MILF tells mining companies to leave its 'territories'

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MILF tells mining companies to leave its 'territories'
First posted 06:34am (Mla time) May 08, 2006
By Inquirer

COTABATO CITY -- The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Saturday urged mining companies to leave its claimed territory, saying it was against mining operations.

The MILF has presence in Central Mindanao region and the province of Davao del Sur, where Sagittarius Mines extracts copper and gold, and the Zamboanga Peninsula, where Canadian firm Toronto Ventures operates a mining site.

There are also mining activities in other areas where the MILF maintains a presence.

"It brings in more disaster rather than good things to the Bangsamoro people," Jun Mantawil, chair of the MILF peace panel secretariat, said.

Mantawil's revelation provided a sneak peak of what the future Moro-led area would be, as far as the mining industry is concerned.

The ancestral domain issue, however, remains the biggest stumbling block to the peace negotiations between the government and the rebel group.

On Thursday, the 12th round of informal talks held in Kuala Lumpur ended without significant gains as both sides failed to define the territory of the future Bangsamoro homeland.

"Without a strict and reliable mechanism that would save the people from the hazards of mining, the MILF cannot leave their lives to chance," Mantawil said.

The MILF, he said, doubted if mining companies cared about the lives of people because these "are profit-centered."

"More often than not, they leave the destiny of the people near or around mining sites to the tyranny of nature such as landslides, cave-ins, and floods," he said.

Mining also destroys the environment that helps feed the people, Mantawil said.

"The mining industry rapes, extracts, denudes, divests, drains and brings forth death and destruction to our environment and the marginalized population especially the indigenous people," he said.

But he said the MILF might agree to mining if companies could prove that their activities are environment-friendly. Edwin Fernandez, PDI Mindanao Bureau