(Google photo of Sta. Cruz, Marinduque by Gobred)The disposal of mine waste on Calancan Bay in Santa Cruz has been the subject of endless controversies that began when Marcopper Mining Corporation constucted more than 10 kilometers of an overhead system of pipes and tunnels from the minesite to the bay. Cries of protest at once followed but these were merely drowned out by the louder crash of ground rock and tailing slime discharged into the waters far into the night.
Local politicians, pressed for help by fisherfolks from the affected areas of Botilao, Ipil and Kalangkang - pleadings that spanned more than a decade - were just as helpless to lift a finger. Government leaders were largely perceived to directly benefit with the copper mines' unhampered operation. They had own personal, political and/or business interests to protect first and foremost. No different from most local politicians anywhere else in the Philippines, really.
At any rate, the existing political climate did not offer any possibility for grievances or demands to be rightfully addressed. It was 1975 of the Martial Law years. The issue soon deteriorated into an open emotional struglle between the local church and politicians concerned. Only the church as the last refuge could lend a sympathetic ear to the grievances of some 2,000 fisherfolks and families affected. The glaring evidence of pollution grew by the day and the poor suffered much for loss of their income and main food source.
In 1991, when there was more leeway for democratic initiatives to be pursued, the national government belatedly responded more decisively because of increased media pressure. The mining company was finally ordered to cease pumping the discharge on Calancan.
By this time, 22 years after the first crash of crushed ore in Tapian, over a hundred million tons of toxic waste had created an incredible island of deceivingly and from a distance, seemingly sparkling white sand stretching more than seven kilometers from the shore with an estimated area of 80 hectares. It was to change the whole Calancan seascape and Marinduque map forever.
During all those hot and dry months, it was commonplace to see thick and blurry dust from the tailings being blown by the wind in all directions, making visibility hard and breathing difficult for the people living nearby. Children suffered the most from the unavoidable chokes and resulting allergies brought by dust in their lungs and nostrils. During such occurences, most families had no choice but to temporarily move to safer grounds, returning home only when the winds had subsided or when breathing was more bearable.
This phenomenon was apparently not anticipated by anyone. Neither were the long-term effects on health, especially of the poor, impoverished children ever reckoned with at any time.
But the mines obviously contributed to the town's prosperity. A major portion of its reported '1,500 employees' are purportedly natives of the island. There was need for leisure. Honky-tonk bars soon sprouted along the beaten path of the once-quiet village of Balogo.
(Marcopper old photo)Capital flowed, encouraging more commerce and creating more business opportunities, including, and without let up, logging for timber. This would soon contribute to the much faster degradation of secondary forests and already denuded Santa Cruz mountains, not only in the vast expanse of the Tapian minesite covering 350 hectares of land, but also in the watershed areas of Tambangan, Masalukot, Devilla, Makulapnit and Dolores.
The rate of change occured so fast in such a short period that soon, unusual flooding in the low-lying areas of Tawiran, Malabon and Matuyatuya would provide perennial nightmares to farm residents. This would be further worsened by the heavy siltation of the Tawiran River estuaries.
Santa Cruz is famous for the wide variety of fishes and seafoods that abound in the waters of Mongpong Pass. That, too, had to be impacted by the magnitude and rate of change. Destruction of coral reefs, seagrass beds and breeding grounds on Calancan Bay and nearby areas became a conclusion foregone.
While the inevitable destruction of mangrove forests could not be blamed on the mining activities alone, for these trees were used for making charcoal and other uses by the local residents, many species of fish had been wiped out over the years as fishermen acknowledge.
In 1988, Marcopper complied with a presidential directive to undertake "the building of artificial reefs and plating of seagrass, mangroves and vegetation on the causeway of Calancan Bay". The company undertook, and quite impressively it seemed, the transplanting of thousands of various mangrove species, grasses and beach plants along the coastal lands at Calancan.
A few kilometers east of Calancan is the island of Polo, some 730 hectares in size. One third of the island is composed of mangrove forests. Not only due to the pressure from people living on the island and the illegal fishing methods used (islanders point to outsiders as culprits), but also due to dumping from sea vessels plying the port of Buyabod, the area had been rendered highly vulnerable to pollution. The condition of the island's coastal and marine resources had reacheda critical level as DENR studies would show.
