MINING IN THE CARAGA REGION, PHILIPPINES: INSIDERS’ PERSPECTIVES ON
EMERGENT SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
By

Sarah Herbst

A THESIS
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTERS OF SCIENCE

Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies
2011

ABSTRACT
MINING IN THE CARAGA REGION, PHILIPPINES: INSIDERS’ PERSPECTIVES ON
EMERGENT SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
By
Sarah Herbst
The Philippines, particularly the Taguibo River Watershed Forest Reserve (TRWFR) is home to
some of the world’s most abundant mineral ore deposits. Harnessing those nested natural
resources for a developmental purpose is a complex task; posing potential positive or negative
environmental and social impacts. The Philippine national government has adopted several forms
of decentralization with the aim to give more discretionary power to the local government units
who are believed to hold the greatest capacity to be able to efficiently mobilize local natural
resources for broad-based socio-economic development.

Region XIII is home to the Taguibo watershed, and also to local government units and line
agencies which lack extensive horizontal coordination or integration. This can prevent synergies
between mining, livelihoods and sustainable development efforts from occurring.

Four main institutional arrangements help to conceptualize the drivers of the asymmetric conflict
found in the TRWFR: resource tenure and property rights; decentralization of resource
management; captured power, and political rivalry; and fragmentation of authority. Regardless
of the fact that there are extensive environmental and human risk management laws the local
resource base results in a curse rather than a blessing.

Campaign support has more clout in

the Caraga Region than legal permit; therefore, what is illegal is made legal in the Caraga
Region.

ACKNOWLDGEMENT
I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Laura Schmitt-Olabisi, for trusting me as a researcher. I
was blessed enough to have your wise guidance while thousands of miles away from my native
culture. Your dedication to support me through this iterative research process, your critical eye
and ability to spend countless hours throughout the past months has made this research possible.
In addition to your academic guidance, the financial and personal assistance you provided me
with were critical elements in the success of this research process, and for that I’m truly grateful.
Likewise, I owe my deepest gratitude to the loving and extremely hospitable Filipino family that
warmly opened their home and hearts to a foreign studying scientist. I am grateful for the entire
TY family, but I am especially indebted to Atty. Josefe C. Sorrera-TY who was instrumental in
my introduction to the Taguibo Watershed Forest Reserve (TRWFR). Without Atty. Josefe C.
Sorrera-TY there would be little depth and breadth to my research. Her passion for change
enabled me to be aggressive in tackling an extensive and diverse listing of interviewees.
I owe my deepest gratitude to all my interviewees; without their openness and kind generosity to
share their time and knowledge I would not have been able to make this project worthwhile. To
the Father Saturnino Urios University (FSUU) faculty, staff and students; without your warm
smiles and kind greetings all of those countless hours transcribing in the Law Library would
have felt like an eternity.
Then there is my thesis support group (you know who you are) that I must pay amends to; it has
been magical and unforgettable. Special thanks must be given to two particular faculty members
of Community Agriculture Resource Recreation (CARRS) Department here at Michigan State
University (MSU); Dr. John Kerr and Dr. Rene Rosenbaum. Without either of their immense
iii

critical thinking support, I am sure this thesis would have not turned out as such a success!
John’s courses and guiding words further developed my intellectual capacity to be able to tackle
such a complex and dynamic natural resource-based topic. In addition, Rene greatly helped me to
take a step back and really think about what was structurally going on in the nested communities
found in the Caraga Region. He would spare some of his precious time to discuss large topics
such as community-based economic development and sustainability which greatly helped me to
frame my research project. However, without the patience and flexibility provided by the
remaining two committee members I would not have been able to graduate on time! Thank you
Dr. Aaron McCright and Dr. Peter Kakela for all of your time, help and understanding.
Finally, I need to emphasize that I would not be here--physically, mentally or even spiritually-without the unconditional support from my family.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ vii
LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... viii
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Justification for the Study ........................................................................................................... 4
Resource Curse-Unsatisfactory Outcomes .................................................................................. 7
Approach 1-basic macroeconomic perspective ....................................................................... 7
Approach 2- Rent-seeking Perspective.................................................................................... 8
Approach 3- Corporate responsibility Perspective .................................................................. 9
Decentralization Objectives ...................................................................................................... 11
Role of decentralization in development ............................................................................... 12
Decentralization of mineral governance in Philippines ......................................................... 15
Purpose of Research .................................................................................................................. 18
Emergent Research Questions................................................................................................... 22
Context of the Natural Resource Extraction Industry in Caraga Region, Northeast Mindanao
............................................................................................................................................... 22
History of Mining Rights for the Extraction of Mn Ore at the Taguibo Watershed ............. 27
Research Process and Methods ..................................................................................................... 30
General Overview ..................................................................................................................... 30
Procedure ................................................................................................................................... 33
Subject Population..................................................................................................................... 35
Figure 1 Hierarchy of Government Agencies involved in this inquiry ................................. 36
Table 1 Population of the Philippines and Caraga, CYs 1995 and 2000............................... 37
Table 2 Ranking of Regions in Per Capita Gross Regional Domestic Product, Mindanao
Regions, CYs 2002-2003 ....................................................................................................... 38
Data Collection .......................................................................................................................... 39
Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 40
Table 3 Sample of Codes ....................................................................................................... 42
Results ........................................................................................................................................... 43
Mining and Sustainability Challenges in Region XIII Caraga .................................................. 43
Macro-overview..................................................................................................................... 43
Mining, Water and Livelihoods ................................................................................................ 47
Weak Local Government Units ................................................................................................. 50
Table 4 Tenure Systems within the Biophysical boundaries of the Taguibo Watershed ...... 53
Taguibo River Concerns ........................................................................................................ 57
Mining and Conflict .................................................................................................................. 62
Lack of Effective Institutional Arrangements ....................................................................... 62
Weak Local Governance ........................................................................................................... 67
Figure 2 Composition of the Stakeholders involved in the Provincial Multi-Sectoral
Investigation Team (PMSIT) ................................................................................................. 80
v

Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 81
In summary................................................................................................................................ 81
Solutions .................................................................................................................................... 85
Limitations ................................................................................................................................ 92
Future Research ......................................................................................................................... 94
APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................. 95
Appendix I. Summary of Data Collection .................................................................................... 96
Appendix II. Emergent Theme, Code and Sub-Code definitions; Rules and Examples when
applied ........................................................................................................................................... 96
Appendix III. Conceptual Framework, conceptualizing the drivers of natural resource-based
conflict ........................................................................................................................................ 102
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 104
References ................................................................................................................................... 105

vi

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 Population of the Philippines and Caraga, CYs 1995 and 2000 ...................................... 46
Table 2 Ranking of Regions in Per Capita Gross Regional Domestic Product, Mindanao Regions,
CYs 2002-2003 .....………………………………………………………………………47

Table 3 Sample of Codes……..………………………………………………………………….51

Table 4 Tenure Systems within the Biophysical boundaries of the Taguibo Watershed .………63

Table 5 Who, What, How .............................................................................................................92

Table 6 Methodological Road Map ……………………………………………………………96

Table 7 Matrix of Specific Research Questions ……………………………………………...102

vii

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Hierarchy of Government Agencies involved in this inquiry ........................................ 36
Figure 2 Composition of the Stakeholders involved in the Provincial Multi-Sectoral Investigation
Team (PMSIT) ………………………………………………………...……………….84

viii

Introduction
In order to make nature a source of prosperity and wealth for the collective community, a few
governance structures are required to achieve such a ‘blessing’. Such structures include: policies
and laws that protect the rights of the marginalized peoples, coupled with responsive institutions
that align with the livelihood needs of the local community members.

Without a clear

understanding of the dynamic links between natural resource endowments, resource extraction,
development institutions, governance structures and broad-based socio-economic development
measures; the presence of high-value natural resources can actually be detrimental to those
communities. Such resources can provide a target for exploitation by local politicians, outside
businessmen, and multinational corporations. Too often, the result of extraction operations is
that most of the revenues are appropriated by outsiders’, leaving the community-and local
ecosystems- worse off than they were prior to the ‘development’ (Holden and Jacobson, 2006).

There is a dense body of literature that suggests that significant economic development will
occur in geographic locations that have favorable natural resource endowments (Auty, 1985;
1998). A more recent influx of evidence, however, suggests that resource rich countries that are
export oriented and dependent on imports, foreign investment and ground taxes tend to witness a
counter-intuitive outcome known as the resource curse theory (Auty, 1998). Auty (1998) defines
the resource curse theory as the observation that nations with rich natural resource endowments
(oil, timber, minerals) often dramatically underperform economically relative to what is
expected. It is assumed that those countries which are blessed with an abundance of natural
resources should be more prosperous compared to less endowed nations.

The resource curse

literature focuses strongly on the problems rather than the solutions. Therefore, current literature

1

is not of much practical help in designing more realistic and integrated natural resource
management policies or filling gaps in knowledge. For example, what changes an apparently
‘un-successful’ system to one that does work?

Some developers and environmentalists advocate for community-based natural resource
management (CBNRM). Decentralization is a potentially promising pathway to reach the target
of devolving nationally seated power to local authorities for more effective CBNRM reforms
(Ribot, 2002). However, many scholars point out that more current “decentralization’ reforms
are characterized by insufficient transfer of powers to local institutions (Ribot, 2002; ICMM,
2006).

The fact that many local government units lack proper capacity to receive new

discretionary power allows those local institutions some discretion to adjust national plans to fit
the local contexts.

This room for maneuvering varies greatly from region to region

(Martinussen, 1999). Nevertheless, some lessons and recommendations can be derived from the
decentralization reforms that have taken place in various locations around the world in order to
deal with some of the common corruption problems associated with decentralization reforms
amid the extractive industry.

This thesis examines key governance conditions that influence whether abundant natural
resources become a source of wealth and property for many, or merely a select few. It analyzes
four main overarching governance factors in the context of the extractive industry in the
Philippines: resource tenure and property rights; decentralization of resource management;
captured power, and political rivalry; and fragmentation of authority. The research combines an
in-depth literature review with semi-formal interviews and participant observations to provide
insight into the resource curse and decentralization literature. This inquiry is guided by four

2

emergent hypotheses in the natural resource curse sciences regarding the relationships between
institutions, decentralization, and the problems of corruption; all within the context of mineral
mining. The main questions this inquiry attempts to address are:

•

Why do those who hold power in badly performing systems (such as the Caraga Region,
Philippines) lack the incentives, motives and/or capacity to change institutions and
governance structures and improve broad based socio-economic conditions of the host
region, and their own long-term welfare?

•

How does the mining sector overall contribute to national development amid
decentralization?

•

What are the practical and policy implications for mining companies, government units,
development institutions and non-government organizations (NGOs)?

•

What might the distinct suggestions be for these development partners to continuously
implement the findings and recommendations provided through participatory means?

This paper is organized into three broad sections. An overview of the literature associated with
the decentralization of natural resources in the historical context of the Caraga Region,
Philippines will be addressed first. The historical context sets the stage to conceptualize the
dominant institutional arrangements regarding the natural resource- based management through
the lens of the insider. The second section will address the findings from the infield inquiry
related to the emergent research questions. Finally, the last section will present conclusions and
suggestions for future improvements for more adaptive natural resource-based management in
the Caraga Region.

