TVI’s misdeeds to the limelight of public opinion, Maguiran and eight others were charged with libel at the Provincial Prosecutors Office in Dipolog.

Manguiran and company claimed in their affidavit that the libel suit against them is purely harassment and intended to silence them from exposing the alleged anomalies of the TVI Canadian Mining Company.

But the TVI camp denied having a hand in the filing of the libel case against the bishop and said it was a decision from two of its die-hard supporters; the mining company named them as TVI Canadian lawyer Ting Tumangkis and Pablo Bernardo.¶

Oroquieta city: No less than President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered the multi-agency Task Force Guimaras to investigate last week’s sinking of a barge contracted to ship out debris from the MT Solar 1 oil spill clean-up in Guimaras Island

Arrroyo’s order preceded that of Gov. Loreto Ocampos’, who also created a provincial monitoring and evaluation team composed of concerned public and private agencies to determine the effect of the sinking in the coastal areas of Misamis Occidental.

Presidential Spokesman and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye quoted Arroyo as saying that the investigation will help authorities plan strategies so damage to humans and the environment could be minimized.

"The President expressed concern about this unfortunate incident and tasked agencies concerned led by Task Force Guimaras to get to the bottom of it," he said.

Bunye added that Arroyo is optimistic damage arising from the barge’s sinking won’t be as extensive as what hit Guimaras which continues to reel after the sinking of MT Solar I tanker.

The MT Solar I is the single hull oil tanker chartered by Petron to carry some 2.4 million litres (12,580 barrels) of bunker oil to Mindanao when it went down in rough waters off Guimaras Strait last August 11, causing a huge slick.

Barge RAS, owned and operated by Harbor Star, which was contracted by Petron Corporation to ship out the recovered debris for recycling in Lugait, Misamis Oriental, sank in the waters of Plaridel, this province near midnight last Nov. 20 due to rough seas.

Petty Officer-in-charge Nestor Enriquez of the Coast Guard detachment this city said the "sampan-type" barge submerged 200 meters between Polo Point and Iligan Reef, five kilometers off Plaridel’s coastline, after battling big waves.

The barge was being towed by Tugboat Vega and is carrying some 600 tons of oil debris placed in sacks when it sank.

It was learned that the barge was the last among the eight barges contracted by Petron to ship some 5,100 metric tons of debris for treatment and disposal to Holcim Philippines, Inc. a cement factory based in Lugait town.

Holcim bought the debris of bunker fuel oil recovered from Guimaras to burn it and recycle the same into crushed sand and gravel and as ready-mix asphalt.

The incident has attracted environmental groups Partido Kalikasan and Task Force Macajalar led by lawyer Manuel Ravanera who promised an "independent investigation" as he added that what happened was a "double kill on the environment, first in Guimaras and now in Panguil Bay and nearby areas."

Earlier, Cagayan de oro’s Office of the Civil Defense plans and operations Chief Roger Lapura said that the oil-soaked debris is a pollutant.

In a media release distributed by the public affairs department of Petron, Maila Angela Ong described the vessel’s cargo as "mostly sand and rocks contained in sacks."

"The debris contains only traces of oil. It has been weathering for three months and is highly unlikely to pose danger to communities, shorelines or marine life," she added, quoting a confirmation report from Deputy Director Joe Nichols of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund.

Ong, in a telephone patch during Ocampos’ press conference Tuesday afternoon at the Capitol, allayed fears from the public of a repeat of the Guimaras oil spill, saying Petron is taking charge of the situation.

"We have already deployed our Waterborne Industry Spill Equipment from Cebu City to Plaridel to provide logistical and operational support. A tugboat is patrolling around the sink site and so far, no oily sheen or debris has been seen on the surface."

"We believe this to be the prudent and careful course of action even if we have been assured that there may be no need for such oil equipment to be used because of the low risk involded in the incident," Ong explained.

But Dr. Sabdullah Abubacar, regional director of DENR’s Environment Management Bureau thinks otherwise.

Abubacar told Mindanao Monitor that the sacks containing the debris may weather in the long run and some fishes or marine life might wander around and get contaminated. "Naay effect pero minimal lang compared to fresh oil. The spread is lesser but it needs to be taken out. If possible, the sunken barge should be recovered," he said.

For his part, Ocampos told journalists that he surmised the sinking might have something to do with human error, with the captain not familiar with the seas off Misamis Occidental.

The governor, who earlier described Plaridel as "the richest biodiversity in the province," said part of the initial steps would be to make an ordinance prohibiting barges of this kind from entering the territorial waters of Misamis Occidental,"

"We will also file legal action against those culpable to bring compulsion for recompensation," Ocampos added.¶

Governor Aurora Cerilles will put up for sale all unserviceable heavy equipment and vehicles at the Provincial Engineer’s Office (PEO), the proceeds to be used for the purchase of new ones.

Provincial Engineer Antonio Laurencia Jr. has already submitted to Cerilles the list of all unoperational and heavy equipments, including the useless service vehicles now dumped at the Provincial Motorpool.

Some of the equipments are 30 years old and fully depreciated. A few were acquired in the 1990s.

"It is useless to keep these, we will dispose them and buy new ones," Cerilles said.

For the maintenance of its road projects, the province needs at least a couple of bulldozers, graders, pay loaders, a compactor and three army jeeps for the PEO in going to and from the field, Cerilles pointed out.

The surplus equipment will be backed up by the purchase of one rock crusher, two backhoes, a crane and six dump trucks taken from the P150-M loan of the province with Land Bank of the Philippines.

With the availability of the said equipment, Cerilles said she would mobilize them in the province’s 26 municipalities to hasten the repair and maintenance of the badly constructed farm-to-market roads.

Cerilles also named assigned maintenance engineers for the clustered towns to see to it that works will be done as instructed and if complaints should arise; they’ll answer for it.

In the first district, Cluster 1 consists of Molave, Mahayag, Josefina, Dumingag and Tambulig under Engr. Danny Ramos while Cluster II consists of Labangan, Tukuran, Aurora, Ramon Magsaysay, Sominot and Midsalip under Engr. Cornelio Lumacang, Jr.

For the second district, Engr. Danny Manuel will supervise Cluster 1, which consists of Bayog, Lakewood and Kumalarang and Cluster 2, which includes Tigbao and Dumalinao.

Engr. Fredelito Rivera will supervise Cluster 3, which consists of Guipos and San Pablo and Cluster 4, which consists of Dinas and San Miguel.

Cluster 5 includes Tabina, Pitogo and Dimataling and Margosatubig, Lapuyan, and Vincenzo Sagun for Cluster 6, to be supervised by Engr. Candido Paulin.¶