SC asked to issue writ of kalikasan vs mining firms in Surigao

Residents and tribesmen from Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur provinces have asked the Supreme Court to issue a writ of kalikasan (environment) and order at least five mining companies to stop their operations in their communities. The writ of kalikasan is a remedial measure that may be granted by the courts upon the request of a person or a group whose constitutional right to a healthy environment is violated. The writ compels another party to stop the alleged violation. In this case, the petitioners decried how the mining firms supposedly damaged their ancestral domain by allowing high levels of nickel to reach their coastal waters, rivers, and creeks. In their 22-page petition, the locals also asked for the issuance of a temporary protection order (TEPO) mandating the mining firms to stop the "excavation, hauling, processing, transporting, loading of minerals or other materials connected with the mining activities." The TEPO is one of the remedies provided by the landmark writ of kalikasan, promulgated by the Supreme Court only in April 2010. The petitioners are from the Tribal Coalition of Mindanao, Daging Manobo Sectoral Tribal Council, urbistondo Manobo-Mamanwa Sectoral Tribal Council, Kinalablaban Sectoral Tribal Council, Cabanghan Tribal Community - Manobo Tribe, forester Victoriano Vidal and Datu Willy Daging. Named respondents are Taganito Mining Corporation, Platinum Group Metals Corporation, Oriental Synergy Mining Corporation, Shenzou Mining Group Corporation, and Marcventures Mining and Development Corporation. The petitioners said the mining firms prejudiced their lives, health and properties because of the pollution of coastal waters, rivers, and creeks. "As established, respondent mining companies deliberately failed to provide sedimentation or siltation dams or barriers to prevent the erosion or siltation of the coastal waters, rivers and creeks. They even utilized these bodies of water either as extended area of mining operations or as area where stock piles of nickel and other minerals are placed," they said. The locals added that their communities' exposure to nickel caused health problems like difficulty in breathing, skin rashes, vomiting, and irregular bowel movement. — Sophia Dedace/KBK, GMA News