Kidnappers free 3 tugboat crew in Zamboanga province

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / December 18, 2009) – Suspected Moro rebels have freed Friday three kidnapped crew members of a tugboat after four weeks in captivity in the southern Philippines.

The three men - Captain Felipe Miranda, Cecilio Layasan and Radsie Magtanong – are in police custody after being freed near Zamboanga City. The trio was kidnapped at sea on November 21 while sheltering from a storm in Siocon town in Zamboanga del Norte province.

Police did not give any details about the men or whether ransom was paid in exchange for their freedom, but the kidnappers, who were believed members of the Moro National Liberation Front previously demand at least five million pesos for the release of the hostages.

The three men were working for the Cebu-based Cebu Barge and Tug Inc. They were pulling a barge and heading to Dapitan City when gunmen on several speedboats hijacked their tugboat and seized them. (Mindanao Examiner)

Subanon Rice Terraces, Hailed In South RP

Subanon native, Fernandez Anda shows grains harvested from rice terraces in Siocon town in Zamboanga del Norte province in southern RP. Anda, (far right)also poses with TVIRD personnel (from left) CReDO Information Officer Jose Dagala, CReDO Canatuan Manager Thess Limpin, and Vice President for Philippine Operations Yulo Perez. (Photos by Rene Patangan)

ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 03, 2007) – Subanon native Fernandez Anda’s face lit up when he saw us emerged from the bushes and clump of trees and into the clearing.

He eagerly welcomed us to his thatched hut and waited for us to catch our breath after an hour’s trek to the steep and rugged mountains of Gulangan, a hamlet in the town.

He was thrilled to tell us his story.Our group was headed by Yulo Perez, TVIRD vice president for Philippine Operations; and Thess Limpin, TVIRD manager for Community Relations and Development Office (CReDO). We were joined by CReDO Information Officer Jose Dagala, and Social Development Consultant German Romano.

Barely three months since our last visit to this piece of land in the Subanon ancestral domain in Siocon town in Zamboanga del Norte province, Anda’s farm is now a picture of abundance. What used to be a muddy terrain is now covered with yellow-green rice stalks, with their golden grains standing out under the blazing sun. The model rice terraces project is a success.

Anda, 51, is the first beneficiary of the Farmer-Instructor Technician (FIT) program, a livelihood through agro-forestry component of the Social Development and Management Plan for the indigenous people (IP) hosts of TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc. (TVIRD). The company has been, since mid-2004, operating gold and silver mine in Mount Canatuan, also in Siocon town, and will begin producing copper and zinc by the middle of 2008.

The success of Anda’s farming can easily be adopted or duplicated by means of irrigated multi-cropping scheme using the rice terraces farming technology, the same technology applied by generations of the Ifugao natives in the mountainous terrains of Northern Philippines.

“Dako kaayo akong kalipay nga nahimong magmalampuson kining akong uma gamit ang teknolohiya nga gitudlo kanako sa TVI(RD). Dili na gayud kami kinahanglang magbalhin-balhin pa sanglit mahimo kaming magtanum ug mag-ani makatulo matag tuig dinhi lamang sa mao ra gihapong umahan ug igo ra usab ang abot nga pangkunsumo hangtud sa sunod ani.”

(I am extremely pleased that my farm is successful using the technology that TVIRD had taught me. We do not need to move from one place to another anymore since we can plant and harvest three times a year in the same paddies; and the yield is enough until the next harvest),” said Anda.

“Labaw sa tanan, malipayon usab ako tungod kay interesado ug ganahan usab mosuhid ang akong mga kauban ug kadugong Subano niining pamaagi sa panguma. Subay sa programa, komitado ako nga itudlo usab kanila ang akong nabatonan nga kahibalo.”

“(More than anything, I am happy because my fellow Subanons are interested and would like to follow the farming techniques that I used here. Under the program, I am committed to teach and transfer to them the skills I have learned),” he said.

The initial plotting and forming of the second rice terraces project have actually begun on a land owned by Rene Tii, another Subanon holder of the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title, adjacent to Anda’s plot.

Unable to contain his pride for his feat, Anda shared his plans with us: “Plano nako nga palapdan ug padak-an pa ang akong uma para sa sunod nga tanum aron makabaligya na sa abot niini. Sa pagkakaron, igo lamang ang abot niini para makaon sa akong pamilya sanglit testing pa lamang kini (I plan to expand my farm for the next planting season so I would be able to sell its produce. For now, the harvest would just be enough to feed my family since it is still in the trial stage).”

In the past, Anda, like most Subanons, would always worry every harvest time. The yield was usually scant and could not be sustained until the next harvest. And under this method, they could only harvest rice once a year.

“Pinaagi niining teknolohiya, ako masaligon nga dili magutman ang akong pamilya ug makabaligya pa sa abot sa mosunod nga mga pag-ani (Through this technology, I am assured that my family will not go hungry and could even sell my produce in the succeeding harvests),” Anda stressed.

