Roman Catholic bishops in Bikol region are all out against the planned coal mining project in Catanduanes province alleging that it would destroy ecology.
Despite strong opposition from church leaders and residents of Catanduanes province to Monte Oro Resources and Energy Inc., the mine still obtained green light from the Department of Energy.
Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said mining has "ripped apart" the ecological, cultural and social fabric of many communities in Bikol where there's mining.
He criticized the government for adhering to business interests over the welfare of the people who suffer much from the "ill effects" mining operations.
"Once you engage in mining, you scratch the land and it only destroys the land... there is nowhere to go but (destruction)," Bishop Bastes said.
The church leader made the statement on Tuesday after Virac Bishop Manolo De Los Santos vowed that the church will block the coal mining project in Catanduanes.
Bishop Bastes said all church leaders in Bikol region are ready to extend help to Bishop De Los Santos in stopping the project.
"We are in full support of him... not only me but all of us bishops here in Bikol because mining does not help the community but destroys it," he said.
The Catholic hierarchy has been calling on the Arroyo administration to cancel mining concessions in the country, warning of environmental damage and the loss of resources to mining companies.
The said island of Bikol is gifted with over 1.2 million metric tons of high-quality coal deposits within an 7, 000-hectare land area which the government has allowed to be mined.
When converted to cold cash based on the prevailing world market price, this volume is worth a whopping P6.2 billion.
The Catanduanes coal district covers over some 14 upland villages within Panganiban, San Andres and Caramoran that sit at the heart of the 1, 511 square-kilometer island.
Coal is the world's leading source of electricity today. However, experts said, it is also responsible for about 70 percent of world carbon emission causing global warming.
Doubts
Meanwhile, a local environmental NGO has expressed doubts about Monte Oro's recent declaration that it has abandoned plans of pursuing mining in Catanduanes.
According to Beverly Q. Ala, executive director of Pangatamanan-Bikol, "It is also hard to believe that as late as Monday the chairman of Monte Oro Walter Brown [was] saying that they [were] going ahead with the operation and in the span of a day they will just backtrack [from it]."
"We seriously doubt this may just be a tactic of the company to avoid further flak. With what they are planning for the towns of San Andres, Caramoran and Panganiban it is not farfetched that another environmental disaster will occur but this time it may be worse than what happened in Rapu-rapu Island in Albay," Ala explained.
The area reportedly affected by the project has a diverse topography which means that the planned coal mining operation would destroy in its track forest lands, agricultural lands, mountains, fields, rivers, and streams many of which lead to the sea.
Pangataman-Bikol recalled that with the Rapu-rapu mining in Albay, the most highlighted aspect of environmental damage were the fish kills; the NGO believes it may prove to be worse in Catanduanes if the coal mining operation pushes through.
"Add to this the 8,000 hectares in the towns of Caramoran, Panganiban and Viga that the Department of Energy awarded to a certain Policarpio Torres under the supervision also of Monte Oro, which altogether summed up to 15,000 hectares of Catanduanes up for environmental destruction," Ala said.
"Now, we have received reports that Monte Oro did not hold public consultations for their coal mining operations and it is clear why they did not do so because the people of Catanduanes will definitely oppose it. Maybe the owners of Monte Oro were banking on their close ties with Malacanang," Ala added.
"As far as we know, thousands of Catandunganons will be adversely affected by this mining operation, just like what happened to the people of Rapu-rapu. Furthermore the so-called benefits are just mere pittance compared to the devastation to the lives and livelihood that it will entail."
"All the bishops of the region have already expressed their opposition against exploitative large scale mining and they have even written Pope Benedict XVI regarding the matter to ask His Holiness' support to stop mining operations in the Bicol region. We just hope that Monte Oro will stop their plan now and consider the wrath of the people and the Church," the Pangataman-Bikol spokesperson concluded.