Mining firm's injunction bid granted

http://www.mb.com.ph/archive_pages.php?url=
http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2007/08/12/PROV20070812100119.html

By CEASAR M. PERANTE

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – A regional trial court (RTC) here granted last Thursday a petition for preliminary injunction sought by a mining firm conducting exploration activities at mineralrich villages in upland Kasibu town, this province.

The injunction, in effect, prevented anti-mining protesters from blocking the entry of mining equipment to their area.

Judge Godofredo Naui of RTC Branch 37 here granted the petition for preliminary injunction sought by Oxiana Philippines Inc., a subsidiary of an Australian mining firm after the anti-mining group failed to show any justifiable reason for its move to stop the exploration in the villages of Pao and Kakiduguen, Kasibu.

In his four-page order dated Aug. 9, 2007, Naui stated there appeared to be "sufficient evidence to show that plaintiff (Oxiana) has a right to undertake any and all works granted under Exploration Permit II-000014, and that the acts against which the injunction is sought are violations of such right. On the other hand, defendants have utterly failed to present any authority or legal ground for them to perform the threatened acts (of blocking the road to the exploration site)."

Oxiana Philippines, a subsidiary of Royalco Ltd. which bought it from Oxiana Mining Ltd., had earlier sought a temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent the oppositors from blocking the road to the exploration site.

Despite court order, anti-mining residents in the area led by some village officials and several outsiders, who apparently disregarded the TRO, persistently blocked the entry of exploration equipment consisting of six-by-six trucks carrying exploration rigs and company's mining exploration personnel.

Since the issuance of the TRO, and even before its issuance, the anti-mining group blocked the road leading to the exploration site in Barangay Pao whose village head, Mariano Maddela, is one of those opposing the national government-approved exploration project.

Earlier, tribal elders and other members of the Bugkalot group in the project's primary impact zone had approved the project in a consultation meeting hosted by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), which later upheld the validity of the results.

The mining firm earlier filed a case against 21 of the anti-mining leaders, including Maddela; Alejo Tuguinay, barangay chairman of Kakiduguen; Manuel Binuya, barangay chairman of Dine; and Felimon Blanco, barangay chairman of Pacquet, all in Kasibu town.

The Oxiana Philippines is conducting exploration in Pao and Kakiduguen and a nearby barangay to determine the commercial viability of mining the gold, copper and other mineral deposits.

Aside from allowing some national government-backed exploration activities conducted by foreign mining firms through their local subsidiaries, Nueva Vizcaya is also host to the ongoing multimillion-dollar Didipio gold-copper project of Oceana Gold Philippines, also in Kasibu town, and the Runruno Project operated by MTL Philippines in the nearby Quezon town.

"Nueva Vizcaya, as a mining capital in the making, could be one of the richest provinces in the Philippines in the near future," said Cagayan Valley Mines and Geosciences Bureau Director Jerrysal Mangaoang.

Managaoang said Oxiana Philippines had been given a permit by the MGB to conduct exploration activities after the company had entered into an agreement with the Bugkalots.

In its request for a TRO, Oxiana presented to the court an exploration permit issued by the government. The permit allows it to operate such types of activities for 20 months starting on June 30, 2007 and ending on February 27, 2008.