Php 70.00 Vol. 45 No. 5 • MAY 2011

IMPACT • May 20114 Volume 45 • Number 5 5

TSXV listed mining companies with properties in

the PhilippinesListed Mining Companies (TSXV) Properties1. ALTAI RESOURCES INC. (http://www.altairesources.com) • Negros Island Property Sulphur-Gold • Lahuy Island Property – Gold

2. CADAN RESOURCES CORPORATION (http://www.cadanresources.com) • T’Boli Gold-Silver • Batoto Tarale Gold-Silver • Comval Copper-Gold -Tagpura Maangob • Tagpura Porphyry Skar • Maangob Porphyry Skarn • Kalamatan Porphyry Copper-Gold • Cadan Porphyry

3. CRAZY HORSE RESOURCES INC. (http://crazyhorseresources.com) • Kayapa Copper-Gold Porphyry Project • Taysan Project Batangas

4. MBMI RESOURCES INC. (http://www.mbmiresources.com) • Alpha Project Palawan • Bethlehem Nickel Project Narra • Dinagat Island Project • Malatgao and Northern Rio Tuba Properties • Nickel Projects Samar (4)

5. METALLUM RESOURCES INC. (http://www.metallumresourcesinc.com) • Interest in five mineral properties terminated (Nov 2010) (Solfotara Mining Corp)

6. MINDORO RESOURCES LTD. (http://www.mindoro.com) • Surigao District: Agata Nickel Laterite • Agata Gold and Copper-Gold • Tapian San Francisco lies within the towns of Mainit • MalimonoBolobolo prospect is approximately 40 km from Butuan City • Batangas Projects are located in Batangas Province (4) • Pan de Azucar Island Project (PDA)

7. PANORO MINERALS LTD. (http://www.panoro.com) • Divestiture in the Surigao Joint Venture on March 14, 2007- sold to Min-doro

8. PHILEX GOLD INC. (http://philexgold.net) • Silangan Project (formerly Boyongan Project) • the former Bulawan Gold Mine • the Lascogon, Danao and other Gold Prospects.

9. PHILIPPINE METALS INC. (http://www.philippinemetals.com)

By Fr. Edwin Gariguez

Aggressive Mining Promotion in the Philippines

Mining of the Philippine’s rich mineral resources is pursued within the context of colonial trade liberalization that sets as a backdrop for the globalized economy. What is particularly alarming in the present process of global trade is the immensity and the exceptionally rapid degree of global integration affecting the terms of production and exchange that cross national boundar-ies, while at the same time undermining the power of the state in imposing its internal trade policies.

In the case of the Philippines, the policy recommendation made by Asian Development Bank and the United Na-tions’ Development Programme, backed by the World Bank, greatly influenced the government’s move to liberalize national legislation on mining. Liberalization is at-tained by changing the economic policies of the state to make them more attractive to global competitiveness and to provide more incentives to the entry of the transnational corporations. The Mining Act of 1995 is a crucial legislation enacted to liberalize the mining policy in the Philippines in unequivocal terms.

Admittedly, the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 is essentially crafted to attract foreign investors because with its provi-sions, the country’s right to sovereignty is relaxed in order to provide palatable incentives to transnational mining inves-tors. Among the attractive features granted under the provisions of the Mining Act are as follow: 100% foreign ownership of mining projects, allowing foreign company to have a concession area of up to 81,000 hectares on shore and 324,000 hectares off shore, 100% repatriation of profit, 5 years tax holiday later extended to eight, and deferred payment are allowed until all cost are recovered, enjoyment of easement rights, and other auxiliary rights in mining concession, mining lease for 25 years,

We reaffirm our stand for the repeal of the Mining Act of 1995. We believe that the Mining Act destroys life . . . Our experiences of environmental tragedies and incidents with the mining transnational corporations belie all assurances of sustainable and responsible mining that the Arroyo Admin-istration is claiming. Increasing number of mining affected communities, Christians and non-Christians alike, are subjected to human rights violations and economic deprivations. We see no relief in sight . . . The promised economic benefits of mining by these transnational corporations are out-weighed by the dislocation of communities

extendable to another 25 years, losses can be carried forward against income tax, among others.

