Advocates raised alarm over so-called investment commitments made by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s in his recent visit to Canada, calling the agreements licenses for increased plunder of natural resources.
In agreeing to US$1.9 billion investment from OceanaGold Corporation to extend Didipio Gold-Copper Mine operations in Nueva Vizcaya until 2037, IBON Foundation head of research Rosario Guzman said Marcos has once more sold out the Philippines.
“[Marcos] brings home more plunder of the country’s critical minerals for the US’ defense industrial base, Pax Silica, more hardships for the mining communities, more subservience, more economic backwardness,” Guzman said in a Facebook post.
Why OceanaGold is controversial
The firm started commercial mining production in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya in 2013, causing deeply rooted environmental, social, legal, and economic grievances by indigenous communities, local government units (LGUs), and civil society groups in the province.
Its operations harshly impact the environment and causes resource depletion, locals assert, including consumption of enormous amounts of water that deplete underground systems feeding local springs and agricultural creeks. OceanaGold’s mining activities have elevated levels of heavy metals (such as copper, lead, and arsenic) in nearby streams.
Tailings ponds also present overflow risks during typhoons. Nueva Vizcaya is considered the “Watershed Haven of the North,” directly threatening critical river systems like the Cagayan and Magat rivers.
Once a pristine agricultural community, Barangay Didipio’s mountains have been turned into a huge hole and scar. Massive open-pit mining permanently changed the terrain, leaving behind damaged agricultural land where mountains and forests once stood.
OceanaGold also decimated citrus and rice farming in the area, once the backbone of the local economy. Land degradation and toxic runoff directly lower agricultural productivity.
Human rights violations
As in most mining operations in ancestral domains, OceanaGold’s operations in the Tuwali and Bugkalot areas were replete with reports of rights violations and violence. Indigenous communities affected by the firm’s operations assert their right to free, prior, and informed consent was violated.
Early construction and expansion stages involved controversial land acquisitions, forced evictions, and the demolition of residential homes, the residents complained. Activists and organizations like the Didipio Earth Savers Multi-purpose Association (DESAMA) have faced violent dispersals and arrests by security forces while maintaining peaceful protest barricades.
Nueva Vizcaya provincial leaders and the Catholic Diocese of Bayombong have repeatedly challenged the national government’s retroactive renewal of the company’s Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA), arguing it overrides the explicit veto of local governments.
Didipio mining’s impacts form the foundation of the ongoing opposition to mining exploration plans in the nearby towns of Dupax del Norte and Santa Fe.
When news broke that OceanaGold’s mining license in Kasibu was renewed in July 2021, Diocese of Bayombong Bishop Jose Elmer Mangalinao said, “This news breaks our heart but it will never silence us to fight for our common home. This government has once again favored interest and profit over the ill effects of mining on our ecology and the indigenous communities that were also divided because of this mining issue in our province.”
A day prior to Marcos’ meeting with OceanaGold executives in Vancouver, Kabataan Party Representative Renee Co expressed solidarity with an ongoing barricade in Kasibu against ongoing mining operations in the province.
Canadians asked to oppose mining extension
Meanwhile, a Canada-based organization asked the North American country to reflect on its partnership with the Philippines, saying it must reflect Canadian values and human rights.
The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP Canada) condemned the newly announced Canada-Philippines Strategic Partnership, expressing “profound disappointment” in Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s bilateral partnership with the Philippine Government.
The group said the agreement prioritizes Canada’s economic and strategic interests over human rights, democratic principles and good governance that Canadians expect their government to uphold.
“While investment can contribute to economic development, affected communities continue to report displacement, environmental harm, threats against Indigenous Peoples, and violations of their right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent.² Responsible investment requires meaningful consultation, environmental protection, and respect for internationally recognized human rights,” ICHRP-Canada said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
