MINING has greatly contributed to the peace-and-order situation in Mindanao, particularly in Zamboanga del Norte, a former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rebel said.
Tan Cailo, leader of a group of 76 former MNLF rebels and president of the Santa Maria Fisherfolk Association Inc. (SMFAI), said members of the group are now living in peace as fishermen, and are getting the much-needed support from TVI Resources Development Inc. (TVIRD) that operates the Canatuan mine in Siocon town.
Last year TVIRD helped SMFAI acquire a kubkoban, a large fishing boat that the group now operates.
TVIRD’s Canatuan mine is now on its final phase of operation. As it folds up, as part of its corporate social responsibility to the host community, the company is stepping up various livelihood programs to sustain the development achieved over a decade of operation in the area.
The group generated a gross income of P1.6 million in its first year of fishing operations, Cailo said.
Speaking during the recent Philippine Mining Forum organized by the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) at the Bulwagang Aquino in the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Rescue Center in Quezon City, Cailo said crew members of the kubkoban earn as much as P3,000 per fishing expedition.
The forum, a first of a series being planned by COMP, focuses on mining’s potential as an engine of growth and an agent of peace and development in Mindanao.
“Since our first expedition, the kubkoban already earned a gross income of P1,661,900, while every crew member averages P3,000 [income] per expedition,” Cailo said. “Now we have P148,000 in the bank that we can use to purchase a delivery vehicle,” he added.
The SMFAI collectively owns the kubkoban, which was built by the association members themselves for almost a year through TVIRD’s livelihood project.
The project comes as part of the company’s sustainable development program in communities where it operates.
It also comes as an active response to the need to foster peace and progress in the town of Siocon, where TVIRD operates its copper and zinc mine, and the Santa Maria wharf where its port is located.
Cailo shared that he was once a combatant belonging to the Moro secessionist group. Later on he and many others returned to a peaceful life as fishermen in Santa Maria.
He became an elected councilman in his village inhabited mostly by Tausugs.
Like most of his constituents, he said poverty and abuse were the reasons why he joined the MNLF.
“Without your own big fishing boat, you only get fish just enough to feed your family for a day,” he said.
He admitted that he and his men have long dreamt of having a kubkoban. It was the only answer to relieving his constituents from hardship.
“With this type of a fishing boat, you can go as far as the Sulu Sea and get a big catch. It may be costly to build but you will surely get a return on your investment,” he explained, also citing that the kubkoban took P2.8 million to build.
“I can’t thank the company enough for giving us this boat. We have dreamt of this and now it’s here. I meant it when I said to them that this will greatly help my people,” Cailo said. He also shared that they are planning to buy a large truck to deliver their catch to nearby towns.
During the same forum, former Press Secretary Jesus Dureza, who was also one of the guests and keynote speaker, said responsible mining can be the key to Mindanao’s sustainable development and a life-changer for the people.
Many areas in Mindanao, he said, have been “neglected” not just because of the peace-and-order problem, but because they are far from reach of the government.
Mining companies, such as TVIRD, he said, helped improved the lives of people in the town of Siocon and nearby towns in the province.
“You can sign all the peace agreements you want. But without economic activity and livelihood, poverty will trigger uprising and insurgency,” he said.
“I visited Siocon and have personally seen how TVI’s presence and economic activity elevated the town from a third-class municipality to first-class status,” he said.
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