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First Posted on Inside Mindanao (www.insidemindanao.com) on October 19, 2008
Critics nix deployment of soldiers in mining sites
By Bong S. Sarmiento
KORONADAL CITY—The plan of the Department of National Defense to deploy soldiers to foreign–backed mining projects for protection from communist attacks was greeted with resistance on Sunday by anti–mining advocates here.
Eliezer S. Billanes, chairperson of the South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and Davao Del Sur Alliance for Genuine National Development Agenda, warned that militarization of mining areas "would not augur well to the communities."
"[Militarization of mining areas] will result to displacement of indigenous peoples and more human rights violations," he said.
Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. said at the 8th Asia Pacific Mining Conference last week in Pasay City that the deployment of soldiers to mining communities is part of a security plan being drawn for the mining sector.
Foreign–backed mining companies in the country are facing threats from the New People's Army rebels.
Last New Year's Day, the communist guerillas raided the remote base camp of Sagittarius Mines, Inc. in nearby Tampakan, South Cotabato, burning facilities worth at least P12 million.
Backed by Swiss miner Xstrata Copper and Australian firm Indophil Resources NL, the Tampakan copper and gold project is staunchly opposed by environmental groups and the local Catholic Church on concerns for the environment and human health.
Billanes urged anew the proponents to abandon the Tampakan project, which straddles the towns of Tampakan in South Cotabato, Columbio in Sultan Kudarat and Kiblawan in Davao del Sur.
A company study showed that the upgraded measured indicated and inferred resource of the Tampakan project totals 2.2 billion tons at a grade of 0.6% copper and 0.2 grams per ton gold and contains 12.8 million tons of copper and 15.2 million ounces of gold using a 0.3% copper cut–off grade.
Earlier, Bishop Dinualdo D. Gutierrez of the Diocese of Marbel here warned of a "wild, wild West" in the mines development site with the training of civilians as village guards.
"I see violence in the future with many people bearing firearms. The training of civilians (to become members of the Civilian Volunteers' Organization [CVO]) is not a very good prospect. We are becoming violent," the bishop said.
Senior Superintendent Robert R. Kiunisala, South Cotabato police director, has confirmed that they are training people to become CVO members in at least three villages of Tampakan namely Tablu, Danlag and Pulabato. These villages are within the mines development site.
"What the police have done was to lecture them on law enforcement subjects, simple community defense, peace and order and basic [provisions of the] law," Kiunisala said.
CVOs are supposedly the unarmed version of the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgus) but in many areas, they are also armed.
Gutierrez said that since CVOs are usually armed, even as they are not supposed to be armed, violence is not far–fetched.
"Agaw–armas [gun snatching] may become prevalent in the area. Knowing the NPA, they also want as many firearms as possible. Armed clashes cannot be avoided," the bishop said.
The training of civilian volunteer watchmen was on top of the new security arrangement put in place by Sagittarius last month, when it hired the services of Catena Security, Inc., an affiliate of England–based Group 4 Securicor, one of the world's leading security firms.
Sagittarius has said its private security force consists of at least 100 men.
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