Backed by Church leaders led by Bayombong Bishop Ramon Villena and leaders of various anti-mining groups, some 400 tribal leaders and residents of Barangay Didipio in Kasibu town filed the petition for mandamus with the Bayombong court.
Located some 50 kilometers from this capital town, the mountain village of Didipio village will host the large-scale mining project to be undertaken by the Australian firm Australasian-Philippines Mining Corp. (APMI), also known as Climax-Arimco Mining Corp. (CAMC).
The government and the foreign firm hope that the project will start in September this year.
Last year, the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) issued an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) to the project following CAMC’s almost 10 years of exploration in Didipio.
The government is expected to generate at least P30 billion from the 15-year Didipio venture, besides local revenues and the thousands of jobs it would create.
Local anti-mining advocates and Didipio residents opposed to the project hope that the court would grant their petition canceling the ECC for the Didipio project, thus preventing it from pushing through.
The petitioners, who included bishops in Northern Luzon, claimed that the DENR "illegally" issued the ECC since it allegedly failed to pass through the legal processes.
They claimed that the DENR issued the project’s ECC and financial technical assistance agreement without the "free, informed and prior consent" of the community.
They further alleged that the ECC was issued even without the consent or approval of the municipal government of Kasibu, one of the claimants of the Didipio area, as mandated under Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code.
"(Republic Act 7160) represents the right of local government units to determine their own development applicable within their boundaries to suit the specific circumstances of their local economic, social and environmental situation…," said the petitioners, most of whom are members of the Didipio Earth Savers Movement.
Last year, the Kasibu council, in a majority vote, rejected the mining venture.
But the 13-member provincial board, led by Vice Gov. Jose Gambito, later unanimously endorsed it.
The Quirino town of Nagtipunan, which has staked its claim over Didipio as part of its territorial jurisdiction, also endorsed the mining venture through its municipal council.
However, anti-mining groups claimed that the government and the foreign firm failed to obtain the endorsement of the Didipio municipal council, which, they said, was a prerequisite prior to the issuance of the ECC.
The APMI, however, claimed otherwise. Engineer Arnel Arrojo, Didipio project officer, said they were able to secure the endorsement of majority of the Didipio residents themselves, who, he added, have strongly supported the project.
The anti-mining advocates have described the project as "anti-people, anti-development and anti-environment."
Last year, bishops in Northern Luzon issued a pastoral letter condemning all large-scale mining projects, including the Didipio venture.
The DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau gave assurance, though, that the project would not affect the watershed in the area, especially the Addalam River, one of the major irrigation sources for most farmers in Quirino.
MGB regional director Jerrysal Mangaong said the gold and copper exploration would not affect or destroy in any manner the protected multi-chambered Alayan Caves in Kasibu, which, he added, is far from Didipio project’s hub.
Mangaoang described the petition against the DENR and APMI as part of "democracy at work… only that some people exaggerate (the issue)."
APMI chairman Jose Leviste declined to comment on the petition. "It is premature for us to react on what they will do. We also need to check with the DENR who represents the government, our principal. We are just contractors of the government," he said.
DENR regional director Clarence Baguilat also declined to issue any statement pending the court’s issuance of a copy of the petition to his office.
Last year, then Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Michael Defensor described the Didipio venture as one of the Arroyo administration’s flagship mining projects.
Defense said the DENR validated mining endorsements from concerned groups before they issued the ECC to the Didipio venture. — With Artemio Dumlao