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Proponents of the mine say those opposing it do so only out of self-interest, while ISRI says existing small-scale mining in the area is more environmentally degrading than the company’s planned operations. The town is part of the northern Cordillera range in the Philippines, known for its resource-rich mountains and the Igorot, the region’s majority Indigenous population.
These talks first began in 2012 when Itogon-Suyoc Resources Inc. , one of the Philippines’ oldest mining firms, initiated its application for production sharing agreement, or APSA 103, to mine 581 hectares of Itogon land covering nearly the whole of Dalicno. On the doors of many of Dalicno’s cliffside homes hang signs saying “No to APSA! Save our water sources, built-up areas, people, future!” On the highway to Dalicno hang hand-painted banners that read “Save Dalicno! No to APSA!”
“So many ‘good-intentioned’ companies have mined here,” Dalicno elder Cristeta Caytap tells Mongabay. “But where are the schools and the hospitals? Yes they’ve given some financial assistance on occasion, but we remain underdeveloped while they line their pockets with gold. And now here they come again.”
He adds that Jimmy Lumbag, the man who suddenly replaced him, was never affirmed through a community decision, thereby making his participation in the FPIC illegitimate. Rosita Bargaso, the IIPO chair, hails from Itogon’s Gumatdang village, not among the localities that would be directly affected by APSA 103. She refutes DIPO’s claims, telling Mongabay that Dalicno elders were informed but uninterested in the latter part of the consensus building. She adds that they suddenly protested after the agreement was already signed.
“It was a desperate move on their part,” Andal says. “They can’t convince others anymore so they called on outsiders to help.” “Neither the document nor the company has told us what kind of method ISRI will use. They could be ready to crack open the mountain,” he says. If that means a delay to issuing the certification precondition, Cirilo says the environment department could grant a one-year special mining permit, which only needs approval from municipal officials, forgoing Indigenous consent.
Activists scored a big win against Australian mining firm Anvil in 2007. Anvil had struck a $2.12 million deal with ISRI for its mining rights, and planned to bore 20 holes, each 100 meters deep, for extraction. Locals protested, arguing that Anvil would puncture and drain a water table beneath a vein of ore, and successfully stopped the project.More recent disasters attributed by Itogon locals to mining-related activity have also refreshed long-standing concerns about mining safety.
“We see no problem, insofar as their compliance as a company,” says Alfredo Genetiano, chief engineer at the bureau. “The company conforms to our standards and hence we’ve given them a passing rate.” Under the BBSB system, contract miners are hired in groups for short periods of time, and paid according to how much ore they extract, meaning earnings are highly variable.
Working eight-hour shifts, a group of around 20 contract miners can make up to 600,000 pesos a month if they’re productive, Andal says. Split evenly, that works out to 1,363 pesos per person per day. Andal says even less productive miners could make about 454 pesos a day, or slightly more than the daily minimum wage for the Cordillera region, which is 430 pesos .
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