Once again, the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary is in the spotlight – and not for positive reasons. The cause: the mining operations currently taking place in barangay Macambol in Mati City.
The Davao City-based Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS) has released a statement concerning the situation. It commended the recent announcement by Governor Nelson Dayanghirang and the Provincial Government of Davao Oriental to cease such harmful activities.
“This action, while long overdue, marks a turning point for Davao Oriental, a province that has endured years of ecological degradation and social tension under the shadow of extractive operations,” said its statement, “Too Late, Too Costly: IDIS demands accountability for irreversible damage in Macambol.”
The recent brouhaha is deemed “too late” as damage has already been inflicted, and its repercussions are now being experienced by communities, ecosystems, and future generations. “A delayed reaction with enduring consequences,” it stated.
Already, “forests were being cleared, rivers were silting up, farmlands were eroding, and the once-stable slopes were weakening.”
It should be noted that in 2022, IDIS had already issued a public statement cautioning that the mining activities in Macambol posed significant risks to both the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary and the Pujada Bay Protected Landscape and Seascape.
Yet, the calls were met with silence or denial.
“However, government agencies dismissed these concerns, reasoning that the site was technically outside the protected area boundaries, disregarding the reality that pollution, siltation, and deforestation do not stop at invisible lines on a map,” IDIS said.
Right now, following the destruction of over 200 hectares of land, the obstruction of a crucial provincial road project, and the endangerment of the ecological integrity of the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary, is decisive action finally being undertaken.
Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary is the only place in Mindanao that has been included in the World Heritage List of the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
“The property showcases terrestrial and aquatic habitats at different elevations, and includes threatened and endemic flora and fauna species, eight of which are found only at Mount Hamiguitan. These include critically endangered trees, plants and the iconic Philippine eagle and Philippine cockatoo,” UNESCO said in its website.
According to IDIS, the provincial government’s recognition of these damages serves as both a painful and welcome affirmation of what communities have long observed. “It is a stark reminder that when environmental protection is delayed, the costs multiply, and the victims are the poor and the powerless,” it pointed out.
According to IDIS, “mining operations within its surrounding landscape, even if claimed to be outside the sanctuary’s official boundaries, pose a direct threat to this globally significant natural heritage. Once mining contamination seeps into rivers and soil systems, the effects cannot be contained. The loss of even small ecological corridors weakens the sanctuary’s ability to sustain life.
“The continuing risks to Mt. Hamiguitan are not just local issues. They are national and
international concerns. They reveal how poorly regulated extractive activities can undermine our commitments to global conservation and sustainable development,” it added.
Mining is the process of extracting minerals from the earth. In mining engineering practice, it means the extraction of ores, coal, or stone from the earth. Ores are mineral deposits that can be worked at a profit under existing economic conditions. Stone includes industrial (usually non-metallic) minerals such as calcite, quarts, and other similar products.
Generally, minerals are classified into three groups, namely: metallic minerals (like iron, copper, and gold), non-metallic (example: limestone), and mineral fuels (coal is the best example).
Some of these precious minerals can be found in the Philippines, as it straddles the Western fringes of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Its grounds are very rich in economic mineral deposits, according to a speech delivered by Ramon J.P. Paje, then the secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), during the Asia Mining Congress 2011 in Singapore.
The plate tectonics have caused the deposition of rich minerals in this part of the world. “The Philippines is endowed with bountiful metallic and non-metallic mineral resources,” Paje pointed out.
“Currently, gold, copper, iron, chromite and nickel are the most sought-after metallic commodities,” he said. “Among our non-metallic resources, sand and gravel, limestone, marble, clay and other quarry materials are in great demand.”
There are several ways of mining – surface, underground, and open-pit to name a few. Of these, I am familiar with open-pit as I had been to Hibbing, Minnesota, which was built on the rich iron ore of the Mesabi Iron Range. At the edge of the city is the largest open-pit iron mine in the world – the Hull-Rust-Mahoning Open Pit Iron Mine.
“Open-pit mining is perhaps the most common mining method due to its relatively low cost.” Explains the book, Mining: Legal Notes and Materials. “Open-pit mining entails the removal of any overburden in order to expose the mineral deposit. This operation is dependent on the type of overburden. In cases where the overburden consists of highly consolidated rock, blasting (explosives) is used.”—###
