The Chancery
Diocese of Legazpi
Legazpi City
To: The Pastors, Clergy, Religious and Lay Faithful
Re: Rapu-Rapu Island Mining Case
The Rapu-Rapu Island seemed to have gotten its name from the Bikol word "yapu-yapu" which means an object that is too distant and scarcely visible. The word also means a distant object floating on the sea. This folkloric explanation apparently applies well to the geographical situation of Rapu-Rapu, Albay, when seen from the Albay mainland.
Belonging to the town of Bacon, Sorsogon in the previous century, today Rapu-Rapu - the 17th municipality of Albay Province - is a proud and vibrant town of the Mayon province. With its scenic beaches, lush and abundant flora and fauna, boundless mineral richness and marine bio-diversity, Rapu-Rapu Island is a gateway to the Pacific Ocean and serves as the natural breakwater of the Albay Gulf from natural onslaughts.
The main livelihood of the people is fishing and farming. The present approximate population stands at about 37,000. The people are generally peaceful, respectful and hardworking. Despite the grinding poverty of the vast majority, the people are happy and remain deeply religious, putting their trust and confidence in the Divine Providence.
The Sta. Florentina Parish of Rapu-Rapu was founded on 1891, as promulgated by a Spanish royal decreee and implemented by the then Diocese of Caceres. Today, the parish is being administered by the zealous and edifying priest, sisters and lay missionaries of the Society of Our Lady of the Trinity (SOLT) for eleven years now and counting.
Today, the beauty and peacefulness and natural life of Rapu-Rapu is being threatened by the combined mining applications and proposals made by the Lafayette Mining Corporation (in Brgys. Binosawan, Buenavista, Carogcog, Linao, Malobago, Pagcolbon, Tinopan, Sta. Barbara and Viga for a total land area of 1,719.4310 hectares) and the Miracle Mile Mining Corporation (in Brgys. Binosawan, Buenavista, Carogcog, Linao, Mananao. Morocborocan, Tinopan and Viga for a toal land area of 2,767.0526 hectares) for the "exploration, development and utilization of certain gold, copper, silver, zinc and other mineral resources." (cf. DENR V Notice of aApplication)
While the total land area of Rapu-Rapu is about 5,589 hectares, the total land area for mining will be 4,486.4638 hectares. With this staggering figure, only about 1,102.5164 hectares will be left untouched, or roughly about 19% of the total land area. And of the 13 barangays in the island, only 2 barangays (Poblacion and Gudalupe) will not be covered.
The exploration period will have a term of two years renewable for another two years but shall not exceed six years. The total duration of the agreement will be twenty-five years subject to renewal for another twenty-five years under the same terms and conditions subject to changes mutually agreed upon by both parties.
These foreign-owned and -controlled companies have held their scoping sessions already and a series of closed-door meetings with the concerned government agencies. However, the residents of the island were the last ones to know.
Said lands are agricultural but were converted to industrial classification without passing through and being approved by the Rapu-Rapu Sangguniang Bayan, the proper body for such determination. Furthemore, since the island itself has no zoning ordinance in the first place, there is no land use plan and development plan to justify it.
Already, more than 100 drill holes were made in Brgys. Binosawan, Malobago and Pagcolbon covering 80 hectares. This is the first phase. The second phase will cover Brgys. Linao, Sta. Barbara, Tinopan, and Viga. Some residents in Brgy. Pagcolbon, where drillings were already done, haver already complained of stomach disorders logically associated with the mining activities therein. Until today, the people of Rapu-Rapu are traumatized by the after-effects left behind by the HIXBAR mining company where the land utilized by its operations remains "denuded, barren, acidic, and unproductive." (cf. Letter of Rapu-Rapu Sangguniang Bayan to Mr. Ian Moller, Manager of Philippine Operations, Lafayette Phils, Inc.)
A dumpsite for tillage will be constructed in Brgy. Binosawan for waste materials, mostly toxic. Cyanide and mercury, materials of high toxic quality, will definitely be employed in the extraction process. With the volume of waste materials to be dumped, there is no way that everything will be contained in the said dumpsite. Thus, the sea will be the most convenient dumping ground, eventually destroying the marine life of the island. With the agricultural life already destroyed by the open-pit mining and the tunneling therein, what more will be left to the poor and powerless people of Rapu-Rapu? We ask further why the Lafayette Mining Corporation personnel are required to drink only bottled mineral water and not potable water being enjoyed by everyone. Is this because the water source therein is already contaminated?
Furthermore, the heads of the concerned government offices and the head of Rapu-Rapu municipality are very supprotive and oftentimes act as the "spokesmen" of the mining companies. This certainly facilitates well the seeking of highly-important and crucial Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) from the DENR.
The much-touted economic development and industrial growth to be brought upon by the mining companies will definitely benefit only the said companies and the interested government officials. In fact, it will only aggravate the poverty of the people since the lands will be taken away from them and the agricultural and marine life of the island will be gradually and systematically destroyed. The livelihood programs being offered by the mining companies are mere palliatives and are actually meant to lure the people into acquiescing to their demands and activities.
The countless effects of toxic wastes and mineral tailspins will be terribly felt and gravely affect the livelihood and very health of the people. Such matters are harbingers of diseases of untold proportion which will have so much toll in the lives of the people.
The eoclogical balance of the island will be assaulted on both fronts: internally - when the agricultural life of the place will be destroyed and diminished by the mining activities; and externally - when the open sea around the island becomes a vast dumping ground of the mining companies.
The process of land conversion has been, at the least, dubious and disadvantageous. In a similar vein, consultations with the people, particularly the residents of the affected barangays, were hardly done, if at all.
Two-thirds of the Rapu-Rapu Sangguniang Bayan has posed a lot of
objections to the mining company. Also, a growing number of enlightened
people are beginning to realize the adverse effects of mining in their
island and are willing to stand up and be counted. Towards this end, the
Sta. Florentina Parish, headed by The Rev. Fr. Efren P. Bantog, SOLT, the
Parish Priest, together with The Rev. Fr. Richard V. Benavente, SOLT, the
Assiatnt Parish Priest, and lay leaders and lay faithful of the parish are
spearheading a signature campaign, information awareness and people's
education. We have likewise directed the Diocesan Social Action Center,
through The Rev. Fr. Ricardo "Jun" P. Barquez, Jr., the Executive
Secretary for Formation, to assist in every way possible the collective
fight of the people. A People's Jubilee 2000 Forum will be held on
November 6-7, 1999 at the Sta. Florentina Parish Hall in Rapu-Rapu, Albay.
(SGD) LUCILO B. QUIAMBAO, DD
Auxilliary Bishop of Legazpi and
Diocesan Moderator Curiae