2 Mindanao provinces swamped with gold rush migrants seeking fortune

A new wave of fortune seekers is swamping areas in two Mindanao provinces believed to be rich in gold deposits and has triggered what officials said was a new gold rush that brought with it a host of problems like killings over conflicting small-scale mining claims.

In Zamboanga del Sur, the mayor of Bayog town said more and more people are descending on his town in search of gold in a frenzy that he said was reminiscent of the gold rush in Mt. Diwalwal in the 1980s.

"People are arriving," said Mayor Leonardo Babasa Jr. "It's bustling, like Diwalwal."

Babasa said it was easy to understand the gold rush. Prices of gold could reach ₱2,100 per gram, he said.

The mayor, however, said the gold rush was giving local officials problems that weren't there before.

"There is an increased report of deaths, either by fighting over an area where to dig or people simply dying due to disasters while digging," Babasa said.

In Compostela Valley, local officials and miners said they believed that the magnet for the influx of fortune seekers are mainly reports of newly discovered gold veins in the mountain of Diwalwal more than reports of rising prices of gold in the world market.

Arturo Uy, Compostela Valley governor, said more small- and large-scale miners are flocking to the province's 11 towns because of reports of better prospects of finding gold.

"The discovery of supposed rich deposits is the main driving force," Uy said in a recent interview.

He said, however, that his province benefited from the spike in gold prices. Gold is bought in Tagum City for ₱1,900 to ₱2,000 per gram.

Eric Luzon, a miner in the gold-rich village of Pamintaran in Maragusan town, said at least 3,000 people have flocked to the village and started digging for gold since June.

"Some portions have good deposits but you have to dig deeper," said Luzon. Many miners, he said, get financing from businessmen in Tagum to sustain their operations.

"What we're after is rich, shallow gold deposits," he said.

Uy said to prevent a repeat of deadly conflicts in previous gold rush episodes, the province has been regulating the operations of both small- and large-scale mining in nine towns.

Mayors, he said, constantly monitor gold rush sites to enforce ordinances on safe mining practices.

In Compostela town, new gold prospects in the community of Bango in Ngan village drew hundreds of people to the area. Workers in banana plantations and other "nonminers" have joined the frenzy, said Mayor Jessie Bolo.

"We really cannot control these people," said Bolo. All that town officials could do, he said, was to enforce rules to reduce mine wastes and prevent pollution. Mining in his town, he said, had been an on-off thing since gold was discovered there in the early 1980s.

In the capital town of Nabunturan, officials are trying to prevent small-scale miners encroaching into the Mainit National Park, which is now threatened by pollution from mine tailings.

A gold rush area in the village of Mainit has been shut down due to complaints from residents and environment officials, said a staffer at the office of Mayor Romeo Clarin. "But they keep coming back," said the staffer, who asked not to be identified.

Governor Uy said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources was "amenable" to a proposal to delineate portions of the national park as mining areas. "We've learned harsh lessons," said Uy

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Not contented in Spratlys; China now Claim Palawan islands

During the APEC summit 2011 in Hawaii; China protest the Philippines to use its resources and explore the oils in Palawan and pronounced its claim to the Palawan Islands.

China has claimed new territory less than 50 miles (80 kilometers) from a Philippine province, boosting tensions over potentially resource-rich areas of the South China Sea, but the Philippines has dismissed the claim, an official said Monday.

Energy Undersecretary Jose Layug Jr. told The Associated Press that China protested a Philippine plan to explore for oil and gas in the area in July. It is the closest point in waters off the main Philippine islands that China has claimed in the increasingly tense territorial disputes.

Beijing has been asserting its territorial claims more aggressively as its economic and diplomatic muscle has grown. Its new claims are likely to bolster Philippine resolve to seek a U.N. ruling on the long-simmering disputes, which involve China, the Philippines and four other claimants.

Among the areas being contested is the Spratlys, a chain of up to 190 islands, reefs, coral outcrops and banks believed to be sitting atop large deposits of oil and natural gas, which many fear could be Asia's next flash point for conflict.

The issue is expected to be discussed Wednesday with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The two new areas being claimed by China are not part of the Spratlys, Layug said.

The Chinese Embassy delivered a protest to the Philippine government on July 4 after Manila invited foreign companies to bid for the right to explore for oil and gas in 15 areas. Chinese officials opposed the inclusion of "areas 3 and 4" northwest of Palawan province, claiming they fall under Chinese sovereign territory.

"The Chinese government urges the Philippine side to immediately withdraw the bidding offer in areas 3 and 4, refrain from any action that infringes on China's sovereignty and sovereign rights," China said in a diplomatic note to Manila, adding that the Philippine action "cannot but complicate the disputes and affect stability in the South China Sea."

China told the Philippine government that the planned oil explorations violated a nonbinding 2002 accord that called on claimants to South China Sea territories to stop occupying new areas and avoid action that could spark tension.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a regular briefing: "We do not want foreign commerce involved in these kinds of investment and disputes over the South China Sea."

Palawan province, about 510 miles (820 kilometers) southwest of Manila, faces the South China Sea, which is claimed entirely by China.

One of the offshore areas now being claimed by Beijing lies just 49 miles (79 kilometers) northwest of Palawan, while the other is 76 miles (123 kilometers) from the western Philippine province, Layug said.

The Philippine government told China the areas are located well within Philippine waters and are far from any disputed area, officials said.

"The areas that we're offering for bidding are all within Philippine territory," Layug said. "There is no doubt about that."

The two areas are more than 500 miles (800 kilometers) from the nearest Chinese coast, Layug said.

About 50 foreign investors, including some of the world's largest oil companies, have expressed interest in exploring for oil and gas in the Philippines, half of them in the new areas being claimed by China, because of strong indications of oil there, he said.

None of the prospective foreign companies has expressed concern over the territorial disputes, Layug said.

"Of course their issue would be ensuring security and the support of the Philippine government when they are awarded the contract," he said.

In March, two Chinese vessels tried to drive away a Philippine oil exploration ship from Reed Bank, another area west of Palawan. Two Philippine air force planes were deployed, but the Chinese vessels had disappeared by the time they reached the submerged bank.

The Philippines protested the incident, which it said was one of several intrusions by China into its territorial waters in the first half of the year. Vietnam has also accused Chinese vessels of trying to sabotage oil exploration in its territorial waters this year, sparking rare anti-China protests in Vietnam.

A British company behind the exploration at Reed Bank found very strong indications of natural gas and plans to start drilling in about six months, Layug said.

President Benigno Aquino III plans to discuss a Philippine proposal at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit this week in Bali, Indonesia, to segregate disputed South China Sea areas so coastal states can freely make use of non-disputed areas. China has opposed the plan.

Aquino's government also plans to bring the territorial disputes before the United Nations for possible arbitration.

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