The environment group Interfacing Development Intervention (IDIS) welcomed Davao Oriental Governor Nelson Dayanghirang’s sudden turnaround to stop mining in Mati City’s Barangay Macambol, an area very close to Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary, a Unesco World Heritage Site.
But the group said the damage had already been done, and someone had to be held accountable for it.
Instead the group called on the provincial government headed by Dayanghirang, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the region and all relevant agencies to immediately suspend and revoke the mining operations in Macambol and surrounding areas; conduct a full environmental and social audit; file administrative and legal actions against violators and their enablers and implement a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for the over 200 hectares of damaged land. ‘IDIS welcomes the provincial leadership for finally recognizing the urgency of the issue,’ said the group’s statement, referring to Dayanghirang’s call for public support on Monday to stop a mining operation that reportedly destroyed a 200-hectare land in Mati City’s Barangay Macambol.
‘But we must also confront the reality that this response came far too late. The damage has already been done, and its consequences are now being felt by communities, ecosystems and future generations,’ the group said in a statement sent to reporters.
Dayanghirang said during a stakeholders’ dialog in Mati City on Monday, October 6, that a resolution calling for a stop to the mining operations would soon be passed in the Provincial Board after mining had destroyed 200-hectares of forest land in the area which could also affect the planned Macalula Road Network Loop Project that would link Macambol with the neighboring villages of Cabuaya, Luban and Lanca.
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He also stressed the need to protect the environment, especially since the mining operation was very close to the buffer zone of Mt. Hamiguitan.
Warning against threats
Lawyer Mark Peñalver, executive director of IDIS, expressed surprise as the group had been warning against the threats that large-scale mining posed in the area for years, but their warning had fallen on deaf ears.
Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary has been recognized for its unique and fragile biodiversity and as home to rare and endemic species of wildlife like the Philippine Eagle; and the pygmy forest ecosystem
IDIS said the provincial government’s acknowledgment of the environmental damages was both a ‘welcome and painful validation.and a stark reminder that when environmental protection is delayed, the costs multiply, and the victims are the poor and the powerless.’ ‘While we recognize this long-overdue action, IDIS underscores that the damage has already been done – with over 200 hectares of land degraded and threats now extending to the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary and Pujada Bay Protected Landscape and Seascape,’ said part of the group’s statement.
For more than a decade, residents of Barangay Macambol and environmental advocates have repeatedly sounded the alarm on the dangers posed by large-scale mining in the area, but these warnings were met with silence or denial.
In 2022, IDIS released a public statement warning that the mining operations in Macambol posed serious threats to both the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary and the Pujada Bay Protected Landscape and Seascape but government agencies only dismissed these concerns, reasoning that the site was technically outside the protected area boundaries, disregarding the reality that pollution, siltation and deforestation do not stop at invisible lines on a map.
Hallmark Mining Corporation, which operates a mine in the area, released a statement saying it shared the ‘deep concern’ with the provincial government and that it was committed to ‘responsible mining.’ IDIS, however, said it rejected the notion that large-scale mining could ever be ‘responsible’ in a country with fragile ecosystems, weak regulatory enforcement, and communities already suffering from poverty and displacement. ‘Mining, by its very nature, is extractive and destructive,’ it said. ‘If the company’s operations were truly responsible, how do we explain the 200 hectares of ravaged land?’