Mining in Tawi-Tawi stopped!

DAVAO CITY – President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered a stop to all mining operations in the southern province of Tawi-Tawi and expressed concern over the devastation there.

A satellite (Google Maps) photo of Tumbagaan Island in Tawi-Tawi's Languyan town shows how it is devastated by nickel mining activities. The island was once covered in thick vegetation. (Mindanao Examiner)

Duterte ordered authorities to step up rehabilitation by planting trees in areas devastated by nickel mining, especially in Tumbagaan Island in Languyan town.

Mining money was also being used to bankroll political campaigns in the Muslim autonomous region.

Surprisingly, Duterte did not order an investigation into the mining in Tawi-Tawi or who were or groups behind environmental destruction, and why it was not acted upon by the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), particularly the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.

As early as 2016, the Regional Legislative Assembly of the previous Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) had asked the DENR to issue an order stopping all destructive mining activities in the Muslim autonomous region.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said Duterte was very much concerned about reports that Tumbagan Island has been completely devastated by mining activities. “The island has, at this point, been mined out. And while rehabilitation efforts are under way, the president is issuing a directive to stop any and all mining,” he said.

Environmentalists said nickel mining activities have destroyed the environment on Tumbagaan Island. Tawi-Tawi is one of 5 provinces under the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

In September 2019, the BARMM said it suspended all nickel mining operations in Tawi-Tawi to pave way for a review of the region’s mining policy.

The Philippines is the world’s second-largest nickel ore producer in 2018 after Indonesia, with both Southeast Asian nations as the top two suppliers to biggest buyer China.

And latest available industry data showed that 2.34 million wet metric tonnes (wmt) of high-grade ore, or nearly 90% of 2.66-million wmt of the high-grade material the Philippines exported to China in the first half of 2018 came from Tawi-Tawi, one of 5 provinces under the BARMM.

Tawi-Tawi accounted for 27% of overall nickel ore exports, totalling 15.8-million wmt, to China during the six-month period.

In 2016, ARMM Assemblyman Hanibal Tulawie, then chairman of the Committee on Environment and Ecology, said that a resolution was passed asking the DENR to immediately issue a “cease-and-desist” order on all mining companies operating in Tawi-Tawi and also in Basilan, Sulu, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao provinces after he received numerous complaints from the public and environmentalists who are opposed to destructive mining methods.

Photos of nickel mining operations in Tumbagaan Island posted on Facebook also showed huge trucks and barges hauling off red soil, which was allegedly being shipped to China where it is processed. There were previous reports indicating that Tumbagaan Island was totally devastated because of mining explorations and the nickel mining activities there and also in Panglima Sugala town. (Mindanao Examiner)