Representatives from six communities in Mindanao and Visayas , Philippines will hold a learning tour in Indonesia from Aug. ___, 2010. Community leaders from South Cotabato, Saranggani Province, Iloilo and Cebu will visit communities in various parts of Indonesia to exchange stories of their struggles against deadly energy projects.

Dubbed as the “Toxic Tour”, the activity aims to build strong solidarity ties between and among the participating communities as well as demonstrate their efforts to promote Climate Justice. The Philippine group will visit visit villages in East Kalimantan, Kutai Provinces and Macroman Samarinda where large-scale coal mining projects like the PT Kaltim Prima Coal are located. They will then proceed to Cilacap, East Java to see the (will get the name of the coal plant) .

Joining the tour are representatives from the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, Inc. (LRC-KsK/FoE-Phils.) and Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC).

The Toxic Tour is also an offshoot of the Regional Dialogue on Deadly Energy held last October 9, 2009 at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand.

Participants of the Regional Dialogue on Deadly Energy. The activity was made possible through the support of 11.11.11, NGO Forum on the ADB and Climate Justice Now (CJN).

Defending the Last Frontier

“Ila ang balaod, daw indi na sa amon ang yuta” (they make laws as if we don’t own the land). This was the lamentation of Datu Victor Danyan, tribal chieftain of Datal Bonlangon and chairperson of the Tamasco-Manobo S’daf Claimants Organization (TAMASCO) in 2004 upon learning that they have to wait until the expiration of an Industrial Forest Management Agreement (IFMA) on 2016. before they can claim back their entire ancestral territory. SII, a company owned by Victor A. Consunji and associates has been expanding its coffee plantation within the TAMASCO claim. The IFMA was awarded to SII 1992 by the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

“And now comes these drilling activities of another Consunji-owned company for coal mining. This government is ramming their version of development into our throat despite our opposition, this is already too much” Danyan added speaking in a local dialect.

Datu Victor will not join the Toxic Tour but is hopeful that their representative, Abelardo Wali, TAMASCO can forge a strong and long term partnership with communities in Indonesia who are also up against intrusion of large corporations.

TAMASCO is made up of at least four sitios: Datal Bonlangon, Segowit, Tawan Dagat and Tuburan, all of Barangay Ned, Lake Sebu, South Cotabato.

Barangay Ned is located at the western half of Lake Sebu, South Cotabato bounded by Sultan Kudarat Province in the north and west and Sarangani Province in the south. It is the largest of the 19 barangays, with an area of over 41,000 ha or about 52.4% of Lake Sebu, comprising the Ned Settlement Area (22,000 ha) and the Tasaday Reservation (19,000 ha).

Originally part of the ancestral territories of the T’boli tribe, three claimant organizations, the T’boli-Manobo S’daf Claimant Organization (TAMASCO), Taboli-Ubo Claimants Organization (TUCO) and the Manubo-Tasay Blit claimants are now processing their ancestral domain titles to secure what is left of their traditional boundaries within barangay Ned.

A large portion of Ned was placed under agrarian reform through the Surallah-Baningo Resettlement Project established by then Ministry of Agrarian reform (now department) in 1969. The people have since established sustainable livelihood projects where agricultural produce reach other provinces and cities in the region and other areas.

The area is also covered by Watershed Forest Reservation of Allah Valley River System and Kabulnan Watershed Forest Reserve. It serves as a headwater of rivers in the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato and Sarangani, where low-lying communities depend much for sufficient and clean water source for drinking, livelihood and other uses.

Dirty Coal

Barangay Ned has been a subject of geologic surveys after coal outcrops were discovered more than a decade ago. The area was earlier report to have the potential of being the country’s largest open pit mine with estimated coal deposits of more than 200 million tons.

The government has already entered into contracts with three coal mining companies covering at least 17,000 hectares.

In March 2010 San Miguel Corporation acquired 100 percent of DAMI through its subsidiary San Miguel Energy. The Dept. of Energy (DOE) has awarded Coal Operating Contract (COC) No. 126 to the Daguma Agro-Minerals, Inc. (DAMI) on November 19, 2002. The project is now at the production and development stage. Block 380 and 381 encroaches the ancestral territories of TAMASCO particularly in areas of Tawan Dagat and Tuburan.

SMC has also assumed the rights of Sultan Energy Philippines Corporation (SEPC), MG Mining and Energy Corporation (MGMEC) and Bonanza Energy Resources, Inc. The combined project area of these companies is at least 17,000 hectares.

