TVI Pacific lauds indigenous allies in Philippines
2004-06-30 15:35 ET - News Release
Mr. Clifford James reports
TVI PACIFIC INC.: CANATUAN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE GIVE MANIFESTO OF SUPPORT FOR TVI PROJECT
TVI Pacific Inc. has the backing of more than 600 members of the Subanen indigenous community at Canatuan, in the Philippine province of Zambaonga del Norte, Mindanao, who have organized a signature campaign and "manifesto" to show their overwhelming support for the company.
"The people wanted to offer a tangible demonstration of their gratitude and support," said attorney Pablo Bernardo, lawyer for the Siocon Subanen Association Inc., while presenting the 600 signatures of the manifesto to Rey Magpantay, president of TVI Resource Development Phils Inc.
"It was an overwhelming vote of confidence that we received from the indigenous community and really gratifying for our people on the ground," said Mr. Magpantay.
"The community also wanted to show the world that we are solidly in support of this project and of the development opportunities it offers for our people," Mr. Bernardo added. "Contrary to what is being said by a tiny minority of Subanen, who have been rejected by the community but who have the ears of the international press and church-based non-governmental organizations, this is the legitimate community of Subanen at Canatuan, and we strongly support the TVI project. In addition to the 600 signatures, we have the support of 23 of the 30 members of the council of elders that represented the community for the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title process."
The community manifesto
The Subanen manifesto saluted TVI for:
Providing "significant job opportunities and employment to Subanen people." (TVI currently employs more than 250 Subanen in mining, milling, construction and security. That makes the company a major employer in conflict-torn Mindanao, bringing economic development to alleviate poverty and strife, as well as a substantial "new start" for a previously disadvantaged indigenous community.)
Recognizing and respecting "the culture, customs and traditions of the Subanen of Siocon, per memorandum of agreement dated Nov. 18, 2003." (The company voluntarily entered into a memorandum of agreement committing to pay a royalty of 1 per cent of gross revenues to the community. Royalties have already been paid on the environmental cleanup the company just completed on the mercury and cyanide-laced tailings left behind by the illegal small-scale refining plants that had invaded the area. When mining starts, this royalty will amount to a significant fund for the future of the community.)
Providing and assisting the Subanen "in their sustainable livelihood programs and activities within their ancestral domain." (TVI's sustainable livelihood programs -- with an emphasis on skills development for women -- include activity, training and transfer of skills and technology in plant gardening, upland rice production, agricultural techniques such as contouring and tree planting.)
Acting to help the Subanen in "health improvement, education and community development." (The TVI medical clinic's resident nurse and midwife are "making a difference" to the community through direct health care and indirect training. The company is supporting education for all the community's children, and TVI's community development organization is working to help manage the transition to a new reality.)
Assisting the council of elders to prepare "their sustainable management plan for their ancestral domain."
Making a difference
TVI's chairman and chief executive officer, Cliff James, commented that, "Stories of saving lives are not normally the stuff of a mining company's press releases, but in this case the opportunity to bring real-world benefits to an indigenous community is so much a part of our Canatuan story that we felt we had to tell the world."
Four people are alive today, for example, as a direct result of the intervention of TVI's on-site management and health care personnel reacting to medical emergencies in the last few months alone. One woman, a daughter of one of the most outspoken small-scale miners who campaigned against the Canatuan project, was rushed to Zamboanga city for an emergency caesarean section at TVI's expense. When the emergency arose, the company literally downed tools to assist. Mother and daughter are alive and well. Another small-scale miner, long a campaigner against TVI, developed a life-threatening infection after puncturing an eardrum and was rushed, with his wife and baby, to hospital in Dipolog. Now a strong supporter of TVI, he is alive and well and resettled comfortably with his family in another community as a result of TVI's small-scale-miner relocation program.
Then there's the story of baby Dewayne, whose mother was so grateful for being rushed to hospital in Siocon after childbirth complications, that she named her baby after operations manager Dewayne Chambers. Chambers interrupted operations to make sure she was saved. Congratulations also to TVI's resident midwife, Cynthia Comisas (a Subana), and nurse Charity Balijado, as well as TVI's drivers and security personnel -- employees who have truly "made a difference" in the past year.
Health care
TVI's Canatuan project has established a clinic staffed by a full-time nurse and a full time midwife. The clinic provides first aid response and medicines to company employees and dependents as well as to the Subanen community and others in the immediate area.
The company nurse is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week and, in addition to treating continuing health issues, she performs the critical function of identifying the times when people need to be transferred out for additional medical care. At that point, company security teams take on the responsibility of transporting patients to hospital.
The midwife works with expectant mothers from early in their term to birth providing not only birthing training but also training in health and hygiene practices. She has delivered 10 babies in the past year and, in addition, has functioned as a social "consultant" conducting a community census and interviews with both Subanen and small-scale mining families.
Education
At the Canatuan co-op (established through co-operation between TVI and the Subanen community) the company is currently operating a kinder care daycare centre and prep school that 39 children attend. TVI is also supporting a private school for the children of employees with two teachers, and is assisting with another local school. In addition to the salaries of a teacher and a daycare worker, as well as honoraria for another teacher, the company is providing books and raincoats for the schoolchildren. It is also running an adult literacy program with an indigenous teacher. Last, but not least, the company is preparing to build the school buildings it committed to in the memorandum of agreement.
The graduates of Siocon's Holy Cross Academy, including 32 boarding students financed by TVI pending the construction of the Canatuan school, visited the Canatuan site for their graduation ceremony and were able to participate in what will be the first of many field trips to the mine site for local and regional schools.
Canada fund program for Subanen women
With the help of TVI's CDO officer, Lullie Micabalo, the women of the Subanen community successfully constituted a women's group in 2003, and secured an agreement with the Canada Fund of the Canadian embassy and the Canadian International Development Agency in the Philippines to fund a series of activities including upland gardening and goat raising (to provide additional income to the families); education for the women in household and community issues; and training in hygiene and sanitation.
Bringing security to the community
TVI's staff midwife, Ms. Comisas, recently said, after performing a census of the community: "The people here used to sleep with their shoes on because they never knew when guerrillas or robbers would come in the night. Now they sleep in peace, go to work for TVI in the morning or work during the day on one of the livelihood activities sponsored by our CDO."
Ms. Comisas, a Subana herself, and daughter of one of the council of elders, adds, "The only people who worry about militarization are the NGOs."
Some commentators have accused the company of "militarization" and have posed the question, from an international-development policy perspective, as to whether foreign companies should choose to operate in areas where high-profile or highly organized security is required, given the potential impact on local populations and the need to be aligned with state security forces. The company believes that, in the case of the Zamboanga Peninsula, the answer is yes for a number of specific reasons. The first is simply that the root causes of many of the security problems in Zamboanga are poverty and underdevelopment, and to deny the province or its regions opportunities for industrial development is to condemn them to violence and poverty forever. Secondly, the specific security risks in Zamboanga are, in fact, capable of being managed to protect the employees involved and to provide the people of the region with employment and development. It is not TVI that has introduced militarization to Siocon, it was the guerrillas and the mafias of the region. Through economic development, protected by responsibly managed security personnel, the militarization can eventually be pushed back and a normal life established under peace and order.
That being said, TVI also recognizes the importance of responsible security management. The company has made a commitment to its employees and its neighbours that our security personnel will behave in a professional and disciplined manner whether they are SCAA or private security. The company will ensure there is a continuing confidential complaints procedure and guarantee that any complaints of abuse, misconduct or excess will be investigated properly and infractions dealt with.
WARNING: The company relies upon litigation protection for "forward-looking" statements.
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