Urgent Appeal - Mining operations threaten the right to food of indigenous peoples
Published by MAC on 2004-10-15Urgent Appeal - Increased Human Rights Abuses around TVI Mine
The following is an urgent action from the German NGO FIAN. It should be noted that some of the facts quoted are perhaps arguable (notably that mining as such has not yet started, although exploration, processing and construction have and the estimate of 10,000 small scale miners may be a little high, but are roughly accurate if counting the miners through time) the gist of the urgent action isn't.
The appeal is followed by some background information about a recent visit of community representatives to Canada, the home of the company involved in the proposed mine.
7th October 2004 (Ref 0424HPHL)
Philippines: Mining operations threaten the right to food of indigenous peoples, Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte
The right to food of more than 250 families of Subanon indigenous peoples in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte is threatened by the activities of a mining company, TVI Resource Development Philippines. Under the guise of “exploration”, TVI Resource Development Philippines has been producing gold since 1995 by using the mining tailings which they have appropriated from local small-scale miners. In June 2004, the company has started to conduct large-scale mining in over 508 hectares of land belonging to the Subanon, based on the mining rights which it obtained from the Government of the Philippines in 1998. Not only are 300 families threatened to be evicted from their farm lands, water resource will also be contaminated by mining activities thus threatening the access to resources of many more. The people opposing the mining activities face harassment from the side of security guards of the company.
An international intervention is urgently needed in order to protect the right to food of indigenous families living in Siocon. Please write a letter to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, requesting her immediately take measures to ensure this right.
Profile
Siocon Municipality is located in the southern part of the province of Zamboanga del Norte and is the home to the indigenous peoples of Subanon. Agriculture is their main source of income for the Subanon, while some also work as small-scale miners.
Under the guise of “exploration”, TVI Resource Development Philippines, a subsidiary of a Canadian mining company TVI Pacific Inc., has been producing gold and forcibly appropriating properties of small-scale miners since 1995. Since then, a total of 10,000 small-scale miners have been affected by the company’s operations. Apart from this, the agriculture workers have been facing difficulties in accessing their farmlands and transporting their farm products to town due to four checkpoints which were established by the company along the way.
TVI Resource Development Philippines obtained the mining rights from the government of the Philippines in 1998 and has started conducting large-scale mining in over 508 hectares of Subanon land in June 2004. The operations of the company will not only threaten the farming lands and the water source of Siocon, but the target site is also an ancestral domain of the indigenous Subanon and sacred to the natives. Many indigenous peoples also fear the pollution of their rivers by the waste of mining activities containing mercury and cyanide. In addition, around 300 families will be evicted due to mining activities. Thus the protest group “Save Paradise Water Movement” has been heavily opposing the mining activities.
On March 14, 2004, around 100 persons built a human barricade to prevent the translocation of the company’s technical equipment from the town to the mining site. After 3 days of permanent blockade, the company guards fired into the group on March 17, 2004, wounding four persons. Now the area is constantly under guard by armed security called SCAA (Special Citizen Armed Forces Active Auxiliary) who are threatening the people to vacate from the area and warning them that they would bulldoze their homes and farms.
FIAN Mandate
As a State Party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Philippines is duty-bound under international law to respect and protect the right to adequate food of the population of Siocon. The mining operation of TVI Resource Development Philippines will threaten the right to food as well as the right to water of the Subanons who are farmers and small-scale miners. As such, the government of the Philippines must immediately take action to stop the physical harassment by the armed forces of TVI and ensure the right to food of Subanons.
End of Action: 10.12.04
Addresses:
Her Excellency
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Office of the President
New Executive Building
Malacanang Palace Compound
Manila, Philippines
Fax: 0063 2 8323793
Copies to:
Honourable Elisea G. Gozun
Secretary
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Visayas Ave., Diliman,
Quezon City, Philippines
Fax: 0063 2 9204352
TVI Pacific Inc.
Suite 2000
736 – 6th Avenue S.W.
Calgary, Alberta
T29 3 T7, Canada
Fax: 001 403 264 7028
DIOPIM Committee on Mining Issues (DCMI) (A support group for the victims)
G/F, Diocesan Pastoral Center
Sicayab, Dipolog City
Philippines
Tel/Fax: 0063 65 212-3678
Please inform FIAN about any responses to your letters and faxes
Her Excellency
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
New Executive Building
Malacanang Palace Compound
J.P. Laurel Street, San Miguel
Manila, Philippines
Fax: 0063 2 8323793
Your Excellency,
Recently, I received alarming information about the incident in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, on March 17, 2004, when guards of the mining company TVI Resource Development, a subsidiary of a Canadian mining company, Toronto Ventures Inc. fired into a group of civil protesters, wounding four persons. They were protesting against the mining activities of TVI Resource Development Philippines.
TVI Resource Development Philippines has been conducting operations of a series of gold mines in Siocon since 1995. It was reported that the company has taken the work of small-scale miners and also forcibly appropriated some of their properties, affecting a total of 10,000 small-scale miners since then. In addition, many agriculture workers living in the area have been facing difficulties accessing their farmlands as well as transporting their farm products to town because of four checkpoints established by TVI Resource Development Philippines. The company has now started to conduct large-scale mining in over 508 hectares in Subanon ancestral land based on the mining rights given by the Philippines government in 1998. Not only are 300 families facing eviction, water source as well as farmlands will be contaminated in the area due to mining operations, thereby threatening the right to food of Subanons.
As a States Party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Philippines is duty-bound under international law to respect and protect the right to food of the indigenous peoples of Subanon. As a person working international for the realization of the right to food, I would like to ask you, Madam President, to:
- withdraw the license of TVI to operate in the area;
- to prevent the eviction of the 300 farmer families;
- bring to trial those responsible for the shooting.
Please inform me about the steps you will initiate in this regards.
Sincerely yours,
Representatives from Siocon Oppose TVI Pacific
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Multi Sectoral Representatives from Siocon, in the Southern Philippines, Express Opposition to Canadian Mining Company TVI Pacific
(Ottawa, November 2, 2004)
Representatives of the local government, Indigenous Peoples, civil society and sectoral organizations from Siocon, a municipality in the southern Philippines, have travelled to Canada to declare their collective opposition to the plans of Canadian mining company TVI Pacific to operate a gold, copper and silver mine on Mount Canatuan. The mine is within the ancestral land of the Subanon people and within the critical watershed of the downstream communities of Siocon.
The delegation believes that the Canadian government has been seriously misinformed by the company as to the real wishes of local people. They charge that the company has failed to gain the support from the affected peoples and local government, as required by Philippine law and traditional law. They are calling on the Canadian government, investors and the public to stop supporting TVI and are calling for a genuine independent investigation and monitoring. "We welcome visitors who want to know the truth," says Onsino Mato. "Our concern is that our voice is being drowned out by company propaganda."
Siocon is a multi-cultural community in the conflict-torn region of the southern Philippines. The delegation to Canada includes Town Councillor Lucas who heads the municipal environment committee. According to Lucas, the mine is seen as a threat to the prosperity and livelihood of local farmers, fish breeders and fisherfolk. Since TVI began to process gold through its cyanide plant in the mountains at the head of the watershed, fishing communities and those farming and living near the river have reported a serious decline in water quality and reduced yields from their fisheries and fish farms. The municipal council is on record opposing the mine. Civil society has come together in the Save Siocon Paradise Movement, headed by Mrs. Conception (Ching) Capitania. In March, 2004, they mounted and maintained a picket to prevent the movement of mining equipment up to the mine site. On March 17, 2004, four picketers, including tribal elder Macario Salacao, were wounded when military and company guards opened fire.
Residents of Siocon fear mining will jeopardize their livelihoods and heighten militarization and conflict in their area. There have been two deadly assaults on company personnel and several incidents where company paramilitaries have shot at and wounded local people. The mine is in a region that is under a travel advisory from the Canadian government. Since TVI arrived in 1994, there has been sustained opposition to the proposed mine from the indigenous peoples on the site and the communities downstream. The mine is displacing indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands against their will. TVI now maintains a heavily armed security force to protect its site and to control the movement of goods and people. This and other excesses have been condemned in statements at the UN presented in Geneva by Mr. Mato and other Subanon representatives. Some opponents of the mine, including Mr. Mato, are now barred from access to their homes. TVI recently cleared all vegetation off the mountain, which Subanon across the region revere as a sacred place. Mining has now begun there. To circumvent local opposition TVI has supported and recognized a Subanon faction made up mostly of people who work for them and are imported from regions outside Canatuan. There are now strong divisions in the community. A traditional assembly of Subanon elders from across the region, headed by Timuay (Chief) Lambo, recently ruled that the organization recognized by TVI has no legitimacy.