The Mining Act of 1995 was primarily intended to serve foreign interest and not the local communities and it is never meant to legislate equitable sharing of resources, but on the contrary, it guaranteed clear profit margin to mining corporations, while selling our national patrimony for mere pit-tance share of taxes. The mining law which lays down the policy for the government’s near-fanatical campaign to attract foreign investors to invest in the mining industry distorts the goal of genuine development.

By single-mindedly pursuing the economic benefits or financial gain, it failed to weigh the greater consideration in the equation—the human and ecosystems well-being, the human rights of the indigenous peoples and the local communities, the food security and ecological integrity of the country.

For the affected communities, large-scale mining does not promote pro-people development but in fact, it poses an immi-nent threat to their livelihood and the already fragile ecology. It is precisely for this reason that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines categorically calls for the repeal of the Mining Act of 1995 stating that:

Canadian mining in the PhiliPPines: develoPment for whom?

ARTICLES ARTICLES

Mining companies, page 6

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Ltd, Panoro Minerals Ltd, Philex Gold Inc, Philippine Metals Inc, Rugby Mining Ltd, and Tiger International Resources Ltd, and 6 Toronto Stock Exchange

mining companies with 28 prop-erties in the Philippines, namely, CGA Mining Ltd, Crew Gold Corporation, Medusa Mining Ltd, Oceana Gold Corporation, Olympus Pacific Minerals Inc, TVI Pacific Inc.

ARTICLES Canadian mining in the Philippines: development for whom?

especially among our indigenous brothers and sisters, the risks to health and livelihood and massive environmental damage.

Together with the Church’s position, the prevailing position among members of the social movement on the mining issue is that destruction that it causes is detrimental to genuine people-centered development. They claim that the global character of mining industry, together with the policy of liberalization imbedded in the Mining Act of 1995, facilitated the pouring in of mining applications in the country.

Canadian Mining—for the good or bad?

Globalized mining industry and the destructive character of its operation spell misery and suffering to vulnerable groups and sectors like the laborers, farmers, urban poor, indigenous peoples, among others. In effect, globalization and its lopsided trade liberalization undeniably result to unprecedented adverse consequences at both global and local level, characterized by ever-growing inequity in wealth distribution and ever-worsening poverty.

The Canadian mining industry is active in over 100 developed and developing coun-tries, and is in-v o l v e d in over 8,000 ex-ploration projects and min-ing op-erations w o r l d -w i d e . Mining, with over C$66 bil-lion in direct in-vestment a b r o a d in 2008, r e p r e -sents over 50% of Canadian direct in-vestment abroad in natural resources. In their activities in the Philippines, the Cana-dian firms claim to be the source of positive economic and social benefits, including poverty reduction, economic diversification and the enhancement of local infrastructure and social and health ser-vices.

Our country also has a fair share of contributions to Canada’s income from mining. There are 11 Toronto Stock Venture Exchange listed min-

ing companies with 39 proper-ties in the Philippines, namely, Altai Resources Inc, Canada Resources Corporation, Crazy Horse Resources Inc, MBMI Resources Inc, Metallum Re-sources Inc, Mindoro Resources

• The Taurus-Suhi Massive Sulphide Project, Alang-Alang, Santa Fe, Palo and Tacloban City Leyte; • Malitao Project Calanasan municipality, Kalinga-Apayao Province, northern Luzon; • Dilong Project Barrio Dilong, (also known as the Hale Mayabo Claim) 285 kilometers north of Manila and about 130 kilometers north of Baguio.

10. RUGBY MINING LTD (http://www.rugbymining.com) • The Mabuhay Gold Project is located 12 kilometres south of Surigao City

11. TIGER INTERNATIONAL RE-SOURCES INC. (http://www.tiger-resources.com) • Esperanza Gold Project 11 kilometers outside Baguio

TSX listed mining companies with properties

in the Philippines1. CGA MINING LIMITED (http://www.cgamining.com) • Masbate Gold Project

2. CREW GOLD CORPORATION (http://www.crewgold.com) • Have just sold out to Severstal, that have bought into Intex Resources Inc.

