THE Court of Appeals (CA) has ruled that big miners in South Cotabato are exempted from the province's ban on open-pit mining.In its order, dated Aug. 20, 2022, the CA's 23rd Division based in Cagayan de Oro declared that the ban on open-pit mining in South Cotabato was valid, but the prohibition applied only to small-scale miners.The Appellate Court's ruling 'partly granted' the appeals filed by members of the B'laan indigenous cultural community, whose lands would be mined by Sagittarius Mines Inc.'s $5.9 billion Tampakan gold-copper project.'Section 22, Ordinance No.04, Series 2010 is hereby declared valid but its application is limited to small-scale mining operations in the province of South Cotabato only,' the ruling read.'Further, it is clarified that the ban on open-pit mining does not apply to large-scale mining operations of the said province, particularly, its Tampakan Project,' it added.But Bishop Cerilo Casicas of Marbel and Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC), which works with communities threatened by the risks of open pit mining projects, said the provincial government can still appeal the CA decision.Casicas, in a letter to South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo, urged the official 'to exert his best effort to defend the rights of the people to a balanced and healthy ecology.'The bishop urged the governor to join them in 'the moral imperative to act together decisively in order to save our common home.'He said that mining operations will erase vast areas of agricultural lands, destroy the remaining watershed, and will cause massive flooding in Mindanao.Undaunted by the ruling, Casicas said 'we remain firm with our stand that open-pit mining operations in South Cotabato pose a great risk to the integrity of the environment of our province and its neighbors. At stake are the health and livelihoods of many.'LRC, for its part, said that the CA ruling is not the end of the line for the open pit mining ban, adding that the provincial government has the duty to appeal the CA decision.'The regulatory role granted to local governments is very much part of the national level of mineral and resource governance laws, and hence cannot be limited to just small-scale mining projects,' it said.'Governor Tamayo is in a prime position to push back against this curtailment of the autonomy granted by the Local Government Code to local chief executives defending their constituents' right to a balanced and healthful ecology,' it added.Open-pit mining is a process of digging the earth's surface to extract ores or minerals present in a shallow layer.According to a study, open pit or surface mining is devastating for the environment and includes soil erosion and pollution, water contamination, species extinction because of its effects on biodiversity, sinkhole formation, air pollution, and deforestation and vegetation loss.
