Green group condemns lifting of open-pit mining ban in South Cotabato

The IDIS in its statement Tuesday said Sangguniang Panlalawigan of South Cotabato did not consider the magnitude of the effects of their actions on the people and the environment, not only in South Cotabato.

The group said this will affect multiple watersheds of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao and Davao del Sur and it will also threaten the ecological integrities of Allah Valley (102,000 hectares) in Sultan Kudarat, the watershed of the Padada River (120,000 hectares) in Davao del Sur, and the watershed of the Marbel River (122,000 hectares) in the Province of Cotabato. 

Watersheds are geographical ecological units, and what happens in one part of the watershed will influence the whole watershed from forests, agricultural, urban, and coastal to estuarine ecosystems due to its geomorphological characteristics, connected rivers and tributaries at the surface, and including groundwater reserves.

Open-Pit or Strip Mining is a metallic mining method assessed as one of the most extensively difficult to mitigate and manage; its impacts do not focus on one contained area. It also requires mass deforestation and removing 20-30 meters of the laterite zone to access the metallic resources underneath.

This large-scale industry demands enormous hectares of land for operational processes from stripping, extraction, and tailings treatment, to ship loading and refinery. 

The Tampakan Open-Pit Mining will demand and use groundwater resources and transport highly toxic wastewater through a 150-km pipe from the Municipality of Malalag draining to Davao Gulf. There is a treatment process presented, however, the risks of overland flow, flooding disasters, or possible collapse of tailings ponds will inevitably impair marine and aquatic biodiversity, fish stocks, and aquaculture in the coastal areas, similar to the incident in Mapagba River in Banaybanay last January 2022.  

IDIS believed that the Open-Pit Mining in Tampakan will hugely affect the long-term viability and sustainability of these watersheds that currently provide ecological services and natural resources to the people of South-Central Mindanao.

The group has called on the people of South Cotabato to make their voices louder against open-pit mining. 

They also urged the people of Davao Region, particularly Davao del Sur, to participate in this concern as they will also be affected by the impacts of this project. 

“We appeal to the Provincial Governor of South Cotabato, Reynaldo Tamayo, Jr., to listen to the voices of the people and veto the amendments to the Environment Code. As the maxim goes, “Salus populi est suprema lex,” the IDIS statement said.

“In these times of pandemic, climate emergency, and increasing population, protecting our watersheds for many generations is not mere compliance but rather an indispensable action of our generation,” the statement added.

According to IDIS, the Tampakan Open-Pit Mining will become the largest mining in Southeast Asia. According to the project information, it is estimated to extract 2.94 billion tons of metallic resources, 15 million tons of copper, and 17.6 million ounces of Gold.