PHILIPPINES - TVI launches court action

TVI Resource Development has launched an injunction against the Zamboanga del Norte Government in a bid to overturn an ordinance ban on open pit mining in the province.

The company is seeking a temporary restraining order and injunction against any officers, agents, employees and representatives of Zamboanga del Norte from implementing the ban, citing it as ‘unconstitutional and invalid’. TVI argues the ordinance violates the due process, equal protection and non-impairment of contracts clauses in the 1987 Constitution.

The company says its legal advice has confirmed the ordinance is contrary to the applicable provisions of the Local Government Code and the Mining Act, and runs counter to the public policies espoused in these laws. TVI says it will consider all legal remedies to protect and uphold its existing rights and contracts and will use all legal options available to see the ban overturned.

The company says it had no notice of the ordinance banning new open pit or open cut mines which comes into effect from November 2012. TVI will continue to operate its Canatuan mine until then without disruption and work on its gold project at Balabag in the neighbouring Zamboanga del Sur province.

“In addition to affecting the company directly, this ban would adversely affect the indigenous people who own the ancestral domain where the mining project is situated, the communities and barangays that benefit through the operations’ social development programs, and the national government, as it stands to lose not only the revenue from the mining operations but also hamper its policy to encourage foreign and private sector investment in the mining industry,’ TVI’s president Eugene T Mateo said.

He told Filipino newspaper Malaya it is business as usual at Canatuan. “There is no disruption despite the legal case we filed against the provincial government. We have the full support of the host community, the impact barangays, the indigenous community and our host local government unit. We will not pull out. The company will fight this illegal unconstitutional ordinance.”

The ordinance was approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial board) of Zamboanga del Norte in August to “protect and conserve the integrity of the land, water and vegetative resources”. It prohibits open cut mining because it is “destructive to the wide range of non-renewable land based resources, and causes pollution, depletion and loss of cropland, rangeland, forest cover and extinction of animal and plant species.”

It states anyone found conducting open cut mining operations will be punished imprisonment of up to one year and fined up to 5000 thousand pesos.

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