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| The red mountain of Surigao |
On my first year of assignment in
Mindanao, I was given a task to have a business meeting with the Philippine Port
Authority (PPA) in Surigao City. That was the first time I landed at the
gateway of Mindanao to the islands of Visayas . The provinces of Surigao del
Sur and Surigao del Norte are among the places in the Philippines with dense
forest cover on which underneath is a huge volume of nickel rich soil deposit suitable
for mining. The mining industry in Surigao have been around for more than three
decades now and with the passage of Philippine Mining Act of 1995, more geological explorations were jointly pushed by foreign corporations and the Philippine
government for the sake of “boosting” the economy.
The Red Broken Road
On my way back to Tandag City, I
decided to use the Surigao-Noventa-Tandag route, shorter in distance but risky at night and rainy season due to unstable slopes and unpaved slippery roads.
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| Noventa, the connecting road of Surigao del Norte and Sur |
Traveling not too far from the
city, I could already see the dust-filled air caused by the on-going large
scale mining activities in the mountains of Surigao. Along the road, the air
was unbearable and the general ambiance was filled with reddish soil
particulates covering almost everything from houses, roads, bridges to rivers
and even the clothes worn by the residents.
Noventa road starts at Km.90
connecting Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur. The road was built mainly
serving the 7 large scale mining operations dwelling in the red mountain of Surigao.
The location of the mountain ridge is home to numerous pygmy trees and bushes
that normally grow in steep and elevated environment.
Knowing the presence of mining
operations in the area, I wasn’t expecting to see anything special other than
dusts, dusts and more dusts. But my peaceful battle with dusts suddenly
shifted with worries and a bit of anger seeing the mine workers clearing the
vegetation along the road that is home to nepenthes or pitcher plants, a carnivorous plant that feed on small animals.
My Precious!
My Precious!
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| N. merrilliana, recovered from the road of Noventa |
At first
I thought it was just a regular common pitcher plant but when I got closer with
the pitcher I noticed that it was huge as my head and not the common species I saw
in my previous travels. I asked our driver to pull over on a wider road
shoulder to look and investigate. The clearing was in connection with the
expansion and widening of the road.
According to the workers they have to clear the vegetation to give way for the heavy machinery to collect the excess rocks and soil. I felt powerless for the very first time seeing this wonderful species of plant being discarded from its natural habitat to give way for the hauling trucks of mining companies.
According to the workers they have to clear the vegetation to give way for the heavy machinery to collect the excess rocks and soil. I felt powerless for the very first time seeing this wonderful species of plant being discarded from its natural habitat to give way for the hauling trucks of mining companies.
I was in great dismay that pieces
by pieces I picked up samples of the unfortunate individuals for identification
purposes. My colleagues were looking at me like a crazy person grieving on
cleared vegetation.
Are You Kidding Me?
Are You Kidding Me?
This finding put me on a restless
night wondering what will happen to the rest of its population if the widening
of the road continues. It would be another disaster in the field of
biodiversity if this species of plant will be wiped out entirely and would only
be available on pictures and books to be enjoyed by the next generation.
We have to be
reminded that we enjoy and benefit from the by-products of nature because of
the intricate web interactions among its components. Each part makes up the
whole and the whole is nothing without its parts.
Gallery:
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| Beautiful bushes grow along the road of noventa |
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| Transporation mined nickel at the port |
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| Barges collecting the soil from hauling trucks |
I just hope concerned authorities will read these. Thanks for this!
ReplyDeleteThis is really heartbreaking. I cant stop sighing. :( -Kai Zuleta
ReplyDeleteomigosh :( sharing ha!
ReplyDeletepoor pitcher plant..
ReplyDelete:(
ReplyDeleteThere's money in mining, no doubt. But it's always mother nature that sacrifices. ASIN (the 80's band) is correct with their song "Kapaligiran" (if I'm not mistaken).