3

Justification for the Study
Destructive mining at the expense of the local ecosystem services and communities is not unique
to the Philippines, but rather common in other developing countries such as India and Nigeria
(ICMM a, 2006). It is believed that the significant findings from this study may potentially be
helpful in understanding the impacts of decentralization on the extractive industry by using the
Caraga Region-the mining capital of the Philippines- as a specific case study. The inquiry will
gain a more holistic understanding as to why this mineral endowed regions has fallen victom to
the resource curse. The question of inquiry then becomes, what makes this community unable to
achieve broad-based socio-economic development amid mineral mining?

Dr. Jim Jarvie, with Associates in Rural Development, Inc (ARD), states that natural resourcesbased conflict (NRC) typologies are rooted in the exploitation of natural resources or
competition for natural resources (USAID, 2004).

Dr. Jarvie noted that the main conflict

participants are communities, companies, governments, security forces, gangs and rebels. While
prevention is better than a cure, solutions to these conflicts must be locally appropriate. There are
no “silver bullets” (USAID, 2004). Based on Dr. Jarvie’s survey of NRC, most of the conflicts
in the Philippines are caused by conflicting policies and laws as well as incompatible interests
among stakeholder participants. However, due to very limited reporting of NRCs in the media,
there is little information available to assess the true extent of the problem in the Philippines as a
whole (USAID, 2004; ICMM a, 2006). Thus, the complex and interrelated stories provided by
local stakeholders will help aid in dispelling misconceptions related to this multifaceted NRC in
the Caraga Region.

4

There are plenty of laws in place in the Caraga Region, which address the proper management of
renewable and non-renewable natural resource use, their extraction and transportation in an
environmentally friendly and sustainable manner. However, various illegal activities continue to
occur that are both environmentally risky and potentially hazardous to humans health. The
declining quality and quantity of potable water is posing disastrous effects on the humans living
in the Caraga Region, particularly in the Butuan City and Anticala areas (Fact Finding Report,
2009). Some of the disastrous effects stem from the mining and logging industries and include
but are not limited to: unsafe water levels such as high and frequent occurrence of turbidity (5
NTU)

1

and Mn (.04mg/L). These levels at times exceed the legal limits, thus, forcing the

BCWD to shut off water supply to over 300,000 Butuan City residents. As water quality levels
exceed legal limits, potable water supplies to the city must be shut off, sometimes for up to 2 to 3
days. The lack of a steady and clean water supply can potentially lead to serious sanitation
issues, not to mention causing residents to get very angry with the LGU’s ability to effectively
manage the city’s necessary infrastructure. Especially during periods of heavy rains, turbidity
levels exceed legal limits forcing BCWD to shut down Butuan City’s potable water source
(BCWD lab sample no. 10-06-360; 10-01-029). It is apparent that human activities, mainly road
rehabilitation lacking proper drainage technology, timber harvesting and mining activities greatly
contribute to this point source pollution in the Taguibo River.

Many developing countries that are rich in mineral endowments like the Philippines, often
confront trade-offs in the resource paradox. These trade-offs make it crucial that current system
regulations and institutions (NGO’s, social, political-governmental, academic etc.) are

1

NTU+ Nephelometric Turbidity Unites
5

scrutinized in a scientifically rigorous way that aims to evaluate and serve all sectors of the
society for community purposes not for individual purposes.

The Philippines is classified as housing some of the most environmentally degraded and poorest
areas found in South East Asia; yet on the other side, the country is reported to be the second
most mineralized country in the world (Llave, 2004).

These contradictory characteristics

illustrate the fact that amid armed conflict and government corruption lucrative operations like
mining exist but fail to benefit those marginalized communities who tend to bear the majority of
the social and environmental costs associated with mining operations (Auty, 2000; Bebbington et
al., 2009; Bury, 2004; ICMM, 2006; de Echave, 2005).

Mining companies follow the ‘rules of the game’. That is, they are acting to maximize their
returns on investment. If there is no risk of getting caught at a checkpoint for not providing
authority figures with the proper mineral transport permit, then why would individuals acquire a
permit in the first place? It is important to note that these mining companies are just following
the policies and institutions in place in the host communities. If laws and mandates are not
strictly and fairly enforced, it’s not expected that mining officials will spend the extra time and
money obtaining proper permits. The mining officials are just doing what the policy-makers and
government enforcement officers allow them to do. The lack of capacity on the part of the
LGU’s is one cause of the system malfunction throughout the Caraga Region. This system flaw
allows for mining companies to break environmental and health laws with no repercussions
(personal interview, 07-01-3A, 2010).

When the individuals responsible for protecting the

environment are the ones responsible for hurting the environment, it becomes very difficult to

6

sustainably manage the community-based natural resources in a community (personal interview,
06-26-2A, 2010).

Unfortunately, conflicting mandates and inadequate ability to implement environmental
regulations in this region have resulted in the community becoming plagued with government
corruption, unsafe living conditions (no water, landslides, and illness) and loss of sustained
livelihood options. Thus, the future of the region is dependent upon the implementation of an
integrated management plan that is successful in implementing principles of sustainable
development which promote the existence of a viable future for generations to come.

