Case Study of Coal Mining on Semirara Island The Island of

Case Study of Coal Mining on Semirara Island
Source: Google Earth, 2010
The Island of Semirara, Antique
Semirara Island is found in Caluya Municipality, Antique. Caluya is an island
municipality that lies between the islands of Mindoro and Panay, about 4-5 hours by ferry
from both of them. “The furthest and last town of the province” (Municipal Development
Plan), Caluya is not well known outside the area despite having a sizable population of
more than 30 000 (NSO 2011). The most likely reason people know of Caluya is because
the island of Semirara is home to one of the largest coal mines in South East Asia run by
Semirara Mining Corporation majority owned by David Consunji's DCMI group of
companies.
For others, Caluya municipality is well known as one of the key commercial seaweed
producing areas in the country. This organic aquaculture was started by local
entrepreneurs in the 1980s and has transformed the lives of people here from precarious
subsistence living to being proud small business owners with steady sources of income.
Food security has increased, coral areas are now being protected from illegal fishing
practices, opportunities for education and commodity ownership has increased and small
businesses thrive on revenue generated by seaweed farming.
Seaweed farming is by far the largest source of employment in the municipality with at
least 30% of all adults engaged in full time planting and a much higher percentage of the
population deriving income from seaweed either through part time farming, labour on
farms, or other businesses that are connected to the industry. The average family farm
income is higher than the regional average. Conservative estimates show that at least 400
million Php is brought into the municipal economy each year by the seaweed industry.
The farming is sustainable and compatible with maintaining the area's rich biodiversity in
corals, mangroves, fish, and forests.
This also used to be true of the 5 188 hectare Semirara Island before the mine ramped up
its operations and became the largest employer on that particular island slowly displacing
most seaweed farmers. The open pit coal mine has reshaped large parts of the island
erasing hills, filling land as far as 2km into the ocean, and removing vast tracts of
mangroves and coral areas.
Many people on Semirara still make their living from fishing, land farming, and seaweed
farming, however they are under constant threat of displacement by the mining company
and their resource base has shrunk over the years through pollution and privatization of
much of the island.
Aerial view of Panian pit on Northern Semirara Island, a once
lush landscape scrapped of all life. Source: NASA 2010
History of mining in Semirara
On July 11, 1977, the then Energy Development Board, now the Department of Energy,
awarded a 25 year Coal Operating Contract (COC) to a consortium of three private
companies, incorporated as Semirara Coal Corporation. The COC was amended in 1983,
allowing them to have an exclusive right to conduct exploration, development and coal
mining on Semirara Island until 2012.
Their first project was in Unong pit, which operated for 17 years and is now an
abandoned tailing area. The company then opened the much larger Panian pit in 1999 on
the northern portion of the island and continues to expand this open pit and surrounding
company areas. In 2004, the company, now called, Semirara Mining Corporation (SMC)
started exploration in the Himalian area, estimated to hold another 120 million tonnes of
coal.
SEMIRARA ISLAND. Semirara Mining Corporation has the 'exclusive' right to mine Semirara Island in Antique.
Source: DMCI website.
DMCI, David Consunji's group of companies, acquired shares in SMC increasing their
holdings to 74% of shares in 1983 and today DMCI owns 94.5% of Semirara Mining
Corporations shares.
David Consunji was listed in a recent issue of Forbes Richest Filipinos at number 5 with
a net worth of $2.7 billion. DMCI Holdings Inc. is the holding firms of all the other
business interests mostly owned and manage by his 8 children. The bulk of revenues of
DMCI’s mining firm come from the production of coal in Semirara and coal handling
services at the Calaca plants, a coal-fired power plant owned and operated by SEMCalaca Power Corp. a corporation also owned by the Consunjis.1
It is not hard to understand how the Consunjis have earned so much profit from their coal
mining when, by virtue of Presidential Decree 976, a whopping 70% of all operating
expenses are reimbursed to the company by the Philippines government and the company
is exempt from all taxes except income tax. What company would not make enormous
profit with such generous government subsidies?
Impacts of mining in Semirara
For 36 years, Semirara Mining Corp., the country’s biggest coal producer, has been
mining on .Semirara Island not only extracting raw coal, but also using the islands limited
1http://www.rappler.com/business/21968-one-of-ph-s-richest-own-semirara
fresh water supply, as well as mining limestone and clay and slowly privatizing more and
more of the island as part of the 'company town'. While, the company has arguably
brought jobs to the area (while displacing others) and increased the municipality's
revenue, the environmental and social impacts have been grave and it is not clear that, as
the company argues, the benefits have outweighed the costs for people in Caluya.
Report on the Environmental Mission to the Ecological Destruction in Semirara Island,
Caluya, Antique April 15-17, 2009
Environmental impacts include:
Ó massive areas entirely cleared of life;
Ó many hectares of mangroves lost through clearing, land reclamation, dumping of
infill, and siltation due to run off;
Ó build up of toxic contaminants in surrounding waters;
Ó increased particulate matter in the waters and air from 24 hour production;
Ó loss of coral areas due to dumping of in fill in the ocean, and pollution
Semirara has exceptionally high mangrove biodiversity, host to 28 of the 35 known
species of mangroves in the Philippines (Sansait 2010 and forthcoming 2013 survey
data). In 2009, a team of scientists from University of the Philippines, PDI, GMA
Ratsada, Bombo Radyo, The Antique Outdoors (TAO) and Green Forum conducted a
rapid assessment of contaminants and siltation being reported by residents from the coal
washing plant releasing used water directly into the mouth of their stream, the mangrove
areas, and the ocean. This assessment found
Measurement conducted at the mouth of the creek shows a moderate toxicity range. This
mercury level at Suia Creek was alarming because it can accumulate and magnified when
ingested by basic form of animals and plants up to the food-chain eventually reaching the
people
themselves.
