September 29, 2005
DCMI Press Release - www.dcmiphil.org
Dipolog City, Philippines - Three national legislators heard evidence
at a hearing in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte of abuses by the Canadian
mining company TVI Pacific . This evidence raised questions about the
legitimacy of the agreements that the company's mining license was based
on.
A subsequent press conference was hosted by the Bayan Muna Party List
in which Joel Virador - Bayan's congressional representative - stressed
that TVI and Juanito Tumangkis - the indigenous leader with whom they
have a Memorandum of Agreement - had given dishonest answers during
the hearing with the national legislators.
The three congressmen, Rep. Joel G. Virador and his colleagues Rep.
Mujiv S. Hataman, and Rep. Husien Amin, traveled to Siocon on September
23 2005 for a public hearing over allegations of TVI's human rights
and environmental abuses, conducted under the auspices of the House
Committee on National Cultural Communities.
TVI officers turned up for the hearing in full force. Those present
included Clifford James, the President and Chief Executive Officer of
the TVI Pacific Group of Companies, Eugene Mateo, the President of TVI
Resource Development Philippines, John Ridsdel, a company consultant,
and Yulo Perez, the TVI project Manager in Siocon.
Eugene Mateo of TVI stressed that their operation is legal because they
had secured all the necessary legal requirements for their mining operation.
When asked by the congressmen for proof, he pointed to the Memorandum
of Agreement between Juanito Tumangkis, the president of the Siocon
Subanon Association (SSAI), and the company, as well as a resolution
from the Barangay [village] Council of Tabayo
Heromino Dolino, the current director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau
(MGB) national office, explained to the congressmen about the procedures
for mining permit applications. He defended the legality of TVI's operation.
He noted that one of the requirements in applying for a mining license
is to secure the free prior and informed consent from the affected Indigenous
Peoples.
When asked by the congressmen why the MGB had approved TVI's operations
when in fact it had failed to secure the genuine consent from the legitimate
Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) holder, Dolino claimed
this was not a decision for the MGB, but for the National Commission
on Indigenous People (NCIP).
Yet when the NCIP Provincial Director of Zamboanga del Norte, Lista
"Jun" Cawanan, was cross-examined by the congressmen he had
to admit that NCIP was doing nothing to protect the rights of those
Subanon who were affected by the mining operation. He was also castigated
for not properly understanding the rights of Indigenous Peoples under
the relevant legislation outlining free prior and informed consent,
the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA). The three congressmen obtained
the commitment from the legal officer of NCIP central office lawyer,
Obil Dajap, that the agency should send Mr. Cawanan for further study
of IPRA. The congressmen also warned that it could cut the budget of
NCIP for doing nothing to protect the rights of those Subanon affected
by the mining operation.
Crucially, Timuay Jose "Boy" Anoy asserted he was the CADT
holder. "The Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADC) was issued
to me in the name of the Subanon People in our domain in 1997. In the
year 2002, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited our place and recognised
our place as ancestral domain", Anoy said. On June 12, 2003, Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo personally handed the Certificate of Ancestral Domain
Title (CADT) to Timuay Anoy in Southern Command Headquarters in Zamboanga
City. He has not given any consent to the mining company to operate.
Timuay Anoy stressed how hard it was for him to enter his own CADT,
because he is banned and harassed by TVI's SCAA [paramilitary units]
every time he passes the TVI checkpoints. "Even my wife could not
enter the area, that's why I have settled in Siocon because when my
wife left Canatuan, she was not allowed to re-enter to get back home",
he said.
He lamented that the sacred ground of his ancestral domain has been
bulldozed and destroyed by TVI in conducting its open cut mining. When
asked by the congressmen when he started living in Mt. Canatuan, he
replied that he could not remember because from childhood he had lived
within the ancestral domain.
But TVI denied banning and harassing Timuay Anoy and his associates.
They stated they allowed anybody into and out of their area. When Anoy
was asked to identify who was telling him that he is being banned at
the TVI checkpoints, he named Danilo Bason and a certain Taconing, both
TVI SCAA, and others that were harder for him to identify.
The three congressmen then cross-examined Juanito Tumangkis. In doing
so they questioned the legality of his entering into an agreement with
the company since he is not the legitimate holder of CADT. Tumangkis
admitted he was a beneficiary of the CADT, and not a CADT holder, but
he failed to answer the question of why his name was not in the list
during the application, even as a beneficiary, of the CADT. Tumangkis
also admitted that his organization SSAI is not a CADT holder and only
few of those involved are beneficiaries of CADT. When asked how many
years he had lived in Canatuan, he replied that he had lived there for
only ten years.
The congressmen warned him that he could not enter into a memorandum
of agreement with any company like TVI as a CADT holder, because he
is not even listed as a beneficiary on the CADT. The congressmen said,
under the law, the CADT holder is not an association but the traditional
structure of governance. The association could start the process of
application but the holder should be defined by traditional governance,
and Tumangkis is not part of the traditional legitimate governance.
Also Mayor Ceasar Soriano of Siocon warned that the aforementioned resolution
of Barangay Tabayo is under investigation, and ruled it as invalid because
it has not been submitted to the Municipal Council of Siocon for review.
He also noted that the Provincial Board of Zamboanga del Norte had only
certified that TVI has applied for mining operation but has not yet
given any endorsement.
Others who testified before the hearing included Onsino Mato who reiterated
the human rights violations employed by the company against the legal
and legitimate holders of the CADT. Haja Sharifa Mujala of the Save
Siocon Paradise Movement (SSPM) who stressed that the coastal residents
have suffered several skin diseases and felt the reduction of fish catches.
She also complained of siltation of rivers, which she attributed to
TVI's open cut mining operation.
Earlier Rep. Hataman met Bishop José Manguiran at his house in
Dipolog on his way to the hearing. The Catholic Church's representative,
and well-known environmentalist, presented congressman Hataman with
a bulk of documents, produced by DIOPIM Committee on Mining Issues (DCMI),
to substantiate the allegations of human rights violations committed
by the company.
During the half hour meeting Bishop Manguiran lamented to Rep. Hataman
that "the Human Rights abuses of TVI have been raised by Onsino
Mato to the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Population (UNWGIP)
several times, but the Arroyo administration has done nothing, choosing
instead to facilitate the full-scale operation of TVI over the area
of Subanon Ancestral Domain".
The Committee had asked Bishop Manguiran to testify before them during
the public hearing. However, the Bishop was unable to attend owing to
his hectic schedule, and instead delegated Inday Davi, a DCMI Subanon
Community Organiser.
By Tito Natividad Fiel