Resource Curse-Unsatisfactory Outcomes
The extractive industry literature presents and incomplete basis for identifying valuable
governance structures that result in positive outcomes around natural resource extraction. This
information is crucial when aiming to create improved policies which are more effective at
coping with resource curse problems (Sachs and Warner, 1997). This is confirmed by a brief
review of the three main approaches used in the established literature to explain why natural
resource exploitation sometimes leads to unsatisfactory outcomes.
Approach 1-basic macroeconomic perspective
From the 1950s to the 1970s, the question of resource wealth was at the center of debates
between mainstream development scholars and their Marxist and non-Marxist critics (Dalton,
2006). The basic macroeconomic analysis suggests that the discovery and extraction of natural
resources should contribute to higher incomes and faster economic growth in developing
countries in a straightforward way (Auty, 2001, 1998). However, the mainstream economic
literature recognizes that revenues from resource extraction can have detrimental macroeconomic
effects on the hosting economies. Such impacts include but are not limited to: Dutch disease
7

(Auty, 1998; Sachs and Warner, 1997), greater volatility in public revenues (Auty, 1998;
Mikesell, 1997), and crowding out of some traditional economic activities (Corden and Neary,
1982).
More recently, economic policy makers have learned that locally appropriate policies that are
responsive to the historical/cultural context can help to eliminate or mitigate these negative
effects (Esteves, 2008). However, other countries have failed to do so; such as Congo and
Nigeria.

The question no longer is what the required governance structures are, but why

countries have failed to apply those needed governance structures where revenues from resource
extraction are anticipated to act as a catalyst for other non-extractive sectors in the economy.
Therefore, macroeconomic analysis is silent on what causes these differences in the policy
environment.
Approximately fifteen years ago, there were relatively few resource curse experts discussing the
Dutch disease or other problems arising from mineral revenues. Thus, the resource curse in
many cases was often times ignored. Today that is not so, and these challenges are well known
and well understood (Auty, 2001).

It is hard to believe that even those countries lacking

sufficient governance capacity could not seek outside assistance to implement the required
governance structures.
Approach 2- Rent-seeking Perspective
Proponents of the rent-seeking perspective, such as Collier and Hoeffler (2001) and Humphreys
(2003), quantitatively created evidence that natural resource endowments often coincide with
predatory governments and a high incidence of domestic conflict and civil wars. This one
perspective suggests that natural resource extraction is inherently detrimental to the welfare of
developing countries (Dalton, 2006).

Another proposition is that the microeconomic
8

implications of natural resource abundance suggest that it nurtures patronage, rent-seeking and
asymmetric power struggles, resulting in policy outcomes that prevent sustainable development,
and provoke social unrest and environmental distress (Dalton, 2006).

It also encourages

misguided institutional arrangements in the economic system resulting in mineral revenues not
being reinvested back into the economy to act as a catalyst in other non-extraction sectors of the
economy for broad-based socio-economic development (Auty, 1998).

Mineral revenues

(collected from legal operations only) first accumulate at the state or local government level and
therefore, the local context, governance structures and level of corruption are important to
incorporate in the analysis of the outcomes of natural resource extraction. However, the analysis
is silent on what explains the different outcomes in different countries.
Approach 3- Corporate responsibility Perspective
During the past few years a significant number of companies, including those in mining, have
supported a wide range of corporate responsibility initiatives. The aim of these initiatives is to
mitigate negative social and environmental impacts.

Emphasis has been placed on a

participatory, bottom-up approach, which strives to create lasting relationships between the
multinational corporations, local communities and hosting governments (Bebbington, et al.,
2009).

The ‘corporate social responsibility approach’ may appear to work in some local

contexts, while performance in other cases is still disappointing (ICMM b, 2006).
All three approaches lack a coherent argument which explains what some of the differences in
outcomes are between countries that suffer from the resource curse and those that have benefited
from broad-based socioeconomic development (ICMM b, 2006). Many experts have carried out
cross-county econometric analyses which offer fairly compelling evidence of how some
countries have avoided the resource curse (Stevens, 2003; Saffar and Jiwanji, 2001; Wright and

9

Czelusta, 2003; Acemoglu et al., 2003).

Among the most frequently referenced cases are

Australia, Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia and Norway. Cross-country econometric analyses
refer to these cases as outliers, therefore ignoring the lessons that could potentially be taken away
by comparing and contrasting the experiences from the successful with the less successful
countries (ICMM b, 2006).
In thinking about the three approaches, a question arises: what factors allow some countries to
benefit from resource endowments and avoid the resource curse? The natural resource literature
aggregates the answer into the level of quality represented in three broad factors: institutions,
governance and policies. Moreover, research in the mineral extraction discipline assumes that
the different outcomes have much to do with governance and institutions. If a country fails to
take advantage of the mineral resources, the fault arguably lies in the hands of the government
and other public entities. It is the government and public entities who ultimately decide how
those mineral revenues are spent.
No one single explanation can describe why some countries avoid the resource curse and others
don’t. Therefore, the aim of inquiry must be to bring a more dynamic perspective into the
extractive industry analysis (ICMM b, 2006).

It is not just a question of what the factor or

mechanism was which led to a curse, but more important to understand the gray areas behind the
social, economic and environmental aspects of the case study.

It is also a question of why

certain actions or lack of actions was allowed to happen over time. The lack of clarity regarding
what actually happens in cases of a resource curse, leads to equally elusive treatment
mechanisms. When the problem is not clearly defined, it is very hard to construct integrated
management practices.

10

Decentralization Objectives
The term ‘decentralization’ has been used to encompass a variety of alternative institutional and
financial arrangements aimed at harnessing the abilities, knowledge and incentives of rural
people to improve the distribution of power and efficiency in resource utilization (Martinussen,
1999 pg 211). Decentralization related to utilizing natural resources attempts to provide broad
development by increasing rural communities’ capacity to benefit from the use of local natural
resources (Auty, 2001). However, the lack of clarity as to how exactly the step-down-of power
(national levels to the local levels) will be executed often times results in elusive treatment
mechanisms that have varying outcomes (Holden and Jacobson, 2006).

