MANILA, January 25, 2012— Church and environmental groups are up in arms again over a foreign mining company’s relentless call for nickel mining project in Mindoro.
The list of grievances these groups is holding against the Intex Resources seems to be growing after it announced last Jan.18 in Oslo Stock Exchange that they had entered into a memorandum of understanding with the MCC8 Group Co. Ltd., a Chinese state-owned construction firm to impel the operation of the Mindoro Nickel Project (MNP).
Andy Whitmore of the Philippines Indigenous People Links (PipLinks) is questioning the incessant campaigns of Intex for the MNP as both national and international investigations have raised serious concerns about the project.
“They shouldn’t be putting our releases seeking to boost investment in the project until they were able to provide answers in the investigation conducted by the Norwegian Contact Point,” Whitmore said.
Whitmore was referring to the investigation of the Norwegian National Contact Point disclosing that Intex violated certain provisions of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises; from the questionable acquisition of Free, Prior, Informed Consent (FPIC) to the unconventional Environment Impact Assessment that they failed to present to the local authorities.
Jaybee Garganera, national coordinator of Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) said “both the OECD and the local investigation team have produced conclusive evidences that the Mindoro Nickel Project is unacceptable to the host communities. It is the height of corporate irresponsibility that Intex is rushing the sale of the project, and washing its hands of accountability.”
“The consortium that speaks of green mining concept is still far from reality thus will not impede in our call for Intex to pull out the project and just respect the local ordinance filed in 2002 prohibiting the entry of all large-scale mining in Oriental Mindoro,” he added.
Community rejection
For his part, Jon Sarmiento of Alyansa Laban sa Mina (Alamin) said: “This investment is on high risk!”
“The MNP does not have social acceptability; they are just wasting their time and resources campaigning for the project. Mindoreño will remain vigilant over this matter. We will protect our remaining forest and will not allow anyone, even big companies to extract the minerals underneath… the forest on itself is our wealth,” he said.
Alamin is a network of civil society organizations, Church and local government units in Oriental Mindoro established in 1999 to consolidate people’s opposition to the Mindoro Nickel Project.
In 2009, the Environmental Compliance Certificate for Intex had been revoked after local protest and a hunger strike was done against the project.
Commissioner Dionisia Banua of the National Commission on the Indigenous Peoples ensured that despite the current partnership NCIP will ensure that the FPIC will be served and implemented with integrity.
Bigger call
Fr. Edu Gariguez of the CBCP Nassa reaffirmed its stand that the government mining policy is like selling our lands to foreign investors with liberal conditions while our people continue to grow in poverty.
“We stated that the adverse social impact on the affected communities far outweigh the gains promised by the trans-national corporations,” Gariguez explained.
He concluded, “We have a bigger call to this government, refrain from promoting the minerals industry, and promote the rights of the Filipino people, repeal the mining act of 1995, and pass the Alternative Minerals Management Bill that secures all these rights and prioritizes environmental protection and food security over mineral resources.”
The groups expressed their ire as they launched recently the book, the Mindoro Struggle: Protecting Island Ecology, Defending People’s Rights, a compilation of several studies on the Mindoro critical ecosystems, including mining threat to food security and the Final Statement of the Norwegian NCP on the violated OECD Guidelines. [CBCPNews]
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