Here's a feature story on the documentaries about the situation of people affected by the large-scale mining in Brgy. Didipio, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya- adjudged as Champion in Feature Writing (English) Secondary Level by Philippine Daily Inquirer correspondent Melvin Gascon during the Cagayan Valley Regional Schools Press Conference 2016.
“No trespassing.
Maiparit ti sumrik.”
As residents of
Barangay Didipio, the people have the rights to post the signboard which
prohibits strangers to enter their land without permission.
Yet fate had
them to be the ones facing the signage, banned to enter a large area of their
home as Oceana Gold took over the rich land in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya- far from
the broken promises that the company would be their partner for livelihood.
It was not long
when Eduardo, one of the Didipio citizens, found himself handcuffed with blood
on his hands and feet. He was just on his way to his farm when authorities
halted him and told him that he could not go forth. No matter how loud his cry was that he had no sin, he ended up kissing the soil where he and his family
started their dreams which apparently never continued.
Decades back,
then newbie Australia-New Zealand company negotiated with him to rent his
family’s 8-hectare land for their mining operations. Knowing that Eduardo didn't have a copy of the
agreement document, the institution seized the opportunity and had them
forcedly evacuated from their 2-million peso worth land and gave them the
additional payment for its whole purchase.
Voiceless, Eduardo wasn't able to stop Oceana Gold to continue using their land for the mining operations until they
started operating in areas beyond the mark. And again, just like Eduardo, his
fellow residents were told to evaporate away from their own land.
To compensate
the people, the company promised them that they would give them benefits in the
future when in return, they would help in the mining tasks. Soon, the expected
mutualism became parasitism as those who asked for their deserved increase in
salary were fired and the benefits never arrived.
Houses
demolished without court order and relocation, lands taken away from them, and
loss of livelihood and jobs… the burdens of the Didipio people didn’t cease
there.
Leonardo Berno,
a resident, recalls the abundance of trees and crops all around which now
turned into countless rocks and boulders. The waters are now all brown and
dirty which they still often use, due to no choice, for daily activities like
laundry. Additionally, landforms were altered as hills were transformed into
plains.
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| (Photo from ejatlas.org) |
Tired from all
the sufferings brought by the large-scale mining in their place, the people of
Didipio finally took stand and rallied in front of the company to voice out their disapproval
and requests- disapproval on the mining operations and its adverse effects
which they tagged as “Gold in your pockets means blood in our hands”; and
requests to the government to pass the People’s Mining Bill and to ultimately
stop Oceana Gold. Fortunately, Commission on Human Rights and Mines and
Geosciences Bureau pat them on the back as they join them in their pleas to
give back the land of Didipio to its rightful owners.
For more than just
facing the “No Trespassing” signs, the people of Didipio have to fight for the issue
on environmental impacts, the deprivation of their human rights and their loss
of livelihood due to the powerful company’s operations, says Philippine Daily
Inquirer correspondent Melvin Gascon.
The night has
spread its blanket to the entire place once again yet many lights are still on and the
machines continue functioning to add more to Oceana Gold’s beyond 20,000
ounces of gold and about 10,000 bronze mined up to the last three years. Meanwhile, the Didipio residents are on to another day of suffering and tears as they, the owners, turned out to be the foreigners to their own land.
Reports say that
the company has plans to expand their mining operations in the barangay beside
Didipio: Lower Alamit.
Would that mean
another barangay of people stripped off their human rights and their homes?
Tet-Tet
And because of this winning piece, I'm on to my 3rd NSPC, this time in Pagadian, Zamboanga del Sur!
P.S. This is not the very exact feature story I submitted. I just recalled what I wrote when I got home.