Despite strong local opposition and controversy, TVI is receiving financial backing directly from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for a development project in the community. Such projects are viewed locally as efforts to win support for the mine through increasing the patronage of the company. The Canadian Ambassador, Peter Sutherland, recently stressed government support for TVI and identified the progress of this project as a "litmus test" for Canadian mining companies in assessing the commitment of the Philippine government to promoting foreign investment in mining.
Independent organizations however warn against support for TVI. According to Catherine Coumans of MiningWatch Canada, "Ambassador Sutherland has expressed support for TVI as representing responsible Canadian mining in the Philippines, but this company has never operated a mine before and already has an appalling record of community relations in Canatuan. From what I have seen in visiting the site, TVI will do nothing to Canadian mining's image in the Philippines; the embassy is betting on the wrong horse."
The delegation will be in Ottawa and Toronto from 1-8 November and will have meetings with the Department of Foreign Affairs, CIDA, Members of Parliament, the Assembly of First Nations, the Grand Council of the Crees, concerned NGOs, and human rights groups including Amnesty International. A meeting with the company has also been requested mediated by church-based groups in Toronto. As of the time of this release no response has been received from TVI. The visitors are also seeking advice on what legal redress might be possible.
The delegation consists of:
* First Councillor Lunie Lucas, Chair Environmental Committee, Siocon Municipal Council, Zamboanga del Norte
* Timuay Noval Lambo for the Gukom Sa Pito Kadulongan (7 Rivers Council of the Subanon)
* Mrs Conception Capitania, Save Siocon Paradise Movement
* Onsino Mato of Canatuan and representative of the Siocon Subanon Association Apu Manglang Glupa' Pusaka
[Representatives of the Muslim community in Siocon were denied Canadian visas to join the delegation.]
The tour is supported by MiningWatch Canada, Christian Aid, Tebtebba Foundation and Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links.
For more information contact: Catherine Coumans, MiningWatch Canada, (613) 795-5710 (cell)
Background:
Indigenous Subanon, Muslims, and Other Residents of the Town of Siocon in the Philippines Align Against Canadian Mining Company TVI
Catherine Coumans October 2004
TVI Faces Social, Political and Environmental Risk in the Philippines
Social Opposition
Canadian mining company TVI Pacific Inc. (TVI), listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), faces social opposition to its proposed mining activities in the Philippines from a united front of citizens from diverse cultural backgrounds in the town of Siocon, in south-western Mindanao, the Philippines. The Indigenous Subanon, who live in the mountains where TVI wants to locate its mine, have come out against the project. Down-stream communities in the fertile valley below the mine are opposed to the mine as they have already observed negative effects from the mine's operations on the Siocon and Lituban Rivers that they rely on for irrigation and fish farming. Muslims from Siocon, living on the coast, rely on fishing for their livelihood and they too blame the mine for deteriorating fishing conditions in the river's estuaries. All three affected communities have unified in the Save Siocon Paradise Movement. In elections held in May of 2004, mayoral candidate Cesar Soriano campaigned on the platform that if elected he would oppose the TVI mine. He won a landslide victory, winning twice as many votes as his nearest competitor.
Most immediately threatened are the Indigenous Subanon of Canatuan. TVI has started operations this year and has already bulldozed the top of a mountain that is a sacred place for the Subanon. There are numerous villagers living on the slopes of the mountain who will be displaced by the mine if it proceeds.
