re: now into gold mining/full story Editor's Note: Published on...

re: now into gold mining/full story Editor's Note: Published on page A18 of the Nov. 22, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines -- Malacañang may be relying on a revitalized mining industry to reverse the growing P200-billion government deficit, but it will not forcibly put mining operations on ancestral lands that indigenous Filipinos have declared mine-free.

This was stressed by Horacio Ramos, director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, who said the government had identified ancestral domain regions to determine which are sensitive to mining.

This is because the latest investment forecasts from foreign mine ventures place anticipated capital infusion at P4.5 billion by 2005, he said.

The government expects less opposition from indigenous Filipinos in Mindanao and from territories where the datu (local ruler) controls ancestral properties, Ramos told the Inquirer after a press briefing for the 51st National Mine Safety and Environment Conference here Wednesday.

Ramos, however, said the government is more conscious about the tribes in Northern Luzon, which are active in debates about the
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industry and who initiate protests against mining operations.

The indigenous peoples sector had objected to the Arroyo administration's downsizing of a plan that reduced the powers of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), when it was attached to the Department of Land Reform. The DLR has supervisory powers over ancestral lands, urban land reform and agrarian reform.

Kathleen Okubo, spokesperson of Aspulan, the Baguio Ibaloi elders' organization, said mining firms appear to benefit from the government reorganization.

Environment Secretary Michael Defensor and Reuben Lingating, NCIP chair, had already synchronized the processing of environmental compliance certificates (ECC) and the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) certificates when these documents cover ancestral lands, the NCIP said in October.

Both officials also agreed to exempt mine exploration permits from the FPIC requirements.

Should tribes refuse to venture into mining, Ramos assured them that the government would accept their decision.

He said the government is expecting 23 industrial mines to begin operations in the country between 2005 and 2007, but only two mine ventures are located in the Cordillera Administrative Region.

He said the government is negotiating for the revival of the Bagong Buhay Gold Mine in Pasil town, Kalinga province, with businessman Antonio Tangkiang, who owns 10 percent of the mine stock, and Anvil, a Canadian firm. Tangkiang is embroiled in a legal dispute with the government over the mine's ownership after it was sequestered in 1986.

The other major investment involves the Far Southeast Gold Project of the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. in Mankayan town, Benguet province.

Lepanto, the Boyungan copper project of Silangan Mindanao Mining Corp. in Surigao del Norte, the Pujada nickel project of BHB Billiton/Blue Ridge in Davao Oriental, the Tampakan copper project in South Cotabato, and the Didipio copper gold project in Nueva Vizcaya are the top five world-class projects lined up this year, Ramos said.

Ms Arroyo's active pursuit of mining had also prompted the revitalization of old mine operations such as Atlas Mines, he said.