Vizcaya mining row heats up as tribal folk take opposite stands

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — The national and local elections are still eight months away, but residents of a remote mountain village here are now on a campaign trail, not to elect local leaders but to decide whether they would allow mining operations in their area to continue or not.

The villagers, who used to be united because of their indigenous culture, now find themselves in opposite camps, thus raising fears of a possible clan war between those fiercely battling for the pullout of an Australian mining firm and those rooting for continuing the mining in gold ore-rich Barangay Dipidio in Kasibu town, some 50 kilometers away from this capital town.

Peter Dupayat, one of the leaders of the anti-mining group which recently won a petition with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the holding of a referendum on the mining issue, vowed a no let-up campaign for the rejection of any form of mining in Didipio.

The opposite camp, led by Dupayat’s fellow tribal leader, Pedro Ananayo, is backing the continuing stay of Australia’s Climax Arimco Mining Corp., whose operation was halted after the protesters filed the Comelec petition.

The other day, Ananayo’s group staged a picket while members of the Regional Development Council, led by Gov. Edgar Lara, were holding a meeting in Malabing, Kasibu town.

"We would like to express our sentiments that majority of us are for mining in our area. Please hear us, we also want development," said Ananayo, president of the Didipio Farmers and Irrigators Association.

"For God so loved the world that He gave us gold," the pro-mining group said.

In an en banc resolution last Sept. 12, the Comelec allowed the more than 600 registered voters of Didipio to decide whether they favor mining in their community or not. The referendum will be held at least 30 days after the resolution.

The Comelec decision also nullified the 1999 memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the Didipio barangay council and Climax Arimco, which allowed the Australian mining firm to continue its operation.

However, the mostly indigenous villagers opposed the MOA and petitioned the poll body to instead uphold an earlier agreement calling for a referendum.

Local environmental groups, led by the local Catholic Church, claimed that more than 20,000 hectares of rice and citrus farms in Kasibu and several villages in adjacent Quirino province stand to be inundated if Arimco continues to operate in the area.

Arimco, which has been in the area since the early 1990s, was granted a financial and technical assistance agreement for exploration activities during the administration of former President Fidel Ramos.

With the exploration stage almost finished, Climax Arimco is now constructing several huge tailing dams and other man-made water channels for the gold extraction stage, which the anti-mining groups claimed would displace hundreds of residents and inundate their farms.

This, aside from the toxic wastes generated during the extraction stage which the anti-mining advocates claimed would be harmful to the local folk and the environment.

Bayombong Bishop Ramon Villena hailed the Comelec resolution, which he said upheld the residents’ sovereign right and was a "triumph for the environment and the people."