3. MEDUSA MINING LIMITED (http://www.medusamining.com.au) • Philsaga’s UndergroundGold Mine, • Anoling Project, Saugon Prospect, • Trento Project, • Bananghilig Gold De-posit, • Barobo Gold Corridor, • Lingig (Das-Agan) Project – Surigao Del Sur, • Kamarangan Porphyry Copper Target, • Usa Copper Project,

4. OCEANAGOLD CORPORATION (http://www.oceanagold.com) • Didipio Project in Northern Luzon,

5. OLYMPUS PACIFIC MINERALS INC. (http://www.olympuspacific.com) • Capcapo Gold Property

6. TVI PACIFIC INC. (http://www.tvipacific.com) • Canatuan Mine, • Siennalynn Project, • Balabag Gold Pro-ject, T • amarok and Tapisa Copper-Gold Projects • Bonbon Project • North Zamboanga Projects

(Source: http://nassa.org.ph)

Mining companies, page 6

These firms claim to be the source of positive economic and social benefits, including poverty reduction, economic diversification and the enhance-

ment of local infrastructure and social and health services. But we claim otherwise. As the Policy Paper of the National Alliance Against Mining at-tests: “the performance of the Philippine mining industry is

dismal. It failed to deliver on its promises on revenues, in-vestments and employment. Its contribution to the Philippine economy is relatively insignifi-cant compared to Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Adding tourism to the equation (whose operations are directly impacted by mining), then you have an imbalance.”

And to cite instances of how mining, particularly by Ca-nadian companies, has brought human rights violations and threatens ecological integrity of island community, there are three more recent incidents:

1. On January 10, 2011 the Philippine Commission on Hu-man Rights (CHR) promulgated a resolution recommending can-cellation of the mining contract issued to Oceana Gold because of strong evidence that their presence in Nueva Vizcaya has caused human rights violations. The CHR cited complaints that Oceana Gold “had illegally and violently demolished some 187

houses in Di-dipio: “Resi-dents who resisted and tried to save their homes had been beaten, in-cluding their n e i g h b o r s who helped them; hous-es had been bulldozed off cliffs and set on fire,” the CHR resolu-tion added.

B u t despite the categorical findings on human rights violat ions , the company

acted with impunity and is deter-mined to speed up the construc-tion phase of the operation.

Oceana Gold Corporation is an Australian company listed under Toronto Stock Exchange,

Mining, page 15

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Mining, from page 7

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JAPAN, May 2, 2011―Evacuees from the earthquake and tsunami, many of them old people, are living with anxiety of not knowing where they will live and the more pressing and simple needs of finding hot water to bathe.

Most people who lost their homes to the March 11 disaster in northern Japan remain in evacuation centers in schools, gymnasiums and town halls.

Kiyoko Inomata, 85, lost her family and home in Ishinomaki. She lives for the time being in a school gym with other evacuees, but officials have announced that the schools must be cleared out by the middle of May so that normal student life can resume.

“The kids have a hard time with us using their school, but they pitch in and help with the cleaning,” said Inomata.

Temporary housing is being put up around town, but there may not be enough ready by the deadline and even if people get into the housing, they are expected to move out within two years.

“I doubt they’ll throw us out,” said Inomata. “We old folks, though, are in no shape to go hunting for a place to stay. Where can I go? I want to stay in the area.”

Inomata said she had heard of a small apartment that might suit her, but the rent alone would take almost her entire pension.

Among the services for evacuees provided by the Sendai Diocesan Support Center with on-the-ground assistance from Caritas Japan in Ishinomaki is a hot-water distribution at an evacuation center in the Kadowaki Middle School.

When the first group of Caritas vol-unteers arrived in the town, one of them heard from people living in classrooms and gyms that they had no access to hot water during the day. They wanted to be able to make tea, coffee and instant foods as well as rinse out towels and clothes in warm water.

So, the volunteers began a hot-water distribution. Each morning, afternoon and evening, volunteers stand under a tent out-side the school, tending big pots of boiling

water from which they ladle water into thermos bottles that people line up to have filled. During the three sessions, they give out more than 700 liters each day.

At one end of the counter volunteers also provide cups of coffee, tea or hot choc-olate as well as candy. Children who do not realize that grown-ups were once children who did the same thing sneak candy when they think no one is watching.

Hiroshi Ono, one of two supervisors of the operation in Ishinomaki, said, “You have to be careful when talking to the kids. It’s natural when they act up to say, ‘I’ll tell your parents.’ But some of them have lost parents.”

