South Cotabato church leaders urged: Be open to responsible mining

SOUTH COTABATO, Philippines – Citing not only the local but the global impact of the Tampakan project in terms of benefits, a regional evangelical church leader has called on the Catholic Church leadership in the province to be open to modern ways of mining.

“The Catholic Church’s opposition against the open-pit mining method is only a matter of adjusting to the modern concept of responsible mining,” Pastor Ben Barnuevo told the local media last week.

Barnuevo, South Central Mindanao ministry director and South Mindanao district minister of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Churches of the Philippines (CAMACOP), said, “We can never do away with the benefits of mining and its products.”

CAMACOP is one of the largest evangelical groups in the Philippines with a roster of 2,917 local churches all over the country, according to its records.

The Tampakan copper-gold project is currently in peril after the South Cotabato provincial government, allegedly due to strong pressure from the local Catholic Church, passed an environment code banning open-pit mining in the entire province.

“I recommend a review of the environment code and I hope they let us participate in the review,” Barnuevo said.