Illegal mining in Zamboanga del Sur closed

BAYOG, Zamboanga del Sur—The Subanen community in Barangay Conacon here said they were overjoyed that the provincial government had finally put a stop to the operations of Lupa Pigegetawan Mining Co. (LPMC), which they described as a stubborn mining firm.

LPMC, which has been operating in the village for years now, has repeatedly defied a cease and desist order issued by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Western Mindanao against its illegal extraction of mineral ore.

The latest of the order was dated April 15, which the company had also ignored.

On Friday last week, acting on complaints against its continued illegal extraction of ore, the provincial government of Zamboanga del Sur finally closed the lid on LPMC’s operations.

Lawyer Deohnar Ceniza, of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resource Office, led a team of policemen and National Bureau of Investigation agents in padlocking LPMC’s operations.

In his after-operations report, Ceniza said the team seized tons of ore and rocks ready for transport from LPMC’s compound in Conacon and Poblacion villages here.

The raiding team also confiscated keys for hauler trucks and other vehicles owned by the company to prevent them from being used.

“We are happy that the rule of law has finally triumphed,” said Timuay Lucenio Manda of  Pegsalabukan Gukom de Bayog, a group of Subanen.

LPMC has been passing itself off as a company formed by Subanen natives to explore their ancestral domain areas for minerals.

But based on documents the Inquirer has obtained, one of its owners is a Manuel Go of  Cebu Mining and Management Corp. Cebu Mining has a partnership with China Metallurgical Group for Mineral Resources and Development.

Its president is Absalon Alcorin, a Mandaya lumad from Davao.

Manda, also Conacon village chief, said from the start, he has already been claiming that LPMC is not owned by the Subanens.

He said now that the operation of the company has stopped, Subanens also wanted authorities to disband its security force or order them to leave.

“We are demanding that the authorities control the entry and presence of heavily armed guards in our ancestral domain,” he said.

Manda said the presence of LPMC’s heavily armed guards made the Subanen community look like a war zone. “Our people fear their presence,” he said.

The armed security guards, numbering more than 30, were contracted by AY76 Security Agency, which is being run by retired general Alexander Yapching.

Last week, Yapching denied his guards were intimidating the Subanens.

He said “all the security personnel assigned at Lupa Pigegetawan are 100-percent Subanens.”

“They were hired to protect their ancestral domain,” said Yapching. But Manda said AY76 was only protecting LPMC’s interest. Tito Fiel, Inquirer Mindanao