Tagakaulos perform a dance during a celebration. |
Residents of a local community in Malita, Davao del Sur have called on local government officials to protect their welfare against threats
of development aggression pushed by a giant conglomerate.
Local communities in Malita are strongly opposing the
entry of Global Power Corporation and Legenda Mines, both subsidiaries of San
Miguel Corporation (SMC), in their areas.
SMC Global Power Corporation plans to build a 600MW
coal-fired power plant in Culaman, Malita, Davao del Sur allegedly for the
benefit of the local community, while Legenda Mines plans to do a mining
exploration, and eventually operations on the area.
Local folks oppose the move asserting the coal plant and
large-scale mining would only “bring more harm than good to the people and
environment of Malita.”
In a petition letter signed by Malita Tagakaulo Mission (MATAMIS) of the
Diocese of Digos, it declared “that coal
energy and large scale mining threaten our hopes for a sustainable future for
our children.”
“It is unacceptable that we be made to suffer the
harmful effects of a coal-fired power plant in our municipality with the
knowledge that environmentally friendly solutions in the form of clean
renewable energy are widely available and readily deployable,” part of the
petition read.
To cool down its boilers, a 600MW coal
plant would need 30,000 drums of fresh
water per day or 10,950,000 drums per year.
Drawing such
large amount of water everyday would deplete the freshwater supply of the Malita river and compete with the
community’s water consumption, the group said.
It also added
that the waste water used from cooling the boilers and dumped into the sea
would cause irreparable damage to the coastal and marine life along Davao gulf.
Green coal or clean coal technology
presented by SMC is highly deceptive, the group furthered, as coal produces
large quantities of cancer causing agents and emits heavy metals like mercury,
lead, arsenic, and cadmium that can cause severe or permanent damages to body’s
vital organs.
The communities also asserted, the primary goal of
the SMC proposed power plant is not to provide energy to Malita but to other
entities that are in need of huge power supply like mining companies.
Mining
operations on ancestral lands
Legenda Mines, Inc., a sister company of Global
Power Corporation is set to conduct mining explorations covering eight
barangays in Malita that are home to Tagakaulo people.
The petitioners said large scale mining will
displace the Tagakaulo communities of Malita, destroy their way of life, and
bring irreversible damage to the environment.
They called on the government to do its duty to
protect the rights of the local communities to live in a “balanced and healthful
ecology” in their ancestral lands, ensuring their economic, social and cultural
well being.
“It is unacceptable that the Tagakaulo are deceived
into giving up the rights to their lands by the very same government agencies
mandated to protect them all in the name of development,” the group said.
Some members of the National Commission on
Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and LGU officials have acted as go-betweens to get
the free and prior informed consent (FPIC) from the communities.
The group deplored the “anomalous” manner the FPIC
was obtained in one barangay, saying it “may be indicative of the probable
irregularity with which government agencies had conducted consultations in all
the barangays targeted by the project proponent.”
It said the local government must prioritize and
support green and pro-people investments, instead of pursuing investments that
have the potential to harm society, peace and order, and the environment.
“We demand that the provincial government of Davao
del Sur and the municipal government of Malita take immediate action to truly
protect the well-being of our communities by immediately cancelling the
coal-fired power plant and mining projects of SMC Global Power Corporation and
Legenda Mines,” the group declared. (CBCPNews)
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