Anti-mining group Defend Patrimony-Negros said in a press statement that about 200 farmers from the upland barangays of Sipalay City will troop to their Sangguniang Panglungsod today with a petition to reject the mining operation of Colet Mines in Brgy. Manlucahoc.

Colet Mining Development Corp., presently engaged in confirmatory drilling in Sipalay, Hinobaan and Candoni, was granted with Mineral Production Sharing Agreement by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau 6, covering a total mining area of 2,965.100 hectares for copper, gold and molybdenum.

The protesting farmers belong to the Sipalay City Small Farmers Federation for Environmental Protection, and together with Defend Patrimony-Southern Negros, are expressing fears that the mining operation will lead to the loss of their livelihood and will adversely affect the environment.

Farmer-leader Emerson Antipaso said they will ask Sipalay SP and Mayor Oscar Montilla Jr. to hear their side, particularly the basis of their strongest opposition against mining operations, the press statement said.

Defend Patrimony claimed that more than 100 hectares of prime production area of rice of Sipalay City will be transformed into a mines tailings dump once Colet Mining starts its operations.

The group said that the mining operations will also destroy the Caiwanan and Binocawan creeks which are tributaries of Sipalay River. They cited results of the test conducted during an Environmental Investigative Mission in May 2006, revealing high acidity pH of 3.2 in Mantuboy and Caiwanan Creek, which indicates that the company does not put in place environmental protection even at the stage of its confirmatory drilling activity.

"The city officials should not be blinded by the promises of tax and income by the mines. They should look after the impact of the mines to the people," Antipaso said in the statement.*

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