BAYOG, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines— Miners belonging to the Subanen group Pigsalabukan Gukom de Bayog (Bayog Tribal Association) said they fear retaliation from the firm Lupa Pegigetawan (Lupa) following a government order to shut down Lupa’s mining operations here.
Timuay Lucenio Manda, of the Subanen group, said Lupa had blamed them for the closure of its mining operations last month.
Albert Johann Jacildo, Department of Environment and Natural Resources Mines and Geosciences Bureau (DENR MGB) Western Mindanao director, said Lupa has itself to blame because it failed to comply with the law.
The DENR MGB, with the help of police and military, shut down the operations of Lupa here on April 14 to enforce MGB’s cease-and-desist order.
MGB issued the order after Lupa was found to be operating without permits. The firm, however, continued its operations despite the MGB order, prompting the raid on its facilities.
Lupa has been accused of committing human rights violations against residents in the area through its security group called AY-76, allegedly owned and run by retired generals.
Jacildo had signed the closure order. The team confiscated mining equipment and ores during the raid on Lupa facilities.
Bobby Lingating, brother of former chair of the National Commission on Indigenous People Ruben Lingating, a prime mover of the mining firm, traveled to Manila to appeal to the DENR national office to suspend the enforcement of the MGB order.
Manda, a leader of the Subanens who claim the mining area as ancestral domain, thanked the government for the closure order.
Manda said Lupa is just being used as a dummy by a bigger, multinational mining company.