A number of civil society organizations from Tacloban and Guiuan are appealing Environment Chief Roy A. Cimatu following the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) of Guiuan renewed the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) of Hinatuan Mining Corp. (HMC) on Manicani Island.
They said Cimatu should call out the company not to proceed with another mining operation in the fishing and agricultural area unless it has plans to restore ecological balance in the mined-out island, news reports say.
The groups also slammed members of the Sangguniang Bayan of Guiuan and said they should put up a resolution that asks the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to suspend mining activities on Manicani Island, as well as a provincial ordinance that prohibits large-scale mining operations in the entire Eastern Samar region.
“We ask the SB to reconsider their decision and not to disregard us the way the barangay LGUs did. Climate is on us and mining will only increase the vulnerability of the island,” Protect Manicani Island Incorporated President Marcial Samooc said.
Guiuan, a fishing and agricultural town, is a first-class municipality in Eastern Samar once a casualty of a nickel-mining disaster, which resulted former Environment Secretary Heherson Alvarez to ban further mining activities in the area in 2002.
Since then, HMC has not proceeded with its nickel mine projects on the island.
However, the company remains its stand on mining in the Manicani area, pushing that its host community can greatly benefit from the opportunities, like employment and better livelihood, mining offers.
HMC, in a statement released through the Philippine Misereor Partnerships, Inc. (PMPI), said it is “aggressively pushing for the renewal of its MPSA on Manicani Island.”
PMPI helps host communities on Manicani and Homonhon islands in promoting sustainable farming and fishing as part of the Guiuan Protected Landscape and Seascape.
Also known as the Guiuan Marine Reserve, the Guiuan Protected Landscape and Seascape is a preserved area under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act of 1992.
Unfortunately, HMC’s mining claim came first before Guiuan was declared under the NIPAS Act in 1994.
