Published in the HAPIT
April-June 2006 Issue

Kalinga remains the most militarized province in the Cordillera region, hosting over 1,800 elements of the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police. It is also one of the mining hotspots in the region, along with Apayao province, with the aggressive entry of mining projects.

At present, 12 new mining applications in varying stages of completion have been applied for in the province alone. Two of these applications are Financial and Technical Assistance Agreements (FTAA), while the rest are Exploration Permits (ExPA).

As of January 2006, two ExPAs were approved by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Mines and Geosciences Bureau (DENR-MGB)—Swedish-owned Wolfland Resources Inc. (EP 0001-2004 covering 496 hectares in Tabuk municipality) and Makilala Mining Co. Inc. Wolfland has three other ExPAs in the municipalities of Pinukpuk, Pasil, and the Balbalan-Tabuk borders. (Editor’s Note: The Wolfland Resources Inc. profile was published in the 1st quarter issue 2005 of Hapit).

The permit obtained (EP 003A-206) by Makilala is specifically for sulphur exploration in the municipality of Pasil, covering 1494 hectares. Makilala is a 100% subsidiary of Phelps Dodge, a US-based mining firm. Phelps Dodge primarily produces copper and industrial materials. The Phelps Dodge International Corporation or PDIC operates in four Asian countries, one of which is the Philippines. Its operations are further constituted into the Phelps Dodge Mining Co., Phelps Dodge Wire and Cable, Climax Molybdenum Co. and Climax Engineered Materials.

Other than Asia, Phelps Dodge is actively exploring in Latin America and Australia. Its largest copper products are based in Latin America, specifically n Candelaria and Ek Abra in northern Chile.

Sulphur is largely utilized in the metal mining industry, whereas Phelps Dodge is one of the leading copper producers in the US.

While this mining corporation maintains a clean name in its profile, several reports surfaced on the anti-worker history of this mining giant.

Union busting
Phelps Dodge’s union-busting record is traced to the 1980’s in Arizona, at the Clifton-Morenci copper mines. Then governor Bruce Babbitt dispatched National Guard troops to dismantle the strike. The company’s union busting campaign at this time was documented into a book (Copper Crucible: How the Arizona Miners’ Strike of 1983 Recast Labor Management Relations in America by lawyer ad journalist Jonathan Rosenblum), which earned both praise and criticism for its “considerable objectivity”. The author notes that Phelps Dodge’s success in its union-busting campaign “set the tone for widespread union-busting in the US for more than a decade”.

The book also revealed how the company had scrupulously planned out its union busting campaign by seeking advice from experts from a prestigious business school and systematically implementing the strategy.

After its union-busting stint at Arizona, the mining firm acquired the Chino mine in Silver City, New Mexico, where the company was confronted with the resurgence of union activism.

Contaminated lands, threats to cultural survival
In 1998, the US-based Environmental Protection Agency-Toxic Release Inventory (EPA-TRI) identified Phelps Dodge in its list of the Top 25 Mines With The Most Toxic Emissions, at rank 8, with 194 million pounds of toxic waste release at its Morenci operations in Arizona.

In the same year, Local 890 of the United Steelworkers of America in New Mexico has accused Phelps Dodge of “violating federal laws by failing to full disclose toxic emissions to air, land, and water from its Chino Mines in 1988.

A year before this, a federal judge ordered Phelps Dodge to pay the US Postal Service $21 million and retrieve the 37 acres of contaminated land it sold the Postal Service. The purchase was made in 1986. A report posted at www.moles.org (Drillbits and Tailings, January 7, 1997 issue) states that the mining firm’s Pheonix-based company “failed to remove hazardous cadmium and lead from the site and borough of Queens”. Phelps Dodge had emitted refined copper and pesticides on the land, on which the Postal Service intended to build a mail sorting center.

Also in New Mexico, the Kneeling Nun Mountain is threatened by environmental degradation and cultural desecration due to operations from the Chino Mines. Known worldwide as a cultural icon, the base of the mountain is Chino Mines site operated by Phelps Dodge ad Mitsubishi Subsidiary Heisei Minerals. Meanwhile, communities near Nun have mobilized to save the mountain.

Foresight
These occurrences are not for from taking its toll should Phelps Dodge continue with its operations in Kalinga province through its subsidiary, the Makilala Mining Corporation. The environment, livelihood and culture of the Kalinga tribes are not far from being exploited and destroyed.

While it is expected that the company will do everything in its capacity to smoothen its entry into the communities, we must be both wary and vigilant of deception. The communities, for one, have the right to demand the full details of the project. In some cases in the Cordillera, mining firms entering communities have limited their explanations to merely “exploring for minerals” in the area. Some deception tactics have even gone as far as causing disunity among the communities. These are only a few of the results of the entry of large-scale mining in indigenous communities. The impact are is far greater and irreparable once the operations commence. Vigilance and education remain vital components in preventing this from happening, but ultimately, concerted action from the concerned communities, organizations and individuals. It is also crucial for communities and even provinces with similar struggles to bond, share lessons and gains from their own experience. # Abigail Bengwayan / CPA