On October 2009, DOE signed COC 154 with DMC Construction Equipment Resources Inc. awardingh them with an area of 3,000 hecatres (3 blocks) located in the boundaries of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat. DMC is owned by the Consujis. The project area lies within the ancestral territories of TAMASCO. A portion of the project area also overlaps Block VII of IFMA 22 concession area, also owned by the Consunjis thru the Silvicultural Industries Inc.

Burning our Future

The extracted coal in the area will be fed to Southern Mindanao 200 MW coal-fired power station to be built in Maasim and other existing coal plants in the country. Conal Holdings Corp., (CHC) the proponent proponent, is owned by Alcantara Consolidated Resources, Inc. and the Electricity Generating Public Company, Ltd. (EGCO)-Thailand with 60% and 40% direct ownership respectively.

CHC has awarded Sultan Mining and Energy Corp., (SMEDC) a 25-year coal supply deal where the latter will supply CHC with at least 700,000 metric tons (MT) of coal per year for 25 years. SMEDC is the owner of MGMEC and SEPC.

MGMEC also entered into a Php 8 billion coal supply deal with Korea Southeast Power Company, a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Company (KEPCO), the operator of a coal-fired power plant in Naga, Cebu.

CHC’s SM200 power plant is expected to supply the power requirements of Xtrata-Sagittarius Mines Incorporated (SMI), for their copper-gold mining project in Tampakan, South Cotabato.

Xtrata-SMI on the other hand has expressed interest to build its own power plant either in Davao del Sur or General Santos City while San Miguel Energy is mulling of a mine-mouth coal plant also in General Santos City.

TAMASCO and the Hublag Kontra Mina (HUKOM-Movement Against Mining) an alliance of indigenous communities and farmer-settlers in Barangay Ned are spearheading the campaign against the coal mining projects in the area.

Elsewhere in Maasim, Sarangani Province, the Maasim Peoples’ Coalition on Climate Change (MP3C), a loose alliance of faith-based groups, indigenous peoples, basic sectors and Muslims, are strongly opposing the construction CHC’s SM200 coal-fired power plant.

Maasim is one of the municipalities along the western coast of Sarangani Province. Only 45 minutes away from General Santos City, it has a total land area of 51,107 hectares, with a total population of 45,100 people.

Maasim is inhabited by a conglomeration of ethnic groups like the Cebuanos, Boholanos, Ilonggo, Moro and indigenous peoples belonging to the B’laan and T’boli tribes.

Maasim’s economy is largely dependent on its agricultural lands and marine resources. Aside from fishing and farming, which are primary livelihoods, boat making, livestock raising and limestone quarrying constitute alternative sources of income.

The local government unity of Maasim has established the Kamanga Marine Protected Area in 2006 to protect the world-reknowned Tinoto-Tampuan Reef. The 140-hectare area is home to various endangered species including napoleon wrasse, eagle ray, jacks, unicorn fish, trigger fish, large schools of butterfly fish, sweetlips, snapper, turtle, barracuda, dugong bumpheads, and spadefish, with pristine fans and corals.

Coal burning for profit

The Southern Mindanao 200 (SM 200) coal-fired power plant will be built in the village of Kamanga. CHC is slated to start construction within 2010 and the plant will be operationalized within the next three years. Project cost is estimated at $450 million or Php 21.3 billion including the construction of a port, as well as facilities like coal storage, ash pond, water treatment and other necessary infrastructures.

From its own feasibility study, the plant is expected to generate millions of greenhouse gases that threatens the people, the environment especially the marine resources in the area.

The plant will use Indonesian and Philippine sub-bituminous and low rank (lignite) coal.

CHC will also finance a 7,500-hectare carbon sink worth $7.5 million. Carbon credits from the sink will be sold to foreign companies and among those who signified interests were Endesa Carbono, a subsidiary of Endesa, a private company in Latin America and Nefco (Nordic Environmental Finance Corporation), an international financial institution established by 5 Nordic countries in 1990.

Community Voices

“We hope that our conversations with communities in Indonesia will lead to a strong partnership and solidarity”, said Alan Alam, one of HUKOM’s representative. He was part of the Regional Dialogue on Dirty Energy and for him the first meeting in Bangkok was an eye opener. “At first I thought that we were the only ones who were struggling against coal and other extractive projects. During the Bangkok meeting, I learned that the issues of my community and that of East Kalimantan and Cilacap communities are similar”, He added.

Maricar Benites of MP3C is excited and about the Tour. She hopes to learn more about coal mining and coal-fired power plants so that she can fully explain to her colleagues in her community why they have to oppose the construction of the SM200 coal-fired power plant.

Next Teaser – KEPCO’s Burning Presence in Visayas