Php 70.00 Vol. 47 No. 07 • July 2013 - IMPACT Magazine Online!

STATEMENTS
Human Rights Should Take Precedence and Cannot be
Sacrificed in the Name of ‘Responsible’ Mining
We at the Tampakan Forum welcome
with affirmation the thorough
work done by Dr. Brigitte
Hamm, Ms. Anne Schax and Mr. Christian
Scheper of the Institute for Peace and
Development ( INEF) as presented in the
Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA)
of the Tampakan Copper-Gold Project,
an independent study commissioned and
published by MISEREOR, the German
Catholic Bishops’ Organization for Development
Cooperation and the Swiss
Catholic Lenten Fund (Fastenopfer) in
collaboration with the Swiss protestant
development organization Bread for All.
The conduct of a Human Rights Impact
Assessment by an independent and
third party institution is a welcome initiative.
It provides a better understanding
of a pressing business and human rights
issue in the country today. Such is the
Tampakan Copper-Gold Project, being
heralded by both the government and the
industry as the biggest single investment
in the Philippines which will purportedly
bring in humongous economic benefits
to the country and raise the community’s
“standard of living”.
The furor it has created stupefied
observers, revolted the directly affected
as well as different stakeholders. The exchange
of views, opinions and positions
for or against the project spanned many
years already. It has divided families,
communities, and ostracized constituents
from their governments while on ground
zero, the unfolding of once feared scenarios
into actual events and incidents is now
happening. Noticeably, concrete responses
and appropriate immediate interventions
from supposed authorities is a gaping
gap to date. If any, drastic and insensitive
measures that have only aggravated the
situation from bad to worse.
We see the impact study on human
rights as an essential element to pave the
way for a more in-depth, properly informed
and objective discussion of the issues at
hand. It would do well for government to
read it carefully and critically. It may well
be an indictment of its conduct vis-a-vis
human rights, indigenous peoples, environment
and the stewardship of Creation.
The HRIA under the frame of the UN
Guiding Principles for Business and Human
Rights is a valuable human rights tool
to guide businesses in upholding respect
for human rights in every step of their
work process, and to establish
effective remedies. Likewise, to
provide guidance for the state to
protect human rights by effectively
enforcing regulation and
to draw attention from all stakeholders
to uphold the primacy
of human rights. It is so as the
HRIA report on Tampakan Project
clearly pointed out its actual and
potential impacts in a given complex
context of the human rights
of the most vulnerable groups,
especially indigenous groups,
farmers and irrigators.
Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI),
a subsidiary of the Philippines
Glencore-Xstrata, has certainly
made a study on the environmental
and social impact of the effects on health
according to the Philippine laws. However,
none of the companies involved in the
project has so far done an impact study
on human rights in accordance with the
Guidelines. The Philippine government
has neither made nor requested the study,
no more than the Swiss state has required
the parent company to undertake one. This
does not and cannot downplay the fact of
the dire need for an independent HRIA.
The HRIA had delved into a context
which is characterized by a combination
of government failures, prevailing poverty,
a high level of marginalization and
discrimination against indigenous groups,
especially in terms of basic services, and a
generally volatile conflict situation.
It pointed out already existing and
potential high risks to the human rights of
vulnerable population should the project
proceed, as the rights to an adequate and
meaningful information and participation,
livelihoods, health, education, culture,
and the fundamental right to life, security,
and liberty.
Against the backdrop of the key
predicaments outlined by the HRIA as
precarious to such a project, the conclusion
that under such situation and existing
conditions, “a responsible open-pit mine
of this magnitude does not seem feasible”
has only corroborated the earlier critique
of the Tampakan Forum which was presented
in a public forum organized by
the Provincial local government of South
Cotabato last September 23, 2011. The
blatant disregard for fundamental human
rights was also one of the key findings
by the Tampakan Forum-led fact-finding
solidarity mission last April 2012. These
prior documents were made available to
all the stakeholders for consideration and
appropriate action but sadly it seemed it
has been relegated to the background by the
concerned government authorities, and has
not been taken seriously if not altogether
vehemently denied by SMI.
We have always reiterated that the
Philippine state is the primary bearer of
the responsibility for the fragile situation
in the Tampakan area, while SMI and
its mother company, Xstrata carry great
responsibility.
This project will result in the expulsion
of more than 5,000 indigenous people
from their ancestral domain. It is located
on a site of importance with regard to the
supply of drinking water in the region. A
site also threatened by earthquakes and by
an active volcano. The mining company’s
promise and assurance comes in the form
of techno-fix mitigating measures to master
all existing environmental risks.
From the outset, Tampakan Forum
totally agreed with the SMI’s consultant
engineers who determined that: “The Tampakan
Mine has a high potential for loss of
life and high environmental damage if the
facilities fail” [page 42 Waste Management
Report. Appendix A. SMI Environmental
and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA)
2011]. We totally disagree that Xstrata/
Indophil/SMI can design the facilities to
survive seismic activity and climate change
including tropical cyclones forever.
The way mining has been done in the
country for the past 50 years, render the fact
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IMPACT • July 2013