______________________________________ KILLER DAM PART 2 socio-economic impact http://youtu.be/Uf3dPuY-Ul8 KILLER DAM PART 1 environmental impact http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoYTNEli8gA _______________________________ LIST OF XSTRATA’S DIRTY TRICKS Inventory of misinformation and deceit Overview. SMI – Xstrata, if given a license by the Aquino Administration, is set to operate the largest mining venture in Philippine history.
Its tailings dam, about 20 times bigger than the infamous collapsed dam in Marinduque, will have 1.35 billion metric tons of toxic wastes atop a mountain at the heart of Mindanao’s bread basket, and beneath a major earthquake fault. It will sit there in perpetuity until an earthquake or another Sendong.
SMI-Xstrata, with its vast capital resources, has no right to seduce and deceive Filipinos to support a potential mega-disaster for its own profits at our expense. The government will earn a measly 6% while it has a lion’s share of 91%.
It has given millions to mayors, pseudo-tribal chieftains and their Xstrata-funded pseudo tribal foundations to support the project. It is threatening the national government that if it fails to pressure local government to lift an open pit ban, it will go to the Supreme Court, which had earlier reversed a decision declaring Xstrata’s contract unconstitutional.
Xstrata’s dirty tricks.
- scholarships and short term employment to natives to soften opposition
- false reports of free and prior informed consent (FPIC)
- exclusion of oppositors from voting, and from EIA stakeholder list for public consultations
- ‘donations’ to pseudo tribal chieftains, and their pseudo xstrata-funded organizations
- bulldozing of tribal sacred grounds, and farms without permission
- use of military and police to arrest oppositors in their own land
- seduction of mayors through ‘development funds’; the gray area between ‘development funds’ and ‘bribery’
- misinformation on economic data, false picture of tons of profits for government when its share is a measly 6% while Xstrata’s is 91%; GDP contributions of the mining sector is the lowest at 0.9%;
- over-rated employment benefits of 3,000 employees compared to millions dislocated if the mega-dam collapses;
- no mention of negative impact to farmers in their EIA;
- insufficient mitigating measures in EIA in case of earthquakes, flash floods; the mine sits above a major fault line
- no mention in the EIA of who pays for PERPETUAL maintenance of killer dams after they have left
- continued activities in spite of denial of ECC
- threats against national government to pressure local government to reverse its open pit ban, else it goes to the Supreme Court
- no mention in the EIA of the illegal construction of the dam, violating the maximum altitude they are allowed by law
- a bloated budget of millions for PR-media funds and a powerful lobby group, distorting economic benefits and dangers to lives.
bernie lopez eastwind journals Opinyon Magazine, march 4, 2012 redgate77@gmail.com
