5,000 attend rally vs Mindoro nickel project

[GLT]

5,000 attend rally vs Mindoro nickel project

By Madonna Virola
Inquirer Southern Luzon
First Posted 17:15:00 05/28/2009

Filed Under: Mining and quarrying, Protest

SAN JOSE, Occidental Mindoro, Philippines—More than 5,000 people from
different parts of Occidental Mindoro opposing the proposed Mindoro
nickel project of Intex Resources Philippines Inc. held a rally during
a public hearing on the issue at the municipal hall compound of
Mamburao on Wednesday.

Compared to the tension that occurred in Pola town, Oriental Mindoro
public hearing last May 14, Intex spokesperson Ben delos Reyes
described the one in Mamburao as “peaceful and orderly.”

“The orderly public hearing was largely due to the desire of the
people to listen to a civilized discussion of the issue. Governor Sato
is not there, so I don’t know her stand,” Delos Reyes said.

But a resolution passed by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and signed by
Governor Josephine Sato-Ramirez “expressing its objection to the
public consultation regarding the Mindoro nickel project” was
disregarded in the hearing.

Vice Governor Mario Gene Mendiola said they would work on the passage
of a 25-year mining moratorium in Occidental Mindoro.

“We will go to villages and will be the one to conduct the public
hearing to get the real sentiments of the people,” he said.

In a text message to the INQUIRER, Sato-Ramirez said, “I strongly
support the 25-year moratorium on large-scale mining in Occidental
Mindoro.”

In 2005, an SP resolution manifested its “vehement objection to any
large-scale mining operations that may be proposed within Occidental
Mindoro.”

Among others, it cited: “the SP believes that the harmful effects of
any large-scale mining activity may cause irreparable damages on the
natural resources of the province including the endangered species of
the tamaraw, the natural heritage of the Mangyan, and the production
of palay and other crops in the province.”

Monsignor Ruben “Jun” Villanueva, director of the Social Services
Commission of the Apostolic Vicariate of San Jose, claimed the rally
was conclusive against Intex mining, adding that the mining issue is
historically uniting Mindoreños, including those who belong to either
camps of the long political rivals Sato-Ramirez and Representative
Amelita Villarosa.

Wearing his black cassock, Villanueva said he insisted to get inside
the Mamburao gymnasium where the public hearing was scheduled, and saw
no anti-mining in the audience.

At 11 a.m., about 10 clergy, including Occidental Mindoto Bishop
Antonio Palang, with Mendiola, mayors of Sablayan and Abra de Ilog
towns, and board members Arnold Abeleda and Rod Agas walked out of the
gym, followed by protesters numbering more than 5,000.

The public hearing was not held in Sablayan, which hosts the mining
site, because of the strong opposition like in Oriental Mindoro, said
Sablayan Mayor Godofredo Mintu.

But Mamburao Mayor Bambi Villarosa said it was but proper to conduct
the public hearing in his town where the provincial capitol is
located.

At the public consultation, the president of the Association of
Barangay Captains in Sta Cruz town said they were for Intex mining
because they believed the taxes the company would remit will uplift
their poor lives, especially that many locals are unemployed.

But Villanueva said there were no clear and honest-to-goodness
benefits laid down by the Intex mining company.

During the Pola public hearing, tension, heightened by a heated
confrontation between a mayor and a priest, marked the event after
antimining activists insisted on going inside where promining
advocates were already seated comfortably.

The protesters, coming from different towns and in a caravan, numbered
more than 2,000, according to Pola police estimate, and were led by
the multisectoral Alyansa Laban sa Mina (Alliance Against Mining) or
Alamin.

Tension was at its height at about 10:30 a.m., half an hour past the
scheduled hearing, after Pola Mayor Alex Aranas reacted to the alleged
disruption of the public hearing by the mining protesters.

When Aranas saw the protesting group, led by Fr. Edwin Gariguez, a
founding member of Alamin who is working with the Mangyan Mission,
getting inside the gym, he stepped down from the stage and tried to
stop it.

The public hearing was called off.

Meantime, the public hearing scheduled on May 15 morning in Victoria
town was also called off after what happened in Pola town.