Our worst fear has been confirmed: Michael Defensor, while environment secretary, was all along the defender of mining interests, not of the environment. His current involvement in Geograce Resources and Nihao Mineral Resources International leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, especially for those suffering from the mining projects he approved; the involvement may not be illegal, but it shows the height of callousness and betrays his “impartiality” when he, as environment czar, ruled on mining conflicts.

Mindoreños can never forgive Defensor. He unceremoniously reinstated in 2005 the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) in favor of the Mindoro Nickel Project of Intex Resources. The MPSA was cancelled in July 2001 by then environment chief Heherson Alvarez because: (1) the area was (still is) an important watershed, (2) local government units and the people strongly opposed the project, (3) there was lack of valid written agreements with all groups of indigenous peoples, (4) the project was not economically feasible, (5) there were two earthquake fault lines within the concession area, and (6) there was a substantial breach of MPSA terms. In November 2001, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo upheld the MPSA cancellation.

But on March 16, 2004 at the height of the presidential election campaign, the Office of the President, on appeal by Intex (formerly Crew Mineral Resources), reinstated the MPSA, recommending “that the case be remanded to the DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources] for proper hearing and investigation, if appropriate.”

Defensor never conducted an investigation and never bothered to inform the various stakeholders of the decision despite widespread opposition to the project. Mindoreños only learned about the reinstatement after Intex/Crew released a press statement in London.

On Nov. 10, 2005, Defensor issued to Intex/Crew a clearance to proceed, citing resolutions of endorsement from the municipal councils of three directly affected towns in the province of Oriental Mindoro. The municipal councils of Victoria, Pola and Socorro immediately passed resolutions denying Defensor’s claim. The protestation was never heard.

Unfortunately, Defensor’s successors in the DENR were no better than him. The call for a DENR investigation into the resumption the Mindoro Nickel Project remains unheeded.

We are therefore calling on the Senate, a more independent and credible government institution, to conduct an investigation on the irregularities in the granting and reinstatement of mining permits in this country. It seems to us mining-affected communities that the Arroyo administration is gung-ho in selling our communities to mining companies with close ties to Malacañang. This administration has been bending rules to accommodate the interest of mining companies with impunity, leaving the affected communities as the unwilling collateral victims, all in the name of “national interest” which simply means to the Arroyo administration “patronage and greed.”

ORLANDO A. MALIWANAG, Alyansa Laban sa Mina (Alamin), Roxas Drive, Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro