Thousands rally in support of Lobo mining

A pro-mining rally was held in Lobo City, Batangas on Tuesday and over 1,200 local residents, from all 24 Lobo barangays demonstrated their support for the implementation of Egerton Gold Philippines’ gold mining project.

In response to press reports that the Lobo Municipal Council required evidence of “social acceptability,” Lobo residents mobilized to voice their support for the mining project, presenting an advance copy of a petition signed by 3,400 residents of the municipality. As a result of the demonstration, the council meeting was delayed two hours, but eventually commenced as the rally continued.

The petition comes entirely from the local community and was signed entirely by residents of the municipality who are to directly benefit from the mining project. They are saying yes to decreased poverty, increased social development, and the general improvement in quality of life that this project will bring.”

The final petition, signed by over 3,400 people, all local to the Lobo area, was presented to the Municipal Council today.

The board of Egerton Gold Philippines reiterated its support for the Municipality of Lobo’s council. “We recognize that the local government officials are caught between outside vested interests and their own community interests,” said President of Egerton Gold Philippines, Edsel Abrasaldo. “We sympathize with them. They have been subjected to intense pressure by outside interests and they are rightfully concerned about this. We will deal in a fair, professional and friendly way with the Municipal Council as has been our practice for the past 12 years.”

Egerton Gold Philippines Inc. is a Filipino company partly funded by MRL Gold Inc., another Filipino company. Egerton has been exploring for gold, and working with the local community on environmental and social programs in Lobo for over 12 years.

Egerton has discovered a gold resource comprising 444,000 ounces of gold and some silver including a 131,000 Oz Mineral Reserve planned for mining. The mined areas will comprise a maximum of only 26 hectares, the size of a resort or shopping complex.

Many members of the community chimed in to express their support for the project. “The company helps the local community by providing jobs during the exploration period on a weekly rotation basis in order that more jobless residents can benefit,” remarked Roger Lontoc, Barangay Secretary of Mabilog na Bundok, one of the ten barangays affected by the project. “They improved our barangay hall and day care center for pre-school children, gave a hundred of cement bags every year for the construction of feeder roads and three basketball courts.They also] implemented tree planting near river banks and gave forest and fruit tree seedlings to the community.” Vilma Atienza, one of the residents of Barangay Calumpit, sitio Itaas Silyaran said “I am enjoying the water coming to our house and lot from the well that Egerton drilled on our land 8 years ago.”

All ten affected barangay councils in Lobo had unanimously given their consent for the project by January 23, with the municipality council following suit on April 20, reflecting the social and economic interests of their constituencies. This followed a tour of an operating mine run by Oceana Gold in Nueva Viscaya last January 3-5, 2015 where LGU officials witnessed the mining operation and its resultant socioeconomic benefits to surrounding communities. However, since then, anti-development advocates have been pushing them to reverse their support, even though the development project will generate approximately R600 million in taxes during its operation.