One of the main pathways of decentralization is devolution. This is based on the idea that
political power and legitimacy originally and logically belong to the national level. Power is
transferred to the regional or local governments allowing them to use their own discretionary
authority (Martinussen, 1999).

The purpose of devolution is “increasing local resource

mobilization as part of overall resource generation for development; provisions of better services
and local infrastructure; more efficient utilization of resources; and more generally increasing
total government capacity to facilitate and promote economic, social and human development”
(Martinussen, 1999 pg 213). However, potential positive or negative trade-offs exist among the
multiple objectives listed above. Therefore, achieving a high degree of devolution may or may
not be conducive to improving efficiency in resource utilization (Martinussen, 1999; Benjamin,
2008).

In context of this thesis, these trade-offs lead to the debate on the institutional

arrangements, manpower capacities and increased impact local government corruption
potentially has on local resource utilization and mobilization.

11

Decentralization requires power transfer to meet two main categories: effectiveness and
efficiency. “Effectiveness, that is the degree to which a stated objective or condition is achieved
or maintained; and efficiency, which refers to the quantity of resources expended in the effort to
achieve a stated objective or condition.” (Martinussem, 1999 pg 214). This theory basically aims
for cost minimization for attaining specific targets. However, another category often times used
by development researchers is the criteria of responsiveness. This refers to the degree of
accountability which, in turn, requires transparency and access to decision-making as seen from
the collective citizens’ point of view (Martinussen, 1999).

The security of resource tenure and property rights is another important governance factor which
impacts the capacity of local communities to derive environmental income from abundant local
natural resources. An individual or community’s rights, access and holding of land and other
natural resources defines their tenure. Legally, tenure is a collection of both rights and
obligations: the rights to own, hold, manage, transfer, or exploit natural resources and land, but
also the obligation not to use these in a way that negatively impacts others (Bruce, 1998).
However, tenure is not only bound by legal concepts but also by complex social institutions,
often incorporating the local historical and cultural context. Moreover, the lack of security
regarding tenure systems can lead to negative and complicated outcomes (Ribot, 2002).

Role of decentralization in development
Decentralization has emerged as a frequently recommended solution to a number of problems
pertaining to resource management in many developing countries. From the 1980s to the mid
1990s, national governments in 63 out of 75 developing and transitional countries have proposed
some form of decentralization strategy (Agrawal, A. and J. Ribbot 1999). Decentralization is

12

defined as “any act in which a central government formally cedes powers to actors and
institutions at lower levels in a political-administrative and territorial hierarchy” (Ribot, 2002,
pg. 10). Decentralization is also viewed as the redistribution of power, resources and
administrative capacities to different sectors of government and local people, which in essence
brings power closer to the people most affected by the exercise of such powers (Agrawal and
Ostrom, 2001). Decentralization is also increasingly being recommended as a panacea in
development practices (Knox and Meinzen-Dick, 2001). For instance, the number and scope of
World Bank projects that are “community driven or community based” have largely increased
from 2000 to 2003 (World Bank 2005). The Philippines has also decided to experiment with
decentralization in the mining sector. The government has attempted to dispense regulatory
powers to more local levels of authority such as the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) and the City Environment and Natural Resource Office (CENRO).
Scholars identify two main forms of decentralization: administrative and political.
Administrative decentralization refers to the transfer of resources and power to local bodies, who
constitute an administrative extension of the central state, and are upwardly accountable to the
central government. On the other hand, political or democratic decentralization is seen as a
transfer of power and resources to lower levels of authority that are largely independent of
central government. This form of decentralization promotes popular participation in decision
making through election of local representatives, which makes them downwardly accountable
(Hutchcroft, 2001; Ribot, 2002). Both forms of decentralization set up greater powers that aim to
enhance democracy, utilize indigenous or experiential knowledge from communities, and reduce
the need for unpopular regulatory intervention by federal governments. Even so, in the case of
natural resource management (NRM), democratic decentralization represents the ideal form of
13

decentralization because it involves the necessary democratic process that encourages local
authorities, to whom power is transferred, to serve the needs of their constituents (Ribot, 2002).
Advocacy for decentralization has primarily been based on the rationale that decentralization
promotes efficiency in resource management, and also ensures just and equitable distribution of
benefits especially to marginalized people (Carlson and Berkes, 2003; Larson et al., 2007; Ribot,
2002). Economically, local people bear the direct political and economic consequences of their
decision-makers’ decisions, and have more incentive to internalize all externalities relative to an
outsider who may have no direct interest. Therefore, assigning ‘control rights’ to local
institutions through decentralization may potentially result in effective decisions that meet
socioeconomic needs and are well suited to the communities’ local setting (World Bank, 2000).
In addition, since local communities have the tendency to filter, or ignore, rules imposed from
outside agencies (Agrawal, 2002; Nkonya et al., 2008), encouraging participation in decision
making via decentralization has the potential to increase the compliance rate of development
projects with local environmental regulations. Decentralization is believed to increase public
sector accountability and effectiveness by empowering the civic actors involved to serve as a
check on state power, thereby promoting equitable distribution of benefits from resources and
efficiency in management (Ribot, 2005).
Ostrom et al. (2002) highlight three basic conditions necessary for resource users to create and
sustain effective resource management institutions. First, the users of the resource must be
dependent enough on that resource that they are willing to invest time and energy to create new
institutions. Second, users must have autonomy to devise and change rules. Third, at least a
subset of users must be able to engage in direct communication with each other, including the
opportunity to bargain amongst each other. Given these conditions, which institutional design
14

they will choose and the performance and survival of that design is a function of the specific
characteristics of the resource, the resource users, and the repertoire of institutional rules
considered. Research in common-pool resources, however, has shown that no single institutional
form is best at maintaining resources across a wide range of physical and social conditions.
In sum, it could be inferred from the foregoing discussion that an idealized decentralization
scheme should at least include (1) complete transfer of power from national to more localized
users (2) capacity building of those to whom power is transferred (3) participation of people who
are directly affected by decisions.
Decentralization of mineral governance in Philippines
During the early 1990s, the Philippine government experimented with decentralization as part of
efforts to use virgin natural mineral resources as a source of national development (Holden and
Jacobson, 2006). The ability of the Philippine mining industry to act as a catalyst for economic
development became viewed as underutilized (Otto, 1992). The Asian Development Bank
argued that the investment climate in the Philippines was viewed by the global mining industry
as negative and called for the decentralization of the nation’s natural resource regulating bodies
(Rovillos et al., 2003). The Asian Development Bank, specifically, took issue with the provision
of Section 2, of Article XII of the Philippine Constitution of 1987 which limited the extent of
foreign investment in mining projects to no more than 40 percent of the total investment in the
project (Rovillos et al., 2003). In turn, the Philippine government acted upon the Asian
Development Bank’s advice; in 1989 emphasizing methods to increase foreign access to the
nation’s mineral resources as a method of increasing economic growth (Rovillos et al., 2003).
Former President Ramos signed into law the Republic Act No. 7942 also referred to as the
Mining Act of 1995.
15

After Marcos left office, lenders like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) became panicked about the uncertainty in repayment of the
international loans that had been squandered during Marcos’ administration (Schirmer and
Shalom, 1987). The subsequent president, Corazon Aquino, was therefore pressured to open the
economy to foreign investment so that tax revenues could be collected from the influx of mining
operations (Rovillos et al., 2003).

There was a very pro-foreign investment (and pro-

deregulation) atmosphere in the Philippines post-Marcos (Rovillow et al., 2003; Holden and
Jacobson, 2006). Following the “People Power” revolution of 1986, President Corazon Aquino
sought to “institutionalize people empowerment at the local level and pave the way for local
democratic development” (Cristobal, 1997, pg. 258). The 1987 constitution was specifically
designed to increase the powers given to the local government units throughout the Philippine
archipelago. Specifically, section 1 of article X of the 1987 constitution delineated the local
government units as being the province, the city, the municipality, and the barangay

2

(Holden

and Jacobson, 2006). In addition, section 3 of article X of the 1987 Constitution called for
Congress to formally endorse local government legislation (Holden and Jacobson, 2006).
Finally, in 1991, the Philippine congress passed the Local Government Codes, also known as the
Republic act No. 7160, which became the statutory basis for the decentralization policy (Angeles
and Gurstein, 2000). It is believed that the Local Government Codes of 1991 is one of the most
influential statutes ever passed in the Philippines, and the Local Government Codes are referred
to by many as “the decentralization codes” (Aldaba, 2002; Angeles and Gurstein, 2000). By the
mid to late 1990s the Government of the Philippines had decentralized its political powers, and at

2

A barangay is a form of submunicipal government similar to a village or a neighborhood.
16

the same time had drafted a development plan highlighting a mineral resource extraction strategy
(Aldaba, 2002).

In recent years, as part of the Philippines’ neoliberal development paradigm, the Government of
the Philippines has engaged in efforts to encourage the extraction of the nation's mineral
resources. The restructuring of the mining industry since the mid 1980s and, in particular, the
Mining Act of 1995, underscores the government’s aim to become a world market for minerals
and to attract foreign investors in order to foster broad-based socio-economic development. The
government, by opening the market and enticing foreign capital through industrial deregulation
and liberalization measures, has opened certain industries to foreign ownership, raised foreignequity participation, and provided incentives for investment in the nations’ mining industry
(Aldaba, 2002).

Under the 2010 to 2014 Philippines Investment Promotion Plan (PIIP), thirteen (13) different
investment promotion agencies (IPAs) will synchronize their market strategies into one mediumterm marketing development plan (Trade Union, 2011). An integral component of the plan is to
increase foreign investment in thirteen total investment promotion agencies (IPAs), by targeting
one of the dominant sectors – the mining industry (Manila Times, 2011). The plan aims to more
than double the current investment approvals to bring in PhP

3

658 billion at the end of 2014 or

an accumulated PhP2.405 trillion in five years. According to the National Statistics Office
(NSO), Philippine mineral exports from January to December 2010 increased by 33.7-percent to
$51.393 billion from the $38.436 billion registered in 2009 (Olchondra, 2011).

The top

exporting destinations were Japan, with a 15.4-percent share of total exports; China, accounting

3

PhP=Philippine Peso
17

for 14.3-percent of shipments; the United States, accounting for 13.6-percent share of total
exports; and Singapore with 10.8-percent of total exports shipped (NSO, 2011).

Overall, the process of decentralization is one that can affect the mining industry and, in some
cases, the goals and priorities of local governments may conflict with those of the central
Government (Labonne, 1999). The national government aimed to devolve regulatory powers to
local government agencies. Regarding the extractive industry, the intention was for more power
to be vested in local government units resulting in more efficient, effective and responsive
business environments which in turn would lead to economic growth.

Purpose of Research

Globally the mining industry is booming. The price of most metallic minerals is at an all time
high (Singhal, 2007). China, Japan, Canada, Australia and the United States are some of the top
power houses of current economic growth. These countries are providing the bulk of the impetus
for the expansion in the global consumption which generates growth in the mining industries. In
recent years many countries in the developing world have responded to these global trends,
driving the expansion of mining by pronouncing policy efforts to attract foreign direct
investment into the mining sector of the host country’s economy (Bridge, 2004). At the same
time, a majority of developing counties has implemented some form of decentralization, and
many have decentralized some aspect of natural resources management (NRM) (Agrawal and
Ostrom, 2001). “This economic growth offers the potential to generate new resources for

18

development, but also creates challenges to the sustainability

4

in the regions where the mineral

extraction occurs” (Bebbington and Bury, 2009 pg 17,296).

