By Cyrain Cabueñas, Inquirer
19
October 2006
GUIUAN, Eastern Samar -- On a clear day, Manicani Island looks
imposing, dwarfing the other island villages of this town facing the Pacific Ocean.
In
the heart of the island lies its secret: two huge gaping craters carved by heavy
machinery.
About an hourlong boat ride from the town proper, Manicani is
home to Hinatuan Mining Corp.
For many years, Manicani has served as a haven
for people who wanted to commune with nature or check out World War II artifacts.
The
island used to be endowed with various species of tropical fish, coral reefs and
lush vegetation. These images of serenity and bounty led some people to stay in
Manicani for good.
Mauricio Siman, 60, a native of Bohol province, was a
third-year mechanical engineering student when he decided to settle in Manicani
with his Samareña wife in the late 1960s.
"It was like the promised
land," he said. "There was abundant produce in the mountains, the sea
was teeming with fish, and the islanders lived like one big happy family."
These
days, Siman has no glowing account of Manicani. "The island's balding mountains
and depleted marine resources no longer hold any promise," he said.
Hinatuan
Mining acquired its mining rights over Manicani Island from Palawan Syndicated
Ventures Inc. in January 1991. But due to low metal prices and limited demand
of nickel in the world market, it suspended its operations from December 1993
to 1996.
It resumed operations in 1997 and 2001 but was met with protests
by some sectors, including the Catholic clergy of the Diocese of Borongan.
In
2002, then-secretary of environment and natural resources Heherson Alvarez created
a special team of representatives of the Office of the Undersecretary for Environment
and Natural Resources, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau and the Environmental
Management Bureau to investigate the impact of the mining operations on the island
and to validate complaints of the diocese.
After a week of research, the
team reported that the craters posed to threat because they occupied only 5.27
percent of the smallest village and contained no toxic elements.
Manicani
Island is part of the Guiuan Protected Seascapes and Landscapes, as declared on
Sept. 26, 1994 in Presidential Proclamation No. 469.
From interviews with
the inhabitants, the team reported that marine life was greatly damaged by dynamite
and cyanide fishing.
They said their samplings showed that siltation and
destruction of fish habitats were not caused by mining operations but by other
factors, such as natural geological changes.
Carlo Caliwan, 39, president
of the Concerned Citizens for Peace and Progress of Manicani Island, said the
minerals on the island were God's gifts to the people of Manicani, which they
use.
"The Roman Catholic Church of Borongan should give a chance to
the mining company to rehabilitate the area before making any judgments,"
Caliwan said. "We want to get employed by Hinatuan Mining because we can
no longer compete with the illegal and big-time fishermen."
Hinatuan
Mining president Salvador Zamora II, in a Nov. 10, 2004 letter to then-secretary
of environment and natural resources Michael Defensor, said the minerals should
be extracted and exported so they would generate jobs and tax revenue.
Zamora
had said the company was committed under the mining laws to rehabilitate mined-out
areas.
After getting an ore transport permit from the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources and approval of Guiuan Mayor Annaliza Gonzales-Kwan, Hinatuan
Mining shipped 150,000 tons of nickel ore to Japan staring in January last year.
Bishop
Leonardo Medroso, the former bishop of Borongan, and the rest of the local clergy
had repeatedly expressed their collective stand against mining in Manicani through
circulars to the faithful and letters to government officials.
Medroso had
said that only the operators and a few government officials stood to benefit from
the mineral deposits.
Hinatuan Mining vice president for operations Federico
Ganigan said the mining operations would do more good than harm to the people
of Manicani.
"Those who are against us worry only about the environmental
hazards, which they claim our company would bring," he said. "But they
should know that we have a covenant that we always religiously follow -- to protect
the environment and to rehabilitate mined-out areas."
With INQ7.net