Ono worries that once Golden Week, a succession of national holidays that com-bined with weekends and a day or two of vacation time gives the whole nation a week off from work and school, is over the pool of student volunteers may dry up.

“Maybe we can get retirees to come as volunteers,” he said. “The hot water service is something they can do.” (UCANews)

Housing tops tsunami evacuees’ worries Dhaka archdiocese adds daycare centerDHAKA, May 2, 2011―Arch-bishop Paulinus Costa of Dhaka has opened the third daycare center for disable children in the capital city to accommodate more vulnerable kids in Church services.

Asha (Hope)-2 was for-mally opened on April 29 in Tejturibazar area in the center of the city. It can look after 20 children, free of charge for parents who cannot afford to take care of them or who work during the day.

About 70 participants, most-ly disabled people and their par-ents, along with Church leaders and Caritas Bangladesh officials,

attended the opening ceremony.“The center is disabled-

friendly. We’ve set it out in such a way that the kids can easily use chairs and tables, electric switches and toilets. It will also help them to dress, eat and clean tables by themselves”, said Binoy Rodrigues, 41, the center director.

The center, which was set up with personal efforts from Holy Cross auxiliary bishop Theotonius Gomes of Dhaka, is set to give parents a break from the challenges of family life as they struggle with the disabilities of their children.

“My autistic and physi-

cally disabled son doesn’t lis-ten to us and often gets angry with us. I hope the center will help him improve and become peaceful,” said Catholic house-wife Anjona Gomes, 45.

Muslim Rejaul Karim, 50, said he was happy because my disabled daughter can now be kept near his residence, just two minutes walking distance. He used to drop his daughter Farja-na Karim, 15, at the Church-run Father Pinos Dropping Center in Mirpur, on the northern outskirts of Dhaka.

A Muslim mother, Amena Be-gum, said the Church-run daycare center is making a difference.

NEWSFEATURES

NEWSFEATURES

In 2010, Oceana Gold had completed a private placement in Canada of 12,023,360 special warrants at a price of $3.50 per spe-cial warrant for aggregate gross proceeds of $42,081,760. The private placement was led by Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd. and Citigroup Global Markets Canada Inc.

2. On April 19, 2011, President Beni-gno Aquino III cancelled the Financial and Technical Assistance Agreements issued to MBMI Resources, Inc. covering some 12,000 hectares of land in the municipalities of Rizal, Bataraza and Narra in Southern Palawan. MBMI Resources Inc. is a Ca-nadian-based mining company focused on the exploration and development of nickel mineral properties in the area. Palawan is a small island ecosystem and mining will definitely put the communities in real danger and will threaten the extremely rich biodi-versity of the island. Indigenous peoples in Palawan were also surprised last year when they were given a permit to mine despite the opposition of communities.

Recently, a radio commentator and environment advocate opposing mining in Palawan was gunned down. This pro-vided a protest action with the civil society launching the initiative to gather 10 million signatures to ask the government to stop mining in biodiversity rich province.

3. On April 20, 2011, Mindoro Re-sources Inc., a Canadian junior company based in Edmonton and listed in Toronto Stock Exchange announced that it will com-mence the Pre-Feasibility study for Agata

Nickel Project in Surigao, Mindanao. In July 2010, Mindoro Resources was granted 2.1 Canadian dollars by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to support this project.

However, the Environmental and So-cial Review Summary of 2008 did not ad-dress the concern that the area for mining is part of the Lake Mainit watershed, the 4th largest lake and home to 31 coastal villages. There are also allegations that the company secured the needed consent of the indigenous peoples in a highly questionable manner.

With the above-given examples, and more similar cases all over the country, we affirm the findings in the research study conducted by The Canadian Center for the Study of Resource Conflict in 2009, that the Canadian mining companies had been prominently involved in environmental deg-radation, unethical behavior and in propa-gating conflicts among communities.

Also, the aggressive pursuit of min-ing investments has necessarily spawned numerous human rights abuses, especially against individuals and communities op-posed to mining. The abuse has included both physical and psychological harass-ment. A number of anti-mining advocates have also been killed. As of February 2011, at least seven (7) anti-mining activists have sacrificed their lives in defense of their land and natural resources. One incident of this kind happened in Sibuyan, Romblon, now a Canadian-owned mining concession, Altai Resources, subsidiary of Altai Philip-pine Mining Corp. The purpose of killing

is clear, to cultivate a climate of fear and stifle opposition. But instead, it is breeding resistance and is strengthening a grassroots anti-mining movement.

