Mining in Bukidnon?

There’s a lot of talk about rich gold deposits in Pantaron Mountain Range in San Fernando, Bukidnon. All these gold panning stuff we hear from treasure hunters tickled our imagination over the years.

This time, however, it has become official. The government started to include Bukidnon’s mining potentials in its marketing presentations to foreign investors.

In this MindaNews report, an official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Mines and Geosciences Bureau cited mining potentials in Bukidnon and even included a project “already in the pipeline” in Libona, a town in northern Bukidnon.

At a glimpse, it sounds interesting. We could see investments in this news coming as when resources are tapped well and people have job opportunities development could just be around the corner.

But are the people ready to discuss the hard facts on ushering in mining operations into their communities?

Just a month ago, lumad communities in Kalagangan, San Fernando Bukidnon talked to Davao reporters, including this reporter, on their opposition to allow entry of mining firms into their ancestral domain. The issues do not only brush territorial implications but also pertain to their existence, identify, culture and future

What is the take of the local government of San Fernando town and that of the provincial government on this?

Anyway, the worldwide contention is on sustainable mining, but such is a movement not a track record of best practices as of now. The image about mining sites’ dangers is still that of environmental degradation –given its extractive nature.

Before, the idea was to balance between the interests for the environment and the business side.

But even the Asian Development Bank find that obsolete now, as it has become imperative to put environment first even before development. The idea was that any discussion on development should never entail damage to the environment, otherwise that development could be jeopardized, too.

He cited the idea of the multi-million worth of hydro-power dams built to ensure enough power supply. If the trees are gone, it goes so with the watershed, and if so water supply will go down affecting the dams’ viabilities.

“Its not that we are here to stop development. Let’s do it right,” according to Urooj Malik, the agriculture and environment chief of the Asian Development Bank in another MindaNews report last week.

He said sustainable environmental management should be a precondition to development. Now, that’s a hard fact.