Surveys conducted on mangrove trees near the coal washing facility showed
underdeveloped trees, with abnormal leaves and the presence of 'mutant' albino
mangroves brought about by long term contamination. The mangrove areas lost due to
construction of the private airstrip and other company operations is currently being
calculated. There are also areas of the coast that are fenced and guarded by the company,
no longer accessible to people for resource collection.
Seaweed aquaculture is extremely sensitive to pollution and, especially since 1996 when
exploitation on the island ramped up many seaweed farmers were forced to move off the
island to continue planting as their seaweed was smothered with black coal particulate.
Others were forced to relocate due to the privatization of the coast (Arnold 2008).
Impacts from the mining operations on the island are not only environmental. The island
is essentially owned by the company who control large areas of land and often restricts
movements of residents around and on and off the island. They also control much of the
water system on the island; run the only hospital in the municipality accessible only to
employees, and control the power system on the island. A company controlled 'protected
area' has been established near the abandoned coal pit and is patrolled by armed guards
cutting off people's access to fishing and other marine resources in the area.
Land grabbing concerns include coerced displacement of whole barrios to make way for
company activity; falsified land surveys and assessments; and encroachments (work now,
ask later).
While the company claims to have created many jobs for locals the contracts for local
workers are typically temporary contracts renewed every 6 months with no benefits or
job security even after years of work for the company. There is no union at the mine.
Non-residents are often brought in for more skilled jobs and work security is linked to
voting for 'mine-friendly' candidates in elections.
Unsafe working conditions are also commonly reported by workers. In February of 2013,
a landslide in the Panian pit claimed the lives of 10 miners, 7 of whose bodies have yet to
be recovered.
Residents and supporting national organizations are currently documenting the above
impacts and reported resident concerns.
SMC: The heart of the Philippines Coal Industry
DMCI as the mother company of SMC is the most aggressive and the major player in the
Philippine coal industry. According to 2009 DOE data Semirara has the largest coal
resource potential in the country amounting to 570.00 MT and an in-situ reserve of
141.78 MT. In 2009 it was the largest coal producer in the country with an annual coal
production of 4,846,866.00 MT equivalent 93.64 % of the country's annual production.
Data also shows that Semirara Mining Corporation contributed 50% of the Philippines'
2009 total coal exports.
Philippine Coal Policy by Dir. Alicia N. Reyes APEC Clean Fossil Energy and Policy Seminar,
Fukuoka, Japan Oct. 27-29, 2010
Philippine Coal Policy by Dir. Alicia N. Reyes APEC Clean Fossil Energy and Policy Seminar,
Fukuoka, Japan Oct. 27-29, 2010
At present DMCI is on the point of controlling even more of the industry, aside from the
Calaca coal-fired power plant in Batangas which they own, several projects are in the
pipeline or either proposed: a15 megawatt coal-fired power plant in Brgy.Panacan,
Palawan; a 20 megawatt coal-fired power plant in Catanduanes, Bicol; a recently
awarded permit for coal mining in a 7,000 hectares land in Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro.
DMCI as the mother company of SMC is one of the most aggressive and major player in
the whole Philippine coal industry. They will be counting on continued expansion of their
mining in Caluya to supply their proposed new power plants.
The remoteness of Caluya municipality has allowed SMC to operate with impunity and
little outside scrutiny for decades. Despite mounting opposition to the large scale
environmental impacts and ongoing allegations of unsafe working conditions and land
grabbing, they have yet to be thoroughly investigated by independent teams.
In fact, the DOE has recently extended their contract. Without any consultation with
people in the municipality, the DOE and the local government allowed their Coal
Operating Contract to be extended until 2027. Not only that, but they have been granted
permission to expand their operations to two of the other islands in the municipality –
Caluya Island and Sibay Island. The company has been granted exploration rights to
3,095 and 4,096 hectares respectively on each island most residents did not even learn of
this until two years later.
The community is now organizing to oppose further destruction of their rich biodiversity
and their sustainable livelihood of seaweed farming that relies on it. The Caluya
Declaration was drafted at the 1st Annual Caluya Seaweed Farmers' Conference in 2012
and signed onto by over 250 local seaweed farmers, 6 national organizations, and the
Catholic Dioceses of Antique.
The Caluya Declaration calls for no expansion of mining in the municipality and an
eventual end to all coal mining as sustainable livelihood options are developed by the
municipality through transparent planning with the people.
Isalba ang Caluya (ISACA), Imba Fishers and Seaweed Planters Association (IFSA) and
Sabang-Poocan Fisher and Farmers Association (SAPOFFA) are already active in their
campaigns to stop all forms of mining not only in Semirara but in the whole of Caluya.
They are now calling for national and international support for their struggle against this
powerful company.