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First Posted on Inside Mindanao (www.insidemindanao.com) on November 17, 2008
Residents barricade roads anew in Tampakan copper–gold project
By Bong S. Sarmiento
GENERAL SANTOS CITY—For the third time since October last year, residents in Tampakan, South Cotabato barricaded roads vital to the exploration activities of foreign–backed Sagittarius Mines, Inc., officials said.
Hundreds of Tampakan residents, demanding that they be hired by Sagittarius, set–up road blocks thereby hampering the operations of the company.
In October last year, company workers demanding for regular positions also blocked roads leading to the base camp and padlocked the firm's principal office in downtown Tampakan. Last September, base camp operations of Sagittarius were also hampered after residents engaged in illegal sluice mining activities demanded that they be hired by the company.
In the latest barricade, Virgilio P. Lastima, Barangay Liberty chief, said the villagers blocked company vehicles ferrying workers in going to the core farm and to the base camp, located in the villages of Liberty and Tablu, respectively.
"The village council can no longer prevent our constituents from resorting to this drastic action. We are supposed to meet with Sagittarius officials in September to discuss our concerns but the company has not showed up…until now," Mr. Lastima said.
He said that on top of his constituents' desire to work in the company, the council would like the company to also extend to the village an annual development fund of P1 million.
"Three other villages in our town that are part of the mines development site have each been receiving P1 million community development fund from the company. Our village is hosting the core farm of the company but we don’t get any," Mr. Lastima said.
Barangays Pulabato, Danlag, Tablu have been receiving the community development fund in the last 13 years, he added, referring to the stage when the mining venture was still pursued by Western Mining Corp.
With the support of the Liberty village council, Mr. Lastima vowed they will not lift the road blocks until their problems are addressed by Sagittarius.
"We will not allow company workers to get through their work stations," he noted.
Senior Inspector Cesar S. Vio, Tampakan police chief, said the protesters only blocked vehicles owned by Sagittarius and let others pass through the barricades.
John B. Arnaldo, Sagittarius corporate communications manager, said that company workers were prevented entry in Crossings Bongkalon and Liberty in the town still languishing in economic underdevelopment.
"We at SMI [Sagittarius] will continue to work closely with our hosts communities through regular consultations and dialogue to listen to their concerns, explore appropriate, reasonable, practical and mutually–beneficial sustainable solutions," Mr. Arnaldo said in a text message.
Sagittarius is also exploring copper and gold deposits in the towns of Columbio in Sultan Kudarat and Kiblawan, Davao del Sur.
Tampakan acting Vice Mayor Relly A. Leysa warned Sagittarius the local government unit will not endorse the project with continued discontentment sweeping the communities.
He said that "there is a general feeling that Sagittarius is apparently disregarding the concerns of the townsfolk."
Fr. Romeo Q. Catedral, director of the social action center of the Diocese of Marbel, has called on Sagittarius to abandon the multi–billion peso mining project to prevent environmental and social disintegration in the area.
Last New Year's Day, the New People's Army rebels stormed the company's base camp, burning facilities worth at least P12 million.
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