ReplyDeleteI just hope that the new mining policy will have minimum impact on the environment.
heart-breaking. same feeling when i passed by this route. sayang yung pitcher plants. grabe talaga yang taganito mining na yan
ReplyDeleteYes to NO TO MINING in any part of the country, ang ganda ng Pinas para sirain!
ReplyDeleteit's all business and politics kasi ... if they could only impose zoning of the country's resource for which is which , mas maayos sana tau ang bansa and we are moving forward... takot kasi mawalan ng mga botante!
ReplyDeletei think ang sagot jan ay proper zoning of country's top resources.... ayaw ng mga pulitiko kasi mawawalan ng mga botante..
ReplyDeletesobrang dami ng mining company and operations ang naapprove jan , given with the current hold order because of EO 23 , nakapag apply pa rin sila ... gobyerno talaga !
ReplyDeleteThis is really sad. It's hard to fight bad mining when the one's funding them are the same politicians we have in office and those who owns big corporations and owns our cellular systems.
ReplyDeleteOuch!..... Heartbreaking tlaga to Dens... :(( @sicath
ReplyDeletewow. This is really interesting. My first time to about that pitcher plant. I did love the view of the Red Mountain but this species..hope it won't be affected with those constructions going on... Lucky you having the chance to see and hold on to one of the very rare species... :D
ReplyDeleteKawawa naman yung pitcher plants. :(
ReplyDeletethat was the evil of mining
ReplyDeleteI grieve with you. Oh how can they be so cruel and I don't mean just the pitcher plants. The place looks absolutely devastated :(
ReplyDeleteGood blog. This is a call to all that if we lost everything now what will happen to the next generation.
ReplyDeleteI'm really against to mining! Look at these mountains and seas, they're beautiful but mining is just ruining them. How in the world could stop them?
ReplyDeleteYears ago, we were almost closed a contract in Surigao it was a nickel-ore project. God didn't give us the project because He doesn't want us to become one of those people harassing the environment. I hope these people would realize that they are destroying the future of young generation by destroying the environment.
ReplyDeleteI hope they can preserve pa some pitcher plants. :I
ReplyDeletewhoah!! i never imagined to have a place like that here in Phil!! im hoping to see this in person someday.
ReplyDeletewow amazing pitcher plant so huge. love this place and wish to see it someday.
ReplyDeleteAgree with you there brother, ron.
ReplyDeleteI seriously hope that the mining facilities there don't do too much damage to the area, especially in the waters. It would be a waste. As for the pitcher plant, I wonder if it would grow here in Manila? That's going to be one nifty plant to have in the kitchen. A natural way to deal with pests at home. :)
ReplyDeletei was scared a bit the first time i saw the pic wondering what it is...hehe but id does resemble the largest flower in world.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots, Interesting huge pitcher.
ReplyDeleteThis story is so sad but one that must be told and shared until government officials and the community take better care of the environment. We are losing biodiversity grrrr.
ReplyDeleteI'm from Surigao del Sur and its sad to see this happening in our place after the mining Surigao will never be the same again....
ReplyDeleteThis is very sad po... maybe when you're in the area again you can ask the workers which vegetation they are going to clear next so you can check out if there are exotic flora and if there are, maybe you can relocate them to safer spots po...
ReplyDeleteIt's a huge task for an individual , and I am very far from the place. . monitoring should be done by the local government and the DENR and also the companies themselves... that is the UGLY truth !
ReplyDeleteI just found another blog entry about this place: http://journeyingjames.com/2012/08/surigao-nature-fuck-the-most-depressing-road-trip-ever thanks to jouneyingjames
ReplyDeleteI found the one comment supporting the destruction funny: "those mountains aint worth shit and no plants or trees of any value will grow on those because of its high mineral content... you should have taken a longer road trip to meet those indigenous people the mamanua tribe riding on D-MAX and HILUX trucks going to the city to eat in jollibee – proceeds of their royalty shares from mining."
-- What about the ridiculous 2% tax collections and the miners on the ground on permanent contractual status with no benefits? Luxury SUVs and eating in Jollibee a sign of progress? Really? I ROFLMAO