After a few more minutes of rest, our group followed Anda’s lead as he descended to the lower portion of the rice terraces. It’s harvest time. (Rene Patangan)

TVI Completes Canatuan Social Dev't Plan

In the area of Community Infrastructure,TVIRD hopes to complete the Tanuman Settlement Area that the company will build together with the indigenous people. Under the SDMP Education Program, TVIRD will strengthen the Functional Literacy Program for Canatuan; expand the College Scholarship Program; and continue to provide daycare and elementary schoolteachers in nearby villages. TVIRD will strengthen and expand its livelihood program, which will now include, among others, the production of medium to long-term crop like abaca and rubber.

ZAMBOANGA DEL NORTE (Rochell Hilario / 22 Dec) - After many months of consultations with residents of communities within and around its gold-copper project in Mount Canatuan in Siocon town in Zamboanga del Norte provice, TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc. (TVIRD) has completed the approval process for its Social Development and Management Plan (SDMP) from the Philippine Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).

The approval enables the TVI to build on the gains of its social development initiatives in its host and impact communities since it began production in 2004. This will be done through the enhancement of ongoing initiatives with the introduction of various organizational and program mechanisms that are responsive to the needs identified by these communities.

“While we have endeavored to fulfill our initial community development objectives in the first two years of our operations, we have also been working hard to finalize this important document that would formalize our commitment to the sustainable development of Canatuan and its neighboring barangays,” said Eugene Mateo, TVIRD president.

“We are glad to have finally accomplished this requirement, and we thank the MGB for acknowledging the tangible projects we have done for the improvement of the quality of life in our host community prior to the approval of our SDMP.”

Felice Yeban, TVIRD Community Relations and Development Organization director, said the consultation process and amount of time taken to produce many iterations resulting from feedback from the community and accommodating the community’s wishes took a while to complete the SDMP. "We are happy with the result but we view the Plan as a living document, a work in progress. We intend to do more and, as can be gleaned from our concrete development initiatives in the first phase, that is, from mid-2004 to mid-2006, our actions will speak louder than our words,” Yeban said.

These initiatives, Yeban said, include the cleanup of mercury and cyanide tailings left by illegal small-scale miners that previously operated in Canatuan and the planting of more than 62,000 trees in 2 ½ years. And the building of roads, health clinics, and schoolhouses, as well as the provision of livelihood projects, employment, and previously inaccessible basic services like water supply, electricity, including housing to the Subanon ancestral domain owners of Canatuan.

“TVIRD’s approved SDMP provides the framework that will serve as the company’s guidebook, as it continues to support the welfare of the people in its immediate and secondary affected communities,” MGB Western Midnanao regional director Constancio Paye, Jr., explains. “We now have a document that captures the many good things the company has done and will continue to do for its host communities in the areas of livelihood, basic services, health and environmental safety, their socio-economic enhancement and sustainability on and beyond the mine life.”

According to the TVIRD SDMP, the company will principally strengthen and expand first phase programs in the second phase (mid-2006 to 2008) through socio-economic projects and services spelled out during the community consultations.

These include a livelihood program that will focus on the production of medium and long-term crops like abaca and rubber; the formation of farmer instructor technician team that will spread the sustainable food security and environmental protection technology to other small farmer groups; the establishment of cooperative-operated trading center in strategic marketing locations; as well as the continuous upgrading of technical skills in upland farming of FIT and clients on upland crop diversification.

Included in the Health and Sanitation Program are the provision of a potable water system to five needy immediate impact barangays; the completion of a community hospital; and the establishment of herbal gardens.Under the SDMP Education Program, TVIRD will strengthen the Functional Literacy Program for Canatuan; expand the College Scholarship Program; and continue to provide daycare and elementary schoolteachers in nearby villages.

In the area of community infrastructure, the company hopes to complete the Tanuman Settlement Area that TVIRD will build together with the IPs.

TVIRD will implement five distinct but interrelated strategies to achieve the second phase: Sustainable Community Development; Organizational Development; Information, Education & Communications; Institutional Networking/Advocacy; and Resource Accessing.Following the provisions of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, TVIRD allots a minimum of 1% of the direct mining and milling costs annually – over and above the royalty equivalent to 1% Net Smelter Revenue that Subanons have been receiving from the company.

Of this amount, 90% is appropriated to implement the SDMP, and the remaining 10% for the development of mining technology and geosciences, as the well as the corresponding manpower training and development.In 2005, the Subanons of Canatuan received a total of P5 million in royalty payments from TVIRD. From January to September 2006, they earned P10 million, and are expected to get P4 million more by yearend.

TVIRD’s SDMP was revised in two timeframes. In April 2005, the company employed the services of the Green Earth Multi-Purpose Cooperative which touched base with the Canatuan Project’s impact areas, particularly those communities covered by the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title.

In the first quarter of 2006, TVIRD’s Community Development Office – recently reorganized as CReDO – initiated individual community profiling and consultations in 11 villages affected by the project, namely: Tabayo, Pisawak and Bulacan in Siocon town; Kilalaban in Baliguian town (both towns of which are in Zamboanga del Norte Province; and J.S. Perfecto, Malubal, New Sagay, San Fernandino, and San Antonio, all in R. T. Lim town in Zamboanga Sibugay Province.