Mining in the Philippines - Concerns and Conflicts

The indigenous peoples of Midsalip, as in many other places, see mining as a threat to their
livelihoods, food security, culture and very existence.
The operation phase
Mt. Canatuan is located close to the town of Siocon in Zamboanga del Norte, Mindanao. It is part of
the ancestral domain of the Subanon people and is their sacred mountain. The area around Mt
Canatuan has been described as the ‘rice granary of Zamboanga del Norte’. The mountain itself had
important forest cover and is the source of rivers that are used by local farmers to irrigate their lands.
The sea, a few kilometers away, provides livelihoods for local fishing communities and fish-farm
operators.
From 1989 to the present day the indigenous Subanon people have been protesting against mining
activities. This included an objection to the original MPSA acquired by a small-scale miner in dubious
circumstances in 1993. 120 This same MPSA was subsequently sold to TVI, a Canadian mining
company, in 1994. In 2003 the traditional leader Timuay Jose ‘Boy’ Anoy was granted a Certificate of
Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) by the President of the Philippines. Since 2004 TVI has been
operating an open-pit gold mine on Mt Canatuan, using cyanide to extract gold from the ore and
storing the vast quantities of waste behind tailings dams. 121
The fact-finding team met a number of the affected Subanons – including their traditional leader and
CADT holder Timuay Jose ‘Boy’ Anoy, Soliling Onsino Mato – the spokesperson for the descendants
of Apo Manglang who established the traditional Subanon boundaries and territories 122 – and the
Galves family, recently evicted from their home, which was demolished to make way for TVI’s
mining operations (see Appendix 7 & 8 for photos).
In addition to describing how they had been deprived of their right to FPIC in relation to mining on
their ancestral lands, the Subanons also gave the fact-finding team details of the human rights abuses
they claim were committed since TVI’s mining operations started in the area, The abuses included:
• evictions of families living on the ancestral domain; a total of 40 families are directly affected;
• desecration of their sacred mountain;
• multiple security checkpoints blocking indigenous peoples’ access to their ancestral domain
and preventing them from performing their rituals;
• use of checkpoints to block transport of food and equipment for small-scale miners;
• violence and intimidation by the TVI-financed paramilitary force known as the Special
CAFGU (Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit) Armed Auxiliary (SCAA), including
shooting at picketers and placing hidden barbed nails in trails used by local residents. The
SCAA consists of 169 armed security personnel as of August 2006.
Owing to the vocal opposition of the Subanons these violations, along with others, have been welldocumented
by NGOs. They have been the subject of investigations and reports by the Philippine
Commission on Human Rights, a Canadian parliamentary committee 123 and a Philippines
congressional hearing 124 . The Subanon protests against mining have also included formal complaints
to the DENR, the MGB, petitions, rallies, and pickets, as well as advocacy in the UK and Canada.
TVI claims that because the 1995 Mining Act predates the 1997 IPRA, their claim has precedence,
ignoring the fact that the IPRA merely codifies the rights of indigenous peoples in the ancestral
domain which has been theirs for generations. Given that the legality of the process through which
the original MPSA was obtained has been questioned and that the Subanon people have been
protesting 125 against mining before and after TVI purchased this MPSA, they believe that the NCIP
should have insisted on:
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