| CHR TO DENR SEC. ATIENZA ON MINDORO NICKEL PROJECT: “EXPLAIN THE ISSUANCE OF THE ECC ISSUED TO INTEX” |
 |
 |
 |
| Thursday, 26 November 2009 00:00 |
|
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) had received a letter dated 23 November 2009 raising the issue of the allegedly illegal issuance of an Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) to Intex, a Norwegian mining outfit. Intex had been cleared by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to carry out a large-scale mining operation located in the Mag-asawang Watershed in Mindoro, straddling the border of Oriental and Occidental Mindoro. The operation, known as the Mindoro Nickel Project (MNP), covers about 11,200 hectares which includes land covered already by a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADC) granted to the Mangyan Alangan and Tadyawan tribes. The granting of the CADC paves the way for the issuance of certificates of title over the land to the grantee-community. “How exactly an ECC can be granted despite the existence of a CADC over the same land is confounding,” CHR Chairperson Leila De Lima. “Also, there are several Sanggunian resolutions from the various affected municipalities that express opposition to the conduct of large-scale mining operations. Without apparent compliance with the requisite of public hearings with the local government units and the local communities, the ECC cannot be issued.” Moreover, the Province of Mindoro had passed a 25-year mining moratorium ordinance in 2002 which prohibits the entry of all large-scale mining operations. In May 2009, Oriental Mindoro Governor Arnan Pangaligan issued a cease and desist order stopping the conduct of the public hearing on the MNP. In September, the governors of both Oriental and Occidental Mindoro signed a joint manifesto which explicitly opposes the MNP. However, on 14 October 2009, an ECC was granted to the MNP despite the Environmental Impact Assessment Review Committee recommendation to deny the issuance. “The events unfolding in Mindoro are of the same mold as that occurring in Barangay Didipio in Nueva Vizcaya,” De Lima said. “Reports of harassment and violence inflicted upon the indigenous communities and inhabitants of disputed land have reached us. It has not developed into a explosion of violence yet, but we are not going to wait for the situation to get worse. Just as the CHR had put its foot down hard on the OceanaGold mining issue in Didipio, we will make sure that the protagonists in the MNP dispute know that we have trained our sights on them.” “We are also aware that several members of the Mangyan Alangans and Tadyawans are on hunger strike, staged in front of the DENR office here in Quezon City,” De Lima continued. “It does not matter whether DENR Secretary Lito Atienza is 'pro-life' or otherwise. The Mangyans have become desperate enough to resort to a hunger strike and this requires more than a tepid response from Sec. Atienza.” “There are allegations of anomalies attending the issuance of the ECC to the MNP. As a public servant, Sec. Atienza must explain even the mere appearance of improprieties.” The hunger strike is on its 10th day today. Some strikers have been hospitalized already. “Before the strikers lose their health or lives,” De Lima continued, “and lose the strength of their voices and numbers, I want to make sure that the public-at-large is aware of this mining dispute, and that all of us, not just the Mangyans are awaiting Sec. Atienza'a response.” 
|