Political Risk
In addition to social opposition, TVI is also facing serious political challenges. The mine is located in Zamboanga Del Norte Province on the southern island of Mindanao. The Canadian Embassy has a travel advisory out against travel by Canadians in this region. This area has long suffered from sectarian violence from Muslim separatists known as the MNLF and MILF. It is also the territory of the Abu Sayyaf, known for kidnappings and local violence, and allegedly associated with al-Qaeda. The U.S. now has troops stationed in the region. A mine property known as Kingking, also on the island of Mindanao, was recently in the news ("Blood Money" - Former Exec: American Company Paid Terrorist Group to Protect Overseas Interests, by Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz, ABCNEWS.com) for having allegedly paid "revolutionary taxes" to the Abu Sayyaf. TVI was a part owner of Kingking project and two representatives of TVI were on its board of directors. In 2002, there were two violent attacks on TVI personnel resulting in 15 people being killed. The second of these attacks happened on December 26, 2002 when, according to TVI, "an unidentified group of armed terrorists ambushed a vehicle carrying TVI employees" travelling between Canatuan and Siocon. Thirteen people were killed and 12 people were wounded.
TVI employs armed paramilitary guards known as Special Civilian Armed Auxiliaries (SCAA). These guards are trained and armed by the Philippine military, but employed by TVI. The guards man numerous checkpoints between the town of Siocon and the mine in Canatuan. Having recently visited the area, I can attest to the fact that at least the first of these checkpoints is on the public road outside of the mine's concession area. The SCAA guards control the movement of goods and people on and off the site, which is also part of the government-recognized ancestral land of the local Subanon people. Leaders of the indigenous community who oppose the mine have been singled out for victimization. The legitimate and recognized "Timuay" or leader of the Subanon of Canatuan, Timuay José Anoy, is no longer allowed to pass the checkpoints to go to his home, nor can others from Canatuan who have expressed opposition to the mine. TVI is clearly not in compliance with its 1997 Environmental Compliance Certificate that requires the company to assure that "public roads shall remain open to allow the free flow of traffic."
Residents both from Canatuan and from the town of Siocon have faced attacks by the SCAA. Community opposition to the mine has been met with violence from security forces. There have been several shooting incidents involving company security. The most recent was in March 2004, when picketers opposing the movement of mining equipment were fired upon by company security and military. Four people, including tribal elder Timuay Macario Salacao, were wounded.
Environmental Problems
The environmental challenges faced by TVI are the same ones that have plagued other mining companies in the Philippines, including more experienced ones such as Canada's mining giant Placer Dome. Most mineral deposits in the Philippines are volcanic in origin and located in the mountains. The Philippines is also a tropical country with a high annual rainfall. Open pit mining generates enormous amounts of run-off and toxic waste (waste rock and tailings) that must be stored in such a way that it does not effect the wider environment. The combination of mountain top mining, high rainfall and large amounts of toxic waste have all too often proven disastrous in the Philippines, as elsewhere in the tropics. High profile catastrophic failures, such as the one that occurred at Placer Dome's Marcopper mine in the Philippines in 1996, are a concern, but so are the slow and steady releases of uncontrolled erosion from the mine site and the inadvertent - and sometimes deliberate - releases of tailings into waterways to relieve pressure on overfull tailings facilities.
In the case of TVI, my recent visit made clear that one of the ways in which TVI is already violating its 1997 Environmental Compliance Certificate is its completely inadequate management of erosion from the mine site. Although the actual mine operations have only gotten under way this year, the sand bag enclosures that are supposed to stop runoff from the fledgling mine are clearly already failing to do so. Additionally, the first tailings impoundment, used to hold tailings from TVI's processing of small scale miners' material, is not a modern engineered structured and there are already reports - including a recorded description by a former worker - of the way TVI has been releasing tailings from that facility during hard rains into nearby creeks that feed the major rivers.
The Subanon of Canatuan are calling for:
o The Canadian government to stop backing TVI
o Responsible Canadian investors to not invest in this project
o TVI to withdraw its abusive security personnel and leave the area in peace
o An independent fact-finding mission to investigate the abuses and assess the level of local support
o Canadian NGOs and Indigenous organizations to monitor the actions of TVI and oppose the denial and violation of Subanon rights in their ancestral land.
"Toronto Ventures Inc. (TVI) has started its illegal operations, and has desecrated our altar, the tip of Mt. Canatuan, which is our most sacred place. They bulldozed the tip of the mountain, destroyed our most holy place, and in a matter of weeks, our community will be wiped out due to their mad drive for gold." - Timuay José Anoy, Leader, Subanon Tribe Ancestral Domain of Apo Manglang