ITOGON, Benguet: Residents, village officers and elders of Barangay Poblacion here and the management of the Itogon Suyoc Resources Inc. (ISRI) has forged an agreement that would raise the company's tailings storage facility (TSF) by 4 meters more pending compliance with the 16-point conditions by the community for the project to push through.

Organization chairman Andres Panayo represents the community and ISRI President and Chief Executive Officer Luis Sarmiento and Vice President for Geology and Exploration and resident manager Eric Andal.

Witnesses to the signing of the agreement by the representatives of both parties were Mayor Bernard Waclin, Vice Mayor Dax Godio, other barangay officials, and authorized elders and members of the Indigenous people's organization.

The 16-point conditions imposed by the community that should be complied with by the company in the implementation of the dam-raising project by an additional 4 meters was a product of more than a year of consultations and negotiations between both parties on how to realize the project with the guaranteed safety of the community.

Under the 1994 Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) of the former Itogon Suyoc Mines Inc. (ISMI) and elders of barangay Poblacion, the company was allowed to put up its tailings pond to a maximum height of 980 meters. One of the conditions of this agreement was that when the level of the dam reached 965 meters, the company was allowed to gradually increase the height of the dam up to a maximum of 15 meters which would be done in three stages where consultations with the community were required for every 5 meters increase in the dam height.

When ISMI ceased operations in the 1990s the dam height was approximately 965 meters which paved the way for the new management, ISRI, to consult with the community for the increase in the dam height by the first 5 meters through a series of consultations.

In 2021, the majority of the community elders and residents voted in favor of the requested 5 meters increase in the dam height, but the company must first work on the initial 1-meter subject to the imposed conditions to ascertain its commitment to fulfilling its obligations with the community while separate consultations will be done for the additional 4 meters to complete the initial stage of the dam raising project.

Barangay Poblacion created the so-called TSF panel to spearhead the conduct of a series of consultations with the community that resulted in the crafting of a draft MOA that will be entered into by and between the company, the barangay and the Indigenous people's organization which was presented to the community residents and leaders during last Sunday's gathering.

Among the conditions of this agreement include the monitoring of the project, the provision of financial and technical assistance to the community, the establishment of the environmental guarantee fund, priority for employment to qualified residents in the area, the designation of working areas for small-scale miners and the mutual respect for the rights of concerned parties.

Earlier, the multipartite monitoring team (MMT) and the community through the created TSF panel also requested the company to reinforce the stability of the dam by working on the anchor, the dam crest, and the face of the facility to guarantee its stability while consultations for the raising of the dam by an additional 4 meters to complete the first stage will be done to ascertain the conditions of the villagers that will be incorporated in the agreement for the overall safety of the community.

On the proposal from the opposition of the project to stop the ongoing works because this seems not to conform with the present working conditions and is in violation of what had been earlier agreed upon, the elders claimed that stopping the project is not within their jurisdiction as there are regulatory agencies that are in charge of regulating the conduct of mining and other related activities where such issues and concerns should be raised.

The TSF panel created by the barangay had been continuously undertaking consultations with the community on the realistic and measurable conditions that would be incorporated in the final MoA that would be signed by representatives of the concerned parties to pave the way for the implementation of the additional 4-meter increase in the dam height of the ISRI's Sangilo mine to ensure the safety of the community.

On the other hand, the barangay will form a monitoring committee that will be composed of technical people from the community to ensure that the implementation of the company's dam enhancement project will comply with the project specifications and standards as presented to the community during previous consultations.