Blaan tribal chieftain dares Church-hired expert

SOUTH COTABATO, Philippines – A Blaan tribal chieftain in Barangay Danlag, Tampakan town here has challenged the environmental impact study on the proposed Tampakan mining project conducted by a British expert hired by Church leaders in the province.

Danlag sits on the mineral deposit of what is potentially the biggest mine to be put up in the country.

“The Church’s so-called British expert has not been to our community and he does not know what he is talking about,” Blaan chieftain Bai Dalena Samling told the local media Monday.

Samling said illegal small-scale mining activities are slowly destroying their community and these may be what the British expert was referring to in his study.

“I want them to go up to the hills, to our community, if they really care about us, and bring us progress,” Samling said.

Samling said the proposed Tampakan mine project has so far brought in employment and livelihood opportunities for her tribe.

Clive Wicks, a British-expert commissioned by the South Cotabato diocese to dispute the environmental impact assessment prepared for the proposed Tampakan mine, said in a public forum two weeks ago that the project poses “high risk to the lives of the host communities.”

Wicks also alleged that the mining project would affect agriculture or food production in Tampakan and in South Cotabato as a whole.

During the public consultation, the Social Action Center of South Cotabato said the alternative to mining for communities in Tampakan is “sustainable agriculture.”

“Our hills are barren right now because of too much kaingin (slash-and-burn farming),” Samling said.

“I just wish that they tell the truth on what the condition really is in the hills. We didn’t have anything until this project came,” Samling said.

Samling also encouraged the British expert to conduct actual field studies and community consultations, especially with the tribal communities.