The transnational corporations have become very powerful players, doing inten-sified economic transactions that cross na-tional boundaries. The policy or investment decisions are being formulated primarily by market considerations and not by national interest. As in the case of the Philippines and other developing countries, what is ironic is that national policies are being framed or reformulated to suit the dictated interest of the mining investment.

The arena of struggle for anti-mining campaign should not totally rely on the strength of local victories. Since the is-sue and the new hierarchy of power have assumed global character, the campaign necessarily has to assume global engage-ment. Large-scale mining is not an isolated economic activity. It is always within the ambit of a larger network of interconnec-tions and the dangers or risks that it poses are common to all other sites in other parts of the world. Given this situation, any effort to create global solidarity and cooperation, particularly among the church network, is a very welcome initiative.

(This piece was delivered by Fr. Edwin Garriguez, Executive Secretary of Episco-pal Commission on Social Action, Justice and Peace, at the Ecumenical Mining Confernce in Toronto, Canada, on May 1-3, 2001)

Bin Laden's death brings momentary relief in Pakistan, deeper problems remain

LAHORE, Pakistan, May 4, 2011—Responding to the death of Osama bin Laden, advocates of human rights and religious freedom in Pakistan say the real work of rooting out terrorism remains to be done.

“It is a moment of relief for many human rights activists,” said Peter Jacob, executive secretary of Pakistan's National Commission for Justice and Peace.

“There is a sense of satis-faction, too, that someone who believed in the death of others is no longer there.”

But Jacob and other Paki-stani Christians worry that Bin Laden's followers “will still try to whip up hate campaigns for political gain.”

He said Bin Laden's dis-covery and death in the urban area of Abottabad should be a wake-up call to authorities.

“Coming out of a state of denial is in everybody's inter-est,” he told CNA on May 2. “Extremism in Pakistan is not territory-specific, nor is the military response sufficient. The civilian leadership has to chalk out a road map to legal, economic and educational re-forms.”

Jacob, whose commis-sion promotes human rights on behalf of Pakistan's Catholic bishops, was initially skeptical about the news reports of Bin Laden's death.

“I was sitting in my office reading the newspaper, sipping tea. The newspaper did not have this news as this operation was carried out early in the morn-ing,” he recalled.

“A colleague of mine, who had been sitting in front of the TV, entered my room and told me Osama was killed.

'Once again?' I questioned back, as I suspected that he was alive, because I had read stories claiming he was dead already.”

But the Al-Qaeda leader's May 1 death at the hands of U.S. special forces was no false alarm. Instead, it was a moment of cautious optimism.

“I think the incident will accelerate the process of re-thinking among the Muslims that will marginalize rigid and violent theories in the end,” Jacob reflected. At the same time, “it is also feared that ex-tremists will target high-profile people—as they have made it clear through a message this morning—and wage attacks.”

“The Christians in Paki-stan, because they face violence in the name of religion, are cautious about their reaction for existential reasons,” he

observed.He said that the Vatican's

carefully-measured message, holding Bin Laden “gravely re-sponsible” for killing innocent people, but refusing to “rejoice” in his death, was “timely and helpful.” Jacob also hopes that the White House's message, explain-ing that its war on terrorism is not a fight against the religion of Islam itself, will be translated into local languages and be understood among the public.

“These is local or folk wisdom that people of Pakistan can benefit from also,” Jacob pointed out, quoting the words of the 19th century Sufi Muslim poet Mian Mohammad Bakhsh: “Do not rejoice on the death of an enemy, Because friends will die too one day. Every dawn is doomed to submerge in dusk, And don't let glee or gloom take the best of you away.” (CNA)

“My disabled son used to vandalize the household at will. He didn’t listen to anyone and also got lost several times,” she recalled, adding that her son completely changed after he was kept in Asha-1 at Nayana-gar in eastern Dhaka.

Bishop Theotonius Gomes, the mastermind of the welfare services who is the chairman of Episcopal Commission for HealthCare (ECHC), said: “We try to help parents realize that disabled children are not their burden. Even though they are born with disabilities they should be welcomed as gifts of God.” (UCANews)