Occidental Mindoro bans large-scale mining

By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:20:00 12/11/2009

MANILA, Philippines—The province of Occidental Mindoro has passed an ordinance banning large-scale mining in the province for 25 years, a local news site reported Friday.

On its website, The Mindoro Post reported that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of the province passed the ordinance last November 23 and was signed into law by Governor Josephine Ramirez-Sato on November 27.

The province of Oriental Mindoro also passed a similar mining ban in 2002.

Occidental Mindoro in its edict bans “land clearing, prospecting, exploration, drilling, excavation, mining, transport of mineral ores and products and such other activities in furtherance of and/or preparatory to all kinds and forms of large-scale mining in the province of Occidental Mindoro for a period of 25 years.”

Sato said the mining moratorium “is a manifestation of our inherent right to self determination.”

“The people of Occidental Mindoro believe that a strong agriculture is the backbone of our economy. We have brought our agricultural productivity to a level higher than that of national average yield,” Sato told INQUIRER.net in a text message.

The ordinance was passed even as three large-scale mining firms were given clearances by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to explore mineral resources on the island, The Mindoro Post said.

It cited the need to protect Occidental Mindoro’s ecology, noting the poor environmental record of large-scale mines in the Philippines.

“(T)here is no guarantee, on the basis of historical events on mining operations in the country, that the vast natural resources, the beauty and grandeur of this province environment, the multi-awarded clean and breathtaking natural flow of our rivers and lakes, the virginity of our forests serving as watersheds that assure adequate supply of water for our irrigation, the preservation of our natural parks as haven for our rare Tamaraw and Mangyans now at the brink of extinction, the shorelines, the corals and faunas serving as sanctuary for our fishes, all these gifts of the heaven shall not be destroyed,” the local law read.

The ordinance cited provisions in the Local Government Code of 1991 mandating local governments in the country to “ensure the preservation and enrichment of culture, promote health and safety, enhance the right of the people to a balanced ecology and preserve the comfort and convenience of their inhabitants.”

This comes as the DENR allowed Pitkin Ltd. to conduct oil exploration in portions of the towns of Sablayan, Calintaan, Rizal, San Jose and Magsaysay in Occidental Mindoro and in Bulalacao in Oriental Mindoro.

Agusan Petroleum meanwhile was given an exploration permit in Abra de Ilog in Occidental Mindoro and in the resort town of Puerto Galera and nearby San Teodoro in Oriental Mindoro.

“The mining permits and applications being considered by the DENR are within our watersheds,” said Sato. “We will remain an agricultural province and continue to ensure that every table of every Filipino shall have at least a plate of rice at all times.”

On November 27, Environment Secretary Lito Atienza ordered a temporary revocation of the mining clearance issued for the Mindoro nickel project of the Norway-based Intex Resources following an 11-day hunger strike staged by Mangyans, community leaders and religious people from Mindoro.