Local officials accused of illegal mining in Zamboanga

A large-scale mining operator in Zamboanga del Sur accused local officials of engaging in illegal mining in Balabag Village in the hinterlands of Bayog town, as well as trying to discredit the company by sending fake emailssecond hand mining equipment japan price to the president, other top government officials, government agencies, the military, police and the media.

“The local officials are among the illegal miners,” TVI Resource Development Public Affairs Director Gene Gregorio told reporters in a news briefing on Monday.

“These are also the same people and the same groups involved in the peddling of lies to demonize the name of the company and besmirch the reputation of its top officials and even harass them,” Gregorio added.

Gregorio, however, refused to name the local officials whom they accused of conspiring to control the mining operations in the area.

The TVIRD is a publicly-listed Canadian company involved in the production, development, exploration and acquisition of resource projects in the Philippines. It produces copper and zinc concentrates from its Canatuan mine, it pre-develops its Balabag gold and silver project, and carries out exploration programs on its other North Zamboanga tenements. It also has an interest in an offshore Philippine oil property.

TVIRD’s Canatuan mine is the first foreign-invested mine to reach production stage after the passage of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and is operated by TVI Resource Development (Phils.) Inc.

But in a telephone interview, Bayog Mayor Leonardo Babasa said while the TVIRD’s accusations may be true, the company’s spokesman should have identified the officials involved in illegal mining.

“That was unfair. When they say local officials, that’s already generalizing. We have many officials here. I am for one is not involved in anything illegal in my jurisdiction and I am also an advocate of responsible mining, whether large-scale or small-scale,” said Babasa, who also verified reports that thousands of people have descended on his town in search of gold.

Babasa said that responsible mining simply means that mining operators should follow the law and secure permits before they start their operation.

The mayor, though, admitted that at least two Sangguniang Bayan members or councilors are indeed involved in illegal small-scale mining in his town.

“It’s an open secret here. Some local officials are involved,” said Babasa, who did not identify the councilors.

Babasa said small-scale mining have been going on in the area since the early 90s, way before the TVIRD secured an agreement with the provincial government and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Babasa warned, though, that the “situation is more serious than what it appears, and there are people whose lives are in danger.”

The TVIRD, which owns several Mineral Production Sharing Agreements issued by the DENR covering mining areas in Canatuan, Siocon in Zamboanga del Norte and in Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur, said that illegal mining operators have resorted to employing sophisticated and creative’ modes to destroy the company.

The TVIRD said that a series of emails were circulated early this year implicating the company’s executives in a murder conspiracy against certain illegal miners in Balabag, Zamboanga del Sur.

“It was a clear dirty-tactics operation using fake emails to criminally misrepresent TVIRD and mislead President Simeon Benigno S. Aquino III, and other top government officials including Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje and other Cabinet secretaries, heads of government agencies including the National Security Commission, private institutions, military and police officers, the media, our stakeholders and communities where we operate.”

The deluge of emails prompted the TVIRD to seek assistance from the National Bureau of Investigation and international private risk assessment and security agency Pacific Strategies and Assessments, to separately run a check on the authenticity of the emails.

After a thorough investigation, the NBI and the PSA both said there was indeed a plot to influence top officials of the government and agencies against TVIRD.

“The emails did not come from the authentic source (TVI) and are maliciously created,” said NBI Agent Francis V. Senora in his report dated July 13.

The PSA also branded the emails as “spurious” after making its own analysis. Its managing director Scott Harrison said they examined 48 emails that were all declared “fraudulent.”

“A number of the “Suspect Documents” were copies of actual TVI emails that had been fraudulently amended from their original text,” the PSA said. None of those “Suspect Documents” were generated from within the TVI IT systems.”

Both the NBI and the PSA noted defects in the emails that made them question their authenticity, including inconsistencies between the graphic interphase in the email printouts and the real or actual emails of TVIRD from its email system and provider; significant differences in domain addresses used in the fake emails and with real TVIRD emails, inconsistencies with tem stamp formats and other email protocols used in the fake and real emails and language syntax and even grammatical inconsistencies.

TVIRD company lawyer Fulgencio Factoran strongly denied that TVIRD and its officials were involved in any criminal acts.

“We are a legitimate, multi-million dollar publicly listed business. Our business practices here and in various parts of the world are beyond reproach,” he added.

On July 27, 2012, Factoran said TVIRD officials led by its president Eugene Mateo filed with the Makati Prosecutor’s Office charges of libel and falsification of documents against Bayog Municipal Councilor Julieto Monding, Edgar Baling, and Joel Cayabyab