A BRIEF POSITION PAPER
Submitted during the Committee Hearing of the
Committee on Nautral Resources
House of Representatives
Congress of the Republic of the Philippines
on the objective presentations
by the Mining Industries
05 March 2002
by
Rep. Charity P. Leviste
First District, Oriental Mindoro
Distinguished Chairman Eduardo K. Veloso, Distinguished Collegues, Ladies and Gentlemen from the Mining Industries, honored guests.
I wish to express my appreciation to the Chairman for giving this representation the opportunity to comment on the salient points advanced by the Crew Minerals Company, in its mining exploration in Oriental mindoro and for allowing us to submit a brief position paper expressing the general sentiment of the people of the Province of Oriental Mindoro.
WHY MINING IS NOT PROPER IN ORIENTAL MINDORO
Mining, for all its objectives and intentions, is not bad per se. It is even legally permissible. But when the act of mining clashes with ecologicalbalance and contributes to the deteriorationof the environment, affects thousands of lives and agriculture, imperilsour watersheds, and pollutes our rivers and seas, then it becomes a huge part of a problem that will never go away. And for us in Oriental Mindoro, mining presents a different story.
Let me tell you why.
Oriental Mindoro for all its blessings and while fit to be called MINA DE ORO or mine of gold remains basically flawed as its contours, terrains and mountains spread to rivers and tributaries which nature has not turn put in shape to contain volumes of water caused by monsoon rains and typhoons, resulting in overflows that induce flashfloods in the lowlands. These year5ly intermittent occurences have caused considerawble damage to thousand lives (of our people), destroyed thousands of agaricultural lands and produce, and wrek havoc to government infrastructure such as concrete roads and bridges. Year in and year out our government infused millions of pesos to rehabillitate andrepair the yearly damages only to have these structures destroyed over and over again.
For us Mindoreños, our woes have not stopped. the problem continues to assult our efforts to contain disastrous floods. And we cannot afford to add more to this problem.
As Representative of my people in Oriental mindoro, it is my duty to bring to this Vhamber the general sentiment and perception that affect their lives. That mining in Oriental Mindoro is not proper reverberates thoughout the the corners of the locality. Why?
For one, mining in Mindoro is anti-environment because it exacerbates the existing problems given the fact that the open pit mining procedure cannot guarantee that it is risk-free. This procedure has been banned in the US and Europe as it has been proven to be a failure. Secondly, cobalt and nickel, which the mining firm intends to extract, is unhealthy and dangerous upon continual exposure. Third, wate disposal or the discharge of minetailings into the sea is extremely hazardous to marine life which in turn sustains human life. The Marinduque experience, to be more concrete, is a lesson in action. Fourth, said mining operation in Oriental MIndoro requires the use approximately 9,000 hectares of watershed areas, further compounding our woes in terms of inadequate potable water supply. Fifth, the denudation of forest adjacent to these watershed areas would likewise aggravate flooding, a perennial problem. While we may concede that mining can contribute to economic development, the fact remeins that this advantage is outweighed by impending dangers the operation may bring.
IT IS THEREFORE THIS REPRESENTATION'S STAND THAT ANY SERIOUS THREAT TO THE ECOLOGICAL BALANCE OF OUR PROVINCE SHOULD NEVER BE OVERLOOKED AND SHOULD BE DEALT WITH APPROPRIATELY AND DECISIVELY.
