Claver downplays accusations vs Pichay

CLAVER Mineral Development Corporation (CMDC) has dismissed as a “smear campaign” the accusations that its owner Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero C. Pichay, Jr. illegally acquired the controlling stake in the mining firm, which had evicted an indigenous peoples community in the area.

In a statement, CMDC President Cesar Detera denied the company is engaged in illegal nickel ore mining, and that it refused to give the indigenous peoples their rightful share of revenues from mining operations in the ancestral lands.

“The truth is, CMDC under new management since October last year is proceeding with its rehabilitation of its mine site in accordance with all mining regulations and pertinent laws, including the Indigenous People’s Rights Act of 1997,” he said.

Complainant James A. Biol and Datu Reynante Buklas, who heads the Manobo and Mamanwa tribes in Surigao, filed the 17- page complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman on Dec. 16 accusing the respondents of illegal mining, transporting, and sale of nickel ores from their ancestral lands in barangay Cagdianao in Claver, Surigao del Norte. Respondents in the case included Mr. Pichay, Environment Undersecretary Leo L. Jasareno, Mr. Detera and other company officials.

CMDC said those who filed the complaint had included an illegal miner operating within the CMDC mining claim and was ordered ousted by the local court earlier this year.

Mr. Pichay was quoted as saying this case was an “obvious attempt to put political pressure on CMDC to halt its mine site rehabilitation program.”

“They want to use political pressure to reverse a court decision in favor of a legitimate company providing employment and government revenues. That shouldn’t be allowed,” CMDC said. —