/RELIGIOUS BULLETIN 5/ PHILIPPINES: Indigenous Souls Attracted By Pot of Gold Despite Pastor’s Warning

By Pratap Chatterjee Reprint | | Print |

Pratap Chatterjee

GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines, Feb 25 1996 (IPS) - An Australian mining company is under fire from community activists who say the multi- national concern is taking advantage of indigenous people living on the resource-rich Philippine island province of Mindanao.

The Melbourne-based Western Mining Corporation (WMC), a 10- billion dollar concern, however denies the charge, and says it has the interest of the indigenous people at heart.

WMC, which has an almost 100,000 hectare concession in a mountainous region some 20 kms north of this Mindanao city, is the first multinational to obtain an operating licence under the 1995 Philippine Mining Act that allows 100 per cent foreign ownership of mining exploration and operations.

It is now seeking to obtain permission from the B’laan to begin mining operations — as required by the 1995 law. In the areas that the company has signed provisional access agreements, exploration work for copper and gold has already begun.

Besides concerns about environmental and cultural erosion, activists have raised the issue about adequate compensation for the exploration of mines sitting under land belonging to the B’laan peoples — who, until settlers arrived from other islands some 50 years ago, had led a nomadic lifestyle in local forests.

Local activists have also cried “foul” over the way the company is obtaining these agreements. In addition, the company’s efforts to pay for land rights has brought discord to the mountain communities here.

“WMC has translated the legal documents into the B’laan language but none of the local people really understand the consequences of signing,” says Juan Macababbad, a local lawyer who is representing the community.

“During the drought months, the B’laan go down to the river with their pans to sift for ‘bluwan’ — their word for gold. This is what they think WMC wants to do,” he adds.

But activists claim WMC has a much grander billion dollar vision involving the processing tens of thousands of tonnes of ore a day which will be obtained by tearing up the forests and chopping into the mountain.

When interviewed by IPS, Terry Gardner, WMC project manager for the Philippines, neither confirmed nor denied this specific claim on exploration plans. But he insists the company is keen to work with, and not against, the indigenous people.

“We’re not sure what we want to do yet. We certainly don’t expect to produce anything before the year 2000. Right now we are here to figure out how to work together with the community,” says Gardner.

Avelino Sichon, a B’laan pastor from the United Church of Christ who lives a few kms from the concession, however warns that large-scale mining will “directly destroy indigenous cultural villages in the area”.

In addition, Pastor Sichon, who heads a group called the Alliance for Genuine Development, says that 7,000 hectares of primary forest, 16 major rivers and 98 tributaries in the area, will be affected by logging and chemical wastes from a mining operation.

An environmental baseline study prepared by WMC says that the development activities could affect the endangered Philippine Woodland Frog, three endangered bird species — the Philippine eagle, the Giant Scops owl and the Rufous Hornbill — as well as six rare species of plants.

To date, one community has held out against the company — led by Willy Gulaya, the council chief of Pula Bato, a small village nestled in the mountains.

But in recent weeks Raymondo Calanoa — another council member — has led a major effort to unseat Gulaya. Calanao, who is keen sign an agreement with WMC, is backed by Noling Escobillo, the local mayor.

Last week Escobillo drove to Pula Bato, accompanied by armed bodyguards, to tell the local community that Gulaya’s election last year was not valid.

At a specially convened meeting — mediated by the government Office of Southern Cultural Communities — B’laan leaders appeared confused as Escobillo sought fresh elections. Local church officials, concerned about the legality of a new vote, intervened.

“Things are changing very quickly around here. WMC is helping set up new tribal councils. This is cultural imposition,” says Susan Bolanio, a Catholic nun who attended the meeting.

“The B’laan are simple people. Fifty years ago the settlers who came from other islands gave them cans of sardines for the rights to farm the lowlands. Now the only land they have left is in the mountains and WMC wants to take this away,” she adds.

Gardner says the company has not interfered with local councils. Moreover, he says WMC genuinely wants to help the B’laan. So far, he says, WMC has set up one school, a weekly health clinic and offered to transport B’laan produce from the villages to the nearby towns free.

Gardner says that each B’laan council is being offered 30,000 pesos (1,154 dollars) a month in exchange for the rights to the land. Once accepted, this money has been invested in products for “sari-sari” (general merchandise) stores.

The new money is however reported to be causing other divisions within the community. Villagers told IPS that one leader “ran away” and spent a sum allocated for one council.

Others worry there are plans to buy chainsaws with the money. If chainsaws are used to cut down trees, the perpetrators run the risk of being reported to the local police by WMC for “illegal logging” — a practice that the company has vowed to stamp out.

“Yes, it is true that one leader ran away with the money but she has agreed to pay it back. We have also heard of the plans to buy a chainsaw and we have obtained an agreement that it should only be used on fallen logs,” says Gardner.

Activists acknowledge that the mining company is slowly winning over the support of the indigenous people, who may gain in the short-term, but lose out in the long-term.

“I can’t blame the B’laan for trusting WMC. The government has failed to provide them with services and we in the church do not have the ability to provide these services either,” says Bolanio ruefully.

Adds Bitoi Wapano, the local Catholic priest: “All the B’laan have is their forest — it is their pharmacy, their piggery, their poultry and their lumber yard. If they sell this to WMC they will have nothing left.

“WMC is presenting themselves as the divine Messiah who will save them from poverty. But they are actually playing a game of divide and conquer,” he adds.

Meanwhile in Australia — WMC’s home country — activists say that none of these allegations are surprising.

The Arabunna aboriginal peoples of South Australia claim that WMC is destroying Mound Springs, an artesian water source, by drawing millions of litres of water a day, to supply the Olympic Dam, and its copper and uranium mine.

In Melbourne, Ila Marks, an activist with the international environmental group Friends of the Earth, charges that the WMC has even resorted to violence to suppress Aborignal protests.

Kevin Buzzacott, a Arabunna spokesperson, says there are only two explanations for WMC’s actions — “irresponsible acts done through ignorance or an … attempt of genocide and eco-cide.”

Filipino June dela Cruz, a public relations consultant who works for WMC here, however says such reports and criticisms are news to him. “I have been to Olympic Dam and all I can say is that the company has built a model community. I would like to raise a family there,” he told IPS.