High commodity prices are encouraging many countries to examine the potential of their mining
industry. One such country is the Philippines. The Philippines, a global center of mining
expansion, serves as an exemplar for analyzing the effects of decentralization, particularly in the
extractive industry, on the customary natural resource management (NRM) institutions and
quality of development achieved where mineral extraction occurs. Many environmental conflicts
can be categorized as institutional challenges, or debates, over distribution and regulation of
natural resource assets. ‘Who gets how much water and when?’ or ‘who must do what and
when?’ are questions characteristic of such conflicts. Such typical arguments are as follows:
downstream rice farmer A believes she is entitled to more water than upstream irrigator ‘B’, and
corporate ‘F’ does not want to internalize some of the externality costs associated with pollution
mitigation equipment that would benefit the local communities. ‘Institution’ is used here
(following Thompson, 1995: 1545) to refer to a particular organization, such as nongovernmental organization (NGO), government department, university or training institutes; and

4

In the framework of this thesis the meaning of sustainability is adopted from Herman E. Daly
(1990). In short, sustainability shall be thought of as “qualitative development of non-growing
systems” which extends over long periods of time (pg 1). Growth is quantitative, an increase in a
physical (measurable) scale, while development is qualitative improvement or unfolding of
potentials (Daly, 1990 pg 1). A human body grows for a finite amount of years (until mid to late
20’s), but the human brain can continue to develop until its death. The same is true for an
economy. Thus, sustainability in the context of natural resource management follows two main
principles: first that harvest rates should equal regeneration rates, and second, that waste
emission rates should equal the natural assimilative capacities of the ecosystems into which the
wastes are emitted (Daly, 1990 pg 2). Regenerative and assimilative capacities must be treated as
natural capital, and failure to maintain these capacities must be treated as capital consumption,
and therefore, not sustainable (Pearce, 1988).

19

also to mean rules-in-use, referring to working rules, procedures and norms expressed in
repeated activities and relationships between individuals in organizations.

The mineral extraction in the Taguibo River Watershed Forest Reserve (TRWFR) is a prime
example of environmental degradation which is made worse by the fact that the key actors are so
intertwined, making it very difficult to identify the players. This as it is comprised of various
overlapping land tenure systems such as the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADC) No.
178, Manobo-Mamanwa Tribal Communities Development Cooperative Certificate No. 7022,
the Kablay Tree Planters Association Inc. Certificate No. 70009 and the Anticala Tribal Sellers
Association Certificate No. 70007.

In addition this area is also a proclaimed watershed

(Proclamation No. 1076) housing Butuan City Water District’s (BCWD) Infiltration Gallery,
which supplies potable water to over 300,000 residents in the Butuan City area (personal
interview 06-26-2A, 2010).

Two needs were emphasized by the Caraga Region community as highly important. One was the
protection of the Taguibo Watershed ecosystem and services to be able to sustain upland and
lowland livelihoods now and into the future. The second was to try to understand some of the
knowledge gaps around government agencies or public entities are responsible for utilizing
mineral resources for broad-based socio-economic development. The aim is to examine this
complex dynamic sustainability problem from the perspectives of those directly or indirectly
impacted by the illegal activities. With the ultimate aim to more holistically understand the
complex dynamic nature of the institutional arrangements found within the natural resource
extraction system to more effectively prevent environmental degradation within the Taguibo
River Watershed Forest Reserve (TRWFR), Philippines.

20

A wide range of stakeholders were interviewed in hopes of identifying relevant solutions to some
of the social and environmental problems associated with the structural problems found in the
Caraga Region. The field findings will be presented to the local university, Father Saturnino
Urios University (FSUU). The purpose of the feedback is to provide interested individuals with
a source of credible and transparent information.

These interviews provide insiders’

conceptualizations of the natural resource conflicts around soil, water and timber degradation
which is occurring in the Taguibo River Watershed Forest Reserve (TRWFR).
This qualitative research investigates the trends and conditions related to the perceived impacts
of small-scale mining operations on local river quality and livelihood assets in rural upland and
downstream urban communities.
Qualitative inquiry is used to give voice to underrepresented stakeholders. Perceptions of how
the illegal activities impacted their livelihood assets and the quality of water found in the
Taguibo watershed over time were explored. Appendix I provides a table which summarizes the
methods of data collection that were used, the objectives of each data collection activity,
characteristics of the subject respondent site and the final output of the data collection activity.
The ultimate goal of this research is to gain a better understanding of the pressures that illegal
mining and associated activities found within the TRWFR have on the diverse stakeholder
groups from the Caraga Region. Perspectives from the different heterogeneous groups were
solicited to conceptualize the dynamics and interconnected nature of the drivers of natural
resource presence leading to a curse rather than a blessing in the TRWFR. Emphasis was placed
on seeking out the causes of the different problematic behaviors instead of proposing solutions.

21

Emergent Research Questions
Specifically the study sought to answer these questions:
1. What are the perceived human-environment impacts of small-scale mining operations
in the Caraga Region?
2. What are insiders’ perspectives on the perceived institutional challenges which
explain these impacts?
3. What are insiders’ suggestions for possible pathways and institutional arrangements
that might foster local sustainable development in the presence of mining?

The results of this case study can provide insight regarding the dynamic possibilities associated
with socio-economic outcomes related to natural resource utilization. This insight will not only
inform future research in the Caraga Region regarding other mineral operations, but also may
help when addressing structural causes for some of the region’s conflicts that result in poor
economic development and the exploitative depletion of the region’s natural resources (Fisher,
2000). Moreover, this study may contribute to the local decision making process, providing a
credible source of insiders’ perspectives and knowledge regarding the social and environmental
impacts associated with small-scale mining operations nested in the TRWFR. The remainder of
the first section consists of a detailed description of the methodology employed and a
presentation of the theories and concepts used for the analysis. Questions presented above serve
as a framework to shape the discussion of lessons learned from this research.
Context of the Natural Resource Extraction Industry in Caraga Region, Northeast
Mindanao
The mining potential of the Caraga Region is substantial, as the region holds reserves of precious
metals (gold and silver), base metals (copper, mercury and lead) and light minerals (bauxite and
22

manganese) (Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), 2010). The mining and quarrying sector
are steadily declining in performance, despite the fact that the Region is among the richest source
of minerals in the country (NEDA, 2004). According to the Philippines Yearbook for 2003,
nd

Caraga had the 2

highest metallic mineral production valued at PhP 1.25 billion (PSY, 2003)

in 2001. Based on the density of deposits per square kilometer of land area, the Caraga Region
has been identified as Asia’s mining capital (Corrales, 2009). While there is a growing emphasis
placed on the role of mining as the engine for growth in northeastern Mindanao, very little is
known about how to create functioning public institutions that will allow anchored, broad-based
socio-economic development to occur (Woolcock et al., 2001).

Important institutional

challenges exist in this region which prevents equitable allocation of the mineral revenues from
achieving the optimistic development goals set forth by the Philippine Federal Government.

Political rivalry between different levels of government agencies, the elite capture of the
economic wealth derived from the unfair allocation of natural resources, as well as political
power control of dynastic clans are important stumbling blocks which contribute to the dynamics
of natural resource conflict in the Caraga Region (personal interview 07-27-12A, 2010). Natural
resource conflict (NRC) in this area also stems from overlapping mandates of the different
agencies dealing with natural resource management. Fragmentation of the responsibilities and
authority of government agencies and public entities further challenges integrated management
plans from being successful (personal interview: 07-27-12A, 2010; 07-26-2C, 2010; 07-08-6AA,
2010; and 07-20-13A, 2010).

The conflicts found in the Caraga Region appear to be

overlapping, interrelated and based upon root causes such as social and economic injustice, poor
governance, corruption and incompatible laws.

However, the ideological reasons for the

conflicts vary. The struggle for self-determination is important for parts of the independent
23

urbanized city barangay populations, but seems to have less priority for the socialist indigenous
populations. The indigenous peoples (IPs) struggle more for substantial nationwide political
reform (Corrales, 2009).

Values and culture play a complex and dynamic role in natural resource based disputes. This is
especially true for tenure systems in the Caraga Region. The dominant religion in Caraga (and
throughout the Philippines) is Roman Catholicism, and the main ethnic inhabitants in the region
are called Lumad. The term Lumad includes many tribal groups such as the Manobo and
Mamanwa Tribes who reside on Mindanao Island. It is common in these tribal communities to
practice reciprocity and communal sharing of farm products and economic royalties (personal
interview 07-30-8A, 2010). Religion plays an important role in all aspects of community life in
Caraga. During government activities such as oath taking ceremonies and investment meetings,
various religious leaders from the region are present to provide blessings to those involved
(participant observation 06-30-3B, 2010).

For the Lumad, subsistence farming practices have been part of their institutional traditions for
many years, and sustainable harvesting practices have been incorporated through passing down
communal norms and practices. Over time it can be observed that these traditional ways of life
are becoming ‘watered-down’. As non-Lumad infiltrate the upland area and as Lumad emigrate
from upland (watershed) to low-land areas (Butuan City) the Lumads’ traditional language and
cultural identity is being lost. As a result, traditional sustainable natural resource management is
being replaced with non-socialists practices (personal interview 08-04-1A, 2010).

24

Regardless of the cultural and developmental changes that have taken place in the Caraga
Region, to achieve equitable and anchored economic diversification, sustainability must be
understood to its fullest. For some development experts, sustainability is seen as a ‘process of
planned change or managed learning rather than an outcome’ (Sriskandarajah et al. 1991). The
process of development needs to involve sustainability as a fundamental element in order to
achieve open and respectful relationships between community members as learners and their
environments. Robert Gilman, Director of the Context Institute, defines sustainability “as equity
over time” or as a value “it refers to giving equal weight in your decisions to the future as well as
the present. You may think of it as extending the Golden Rule through time, so that you do unto
future generations as you would have them do unto you” (Gilman, 2011)

To understand

sustainability it is crucial to unearth the social and institutional arrangements that determine the
degree to which different groups in a society have access to natural resources (Sarkar, 1998).
Local communities and many non-government organizations (NGOs) concerned about
development and environmental quality in the Philippines believe that the local and national
governmental units should integrate mining revenues into poverty reduction funds (People, 2007;
Dolye and McEachern, 1998; World Bank, 2009).
The idea that natural resources can be extracted from the earth’s crust for economic growth
purposes has been central to the Philippines for many years (Esteves, 2008). The Philippine
government acted upon the Asian Development Bank’s advice in 1989 to harness natural
resources for economic development purposes. Officials from the Mines and Geosciences
5

Bureau (MGB) participated, along with the World Bank, in a seminar entitled, “Prospects from
the Mining Industry to the Year 2000,” organized by the United Nations Department of

5

A line agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
25

Technical Cooperation and Development. At this meeting it was emphasized that increasing
foreign access to the nation’s mineral resources is a method of enhancing foreign direct
investment and consequently, economic growth (Rