RSSCALAPAN CITY, Philippines (UCAN) — Tensions are running high in the southern town of Victoria after the murder of a local official and anti-mining activist.
Relatives and friends of Ricardo Ganad, 56, who was gunned down by two assassins on a motorcycle, say they believe politics and mining were behind his death.
The mining company Intex Resources, however, scorns that suggestion and slammed accusations, saying local government and Church leaders “ought to show sobriety, statesmanship and Christian even-handedness in times like this.”
Ganad was chairman of the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) in Victoria and a founding member of Alliance against Mining (ALAMIN), which has several church people as members.
The group supported Ganad when he ran for president of ABC.
“The situation is very tense,” Father Edwin Gariguez of Calapan reported on his visit to Victoria, in Oriental Mindoro.
“Ganad is an ally and supporter of Mayor Alfredo Ortega, Jr. of Victoria who is a staunch opponent of the Mindoro Nickel Project of Intex Resources Philippines,” the priest said.
Ganad was reportedly shot by two men wearing helmets on Feb. 10.
The 11,200 hectare Mindoro Nickel Project is Norwegian-based Intex Resources’ main asset.
Three Victoria municipal counselors told Father Gariguez “that they are not discounting the angle that the killing might have been related to the mining issue.”
Late last year, ALAMIN launched a hunger strike outside the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) building near Manila. That ended on Nov. 18 when the DENR suspended a certificate of environmental compliance it had issued to Intex.
Father Gariguez told UCA News as ABC chair, Ganad has a seat in town council.
Mindoro Oriental province passed an ordinance in 2002 banning large-scale mining for 25 years. The priest said Ortega’s political rival favors mining.
“The murder of Ganad certainly intimidated the people in Victoria who are opposing the mining project of Intex,” Father Gariguez said.
Others are not convinced that the mining issue was behind Ganad’s death.
Provincial police chief Sonny Ricablanca said the killers’ motive could be an old grudge or politics.
Intex denies any knowledge of the murder which they described as a “senseless killing.”
Company spokesperson Robert Malabanan criticized “baseless and unfounded innuendoes by environmental advocates that Ganad’s killing may have stemmed from his anti-mining stance.”
He appealed to environmental advocates to refrain from issuing statements that are “unnecessary inflaming emotions” of Mindoro people.
Malabanan said Ganad was a political leader whose advocacy extended beyond mining. “It is prudent that investigators are given a free hand investigatng all angles.”
Malabanan told UCA News Intex conducts “continuing dialogue with all stakeholders, with the intent of converting them to become supporters.”
Intex also engages with Church leaders, Malabanan said. The Church was a “formidable opponent.”
Malabanan said Intex Philippines plans to write to DENR tomorrow [Feb. 16], the end of the 90-days suspension, so its certificate of compliance can be reinstated.
Intex hopes to resume feasibility studies and meet its target construction of facilities by 2011 and mine operation by 2015.
PR08835.1589 February 15, 2010 57 EM-lines (499 words)
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