The Almagan Mining Corporation lately is trying to wrest
control of the Lobo Barangay in Kibungan by writing the Fisher folks of the
abandoned mine open pit to vacate the lake and remove their fish cages. When
the mine was abandoned in 1984 the open pit was filled with water so that the
people whose properties were swallowed by the mining pit decided to utilize the
lake for fish production. The bigger trouble surfaced when Almagan told the IPs
that they are getting back their 1500 hectares of mining claims from the
occupants. They said that 120 people sold their properties to them and they
have the right to occupy these properties again because it is theirs. But the
IPs claim that these properties were not sold but they were just rented and the
rents were never given and some were just paid partially.
It will be recalled that in 1972, the Western Minolco
operated a mine at Lobo Kibungan and abandoned it in 1984. The company through
a deed of assignment transferred its rights to Dagama Mining Resources
Incorporated. Then when the application of Dagama expired sometime in 2012,
they sold their rights to Almagan Mining Corporation. Now Almagan who is
interested in reopening the mines is
threatening the occupant IPs with eviction.
In an interview with Randy Abellera, who is an IP leader in
the community, he said that Almagan has no right to operate the abandoned mines
in Lobo because they have destroyed the land and never rehabilitated the same.
The mines never restored the water resources that were depleted and the
agricultural lands were buried under tons of stones and earth. He said further
that the company should not be just writing letters to warn the inhabitants of
an impending eviction but should meet them in an assembly so that the IPs can
demand payment of unpaid rents and damage to properties that they have incurred
in operating the Mines. Lastly he said that the Bureau of Fisheries and aquatic
resources who is in charge of the fish culture on the abandoned mine pit should
not be the appropriate agency to negotiate the plight of the fisher folks but
it should be the whole community of Lobo.
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