2001 SITE VISIT AND DIALOGUE MINING ISSUES IN CANATUAN, SIOCON, ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE BBC Cluster on the Environment and Indigenous Peoples Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC) March 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................4 ACRONYMS............................................................................................................9 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................10 Objectives and rules...............................................................................................11 Dialogue participants .............................................................................................12 AREA PROFILE....................................................................................................12 The Province of Zamboanga del Norte..............................................................12 Geographic location and topography.................................................................12 Population ........................................................................................................12 Provincial economy and resources....................................................................13 The municipality of Siocon.................................................................................13 THE STAKEHOLDERS AND THEIR OVERLAPPING CLAIMS ...................14 The Siocon Subanen Association Inc.................................................................14 The small-scale miners.......................................................................................15 The Church and the DIOPIM Committee on Mining.......................................15 Toronto Ventures (Philippines) Inc. (TVI)........................................................16 How did it all start?................................................................................................16 VOICES AND PERSPECTIVES ..........................................................................18 The Subanen ancestral domain claim................................................................18 The Siocon Subanen Federation of Tribal Councils .........................................18 Intra-Subanen rifts............................................................................................18 The Siocon Subanen Association Inc. (SSAI)....................................................19 Oust TVI, a non-negotiable position .................................................................19 Ancestral domain claim and indigenous culture................................................19 Small-scale mining in Canatuan........................................................................19 Checkpoints and food blockade ........................................................................19 SSAI’s reasons for walking out of the dialogue.................................................20 Facilitator’s response........................................................................................20 TVI’s mining permit...........................................................................................21 TVI’s development vision ................................................................................21 TVI’s Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA)....................................21 On small scale mining operations in Canatuan..................................................21 On human rights violations...............................................................................22 On the ancestral domain claims of the Subanen ................................................22 The small scale miners’ prior rights..................................................................23 History .............................................................................................................23 Small-scale miners’ claims against TVI............................................................23 Small-scale miners’ complaints ........................................................................24 Issue of cyanide pollution.................................................................................24 The DIOPIM Committee on Mining..................................................................25 Repeal the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 ........................................................25 Respect for Subanen rights and ancestral domain claim ....................................25 Clarification on stand on small-scale mining.....................................................26 GAPS AND OVERLAPS IN THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND GOVERNANCE.....................................................................................................26 Overlaps and gaps in policies and policy implementation: Mines and Geosciences Bureau............................................................................................26 ESSC: 2001 Site Visit and Dialogue – Ipil-Toronto Ventures (Philippines), Inc 2 March 2008 History of the Small-Scale Mining Law............................................................26 Ancestral domain claims...................................................................................27 Issues and questions in overlaps and gaps in policies and jurisdictions..............27 The National Commission of Indigenous People (NCIP) under review ...........28 The perspective of local governments................................................................29 Municipal government of Siocon......................................................................29 The provincial government of Zamboanga del Norte ........................................29 POINTS AND COUNTERPOINTS, ISSUES AND CONCERNS .......................30 Questionable FPIC process................................................................................30 Legitimate timuays and company-recognized leaders: the misrepresentation of the Canatuan Subanen.......................................................................................31 Competition over access to mineral resources: small-scale miners versus large- scale mining companies......................................................................................31 Pollution and ecological destruction..................................................................33 Regulation of small-scale mining operations and recognition of the rights of small-scale miners ..............................................................................................35 Violation of human rights ..................................................................................36 The Subanen’s capacity to manage their ancestral domain and sustain their indigenous culture ..............................................................................................37 Consultations with local government units and locating mining in the local development agenda...........................................................................................38 Limitations and gaps in policies and governance..............................................38 Taxation..............................................................................................................39 Mistrust...............................................................................................................39 ACTION POINTS..................................................................................................40 REFERENCES.......................................................................................................42 APPENDIX 1. List of participants ........................................................................43 APPENDIX 2..........................................................................................................45 ESSC: 2001 Site Visit and Dialogue – Ipil-Toronto Ventures (Philippines), Inc 3 March 2008 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The drawn out mining-related conflicts in Sitio Canatuan, Barangay Tabayo in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte interweaves major issues in mining that are not uncommon in other mining areas. Historically, the contested area in Canatuan was long occupied and utilized by the Subanen, the lumad who live in this area. To obtain government recognition of their ownership of their forest land, the Subanen applied for a Forest Management Stewardship Agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the late 1980s that was then granted in 1991. The goldrush in Canatuan in the early 1990s saw the migration and encroachment of droves of small-scale miners in Subanen territory. Without significant resistance from the lumad, who were not previously engaged in small-scale mining in their land, a small group of pioneering small-scale miners delineated and allocated among themselves the mining grounds in Canatuan after abandoning their flooded tunnels in the adjacent town of R.T. Lim. Fourteen pioneering small-scale miners agreed to register as a single corporation through their financier Ramon Bosque. However, unknown to them, Bosque applied for a prospecting permit in his name only and later cut a deal with Benguet Corporation (BC). Threatened of their hold on the mineral grounds of Canatuan, the small-scale miners made formal protests to the permit application of Bosque and BC, which the latter eventually sold to the Canadian mining company, Toronto Ventures, Inc. (TVI). The Subanen in Canatuan, organized as Siocon Subanen