By Emma Webb
ADELAIDE — Last year, Adelaide academic and president of the Conservation Council of South Australia, Dr Tim Doyle, participated in an international fact-finding mission to examine the impact of Western Mining Corporation operations on the southern Philippines island of Mindanao. WMC has discovered what it believes to be the second biggest copper deposit in Asia at Tampakan on Mindanao.
The mission included church, environment and non-government organisations from the Philippines and other countries. It conducted interviews with leaders of the B'laan communities (the indigenous people of the area), church leaders, Filipino "settler" farming groups, environment and human rights organisations, WMC-funded "community organisers" and WMC employees at the Tampakan base camp.
The mission's report, released recently, is damning of WMC operations in the area. The mission found that WMC's community monitoring committee, which is supposed to oversee environmental monitoring of the company's exploration, includes no scientific experts, Doyle said.
Despite WMC statements claiming transparency in its operations, the mission was refused access to the results of the scientific analysis of its options for tailings management. WMC is considering dumping tailings into the sea, which would significantly affect the environment and the lives of the people who live along the coast. The practice would be illegal in Australia.
Doyle said that WMC's operations at Tampakan have divided the local community. "Those granting access to WMC have received payments from the company.
"The company uses exactly the same techniques to divide indigenous communities in the Philippines as it has in Australia. We were able to tell people there about the situation with WMC in Australia."
The mission heard evidence that WMC is willing to use the military to resolve land conflicts that have delayed its mining operations. "We received evidence from a B'laan chief who described the operations of the 75th Infantry Regiment, which recently burnt all the houses in his village and killed the community's livestock. The chief believed that this was an act of retribution for his tribal group's unwillingness to sign agreements with WMC", explained Doyle.
The mission recommends that multinational corporations unconditionally pull out of Mindanao, that the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 be scrapped and that militarisation of the area cease. It resolved to work towards strengthening international solidarity, to continue to expose the practices of WMC and to explore the possibilities of another international fact-finding mission.
[Tim Doyle's comments represent his own views, not those of the Conservation Council of SA.]