Insights

BHP Billiton chided for interfering in IP affairs

Admin — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:42:05 +0000

BHP Billiton, the Australian mining giant, got another slap on the face when the National Commission on the Indigenous Peoples-Davao Region lambasted it for what the agency termed as “purely interfering in the purely internal affairs of our IP (indigenous peoples) communities” in the areas in Mati City where the Pujada nickel project is located. (more…)

Inquirer: Inconvenient truths

Admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:12:03 +0000

MANILA, Philippines - “Obviously, we are doing a lousy job of being stewards of the earth,” retired trial court judge Jesus V. Quitain said in exasperation. Since retiring, he has been active, among others, in environmental concerns. The rate so-called “development aggression” is scooping the remaining mineral resources of Mindanao has angered him the more.

Quitain is particularly upset at what is happening now in Davao Oriental, particularly in the towns of San Isidro and Gov. Generoso and the capital Mati City, which all lie along the coast of the rustic Pujada Bay. The three areas are the site of 17,0572-hectare nickel mining claim of multinational BHP Billiton and its Filipino-partner, Asiaticus Management Corp. (The two parties are now embroiled in a case against each other over control of the mining claim). [ read on]

SunStar: Nickel mining firm barred from Pujada

Admin — Sat, 24 May 2008 23:22:20 +0000

By Ben O. Tesiorna / SunStar Davao

A MAKATI Regional Trial Court (RTC) has issued a writ of preliminary injunction against foreign-owned mining corporation, BHP Billiton, barring the company from operating in the Pujada Nickel mining site in the City of Mati, Davao Oriental.

In an Omnibus Order dated May 20, 2008, Judge Winlove Dumayas of the Makati RTC Branch 59 ordered BHP Billiton against “using, occupying, exploring, developing and exercising acts of ownership of mining right over the Pujada Properties.” [read on]

Residents picket mining firm’s office in Mati

Admin — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 05:06:27 +0000

MATI, Davao Oriental — Protesters from affected communities here picketed Monday the office of BHP Billiton, their spokesperson reading a statement announcing the filing in Metro Manila of several petitions against the “legality and constitutionality “ of the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) and the Financial Technical Assistance Agreements (FTAA) under the 1995 Philippine Mining Act. The protest move was brief, just enough for the spokesperson to read the two-page statement and for BHP Billiton’s guards to note down the plate numbers and the signage of a public utility jeepney and a media vehicle. (more…)

Disaster Waiting to Happen

Keith Bacongco — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 04:52:53 +0000

The recent pronouncement of the local government of Mati that it cannot stop the entry of mining in Davao Oriental is nothing but a lame excuse and could be playing blind on the track record of the BHP Billiton.

If the local government is looking for a clean track record of any mining company that will operate in their area, then they are wrong in allowing the BHP Billiton to operate in the Hamiguitan mountain range, which is a declared protected area. (more…)