Tribal groups support Diwalwal reservation dev’t

Jake Mining Co. is set to start negotiations with the four unified groups controlling Tribal Mining Areas (Trimas) in the Diwalwal mineral reservation in Monkayo, Compostela Valley, in Mindanao.

Jake Mining is the “successor in interest” of publicly listed Apex Mining Co., which held the Diwalwal claim in the 1980s.

The unified indigenous people (IP) tribes in Diwalwal are composed of Mandaya, Manobo, Mangguangan and Dibabawon, which have ancestral claims over areas of the Diwalwal Mineral Reservation.

Earlier, their leaders announced the signing of their declaration of unity to explore and develop the 950-hectare Trimas.

They agreed to end their conflicts and to jointly develop their Trimas with Jake Mining as their investor and mining partner, company president Eric R. Tagle told reporters.

National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) chairman Roque N. Agton Jr. witnessed the unity declaration ceremony held at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel.

Tagle said the four tribes previously talked with investors separately. Two went to infrastructure development firm F.F. Cruz & Co. Inc. and two others to a Mindanao-based company called ComVal Resources. The agreements with the two investors were cancelled since the four tribes could not agree on a single partner, Tagle said.

The tribal leaders issued a resolution dated April 27, 2011, unanimously selecting Jake Mining as their only investor and mining partner in Trima 1 and 2.

Diwalwal has been haphazardly mined by small-scale miners since the 1980s.

Based on records, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas buys about P2 billion worth of gold yearly from small-scale miners from Diwalwal.

Tagle said Apex lost its claim in Diwalwal following the decision of then Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Fulgencio S. Factoran Jr. declaring the area a protected forest reserve. This, he said, resulted in the haphazard takeover of the Diwalwal area by small-scale miners.—Riza T. Olchondra