Trouble in Tampakan village far from over
TAMPAKAN, South Cotabato (November 29) – Village officials of Liberty in Tampakan, South Cotabato appeared unsatisfied over the commitment of mining firm Sagittarius Mines Inc. to look into their demand for a principal agreement that would entitle them to development assistance similar to three other barangays that are hosting the company’s mining development areas.
Liberty village chief Virgilio Lastima Sr. and members of the village council came out of the dialogue at the mayor’s office here after almost three hours of dialogue with officials of SMI Friday afternoon.
He said they were promised P300,000 community development assistance by SMI officials while their demand for a principal agreement is still to be studied by the company.
Dr. Rolando Doria, SMI supervisor fro government affairs, declined to issue any statement saying he is not allowed to give one under new company policy.
Villagers of Barangay Liberty, including their local officials, barricaded the road leading to the core farm of SMI in the area and its drill sites in the hinterlands of Tampakan demanding on November 17 after SMI officials reportedly ignored their demands for a dialogue to thresh out their demands.
They lifted their barricade after SMI officials agreed to hold a dialogue with officials of the village.
Lastima earlier said they will again barricade the only access road of SMI to its drill sites in the villages of Tablu, Folu Bato and Danlag if SMI fails to meet their demand.
The three barangays are reportedly receiving P3 million in community development fund from the company for hosting the mining development area of SMI.
Aside from the principal agreement, villagers are also demanding that they be given priority for jobs at the P15-million administrative building being constructed inside the eight-hectare core farm of SMI in their barangay.
Reporters tried to cover the dialogue between the village council and SMI officials but Tampakan mayor Pedro Cagas barred them from covering the event.
Cagas was still holding a conference with SMI officials long after Lastima and village council members left the town hall and could not be reached for comments.
There is however no assurance that the village will be covred by the final mining development area of the company.
They were reportedly told to wait until July 2009 when the company shall have finalized its feasibility studies.
Barangay Liberty is covered by the Financial Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) granted to Western Mining Company which was sold to the Tampakan Mineral Resources Corporation (TMRC).
TMRC was later renamed Sagittarius Mines Inc. when the Australia-based Indpophil Resources NL joined the group in 2004.
In April last year, Xstrata Copper took over the management and operational control of SMI after it exercised its option in the company.
Xstrata Copper is a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Xstrata Plc.
It is underwriting the ongoing pre-feasibility and feasibility studies and used its financial assistance to wrest control over SMI.
SMI’s FTAA covers 23,000 hectares of land cutting across the towns of Tampakan in South Cotabato, Kiblawan in Davao del Sur and Columbio in Sultan Kudarat.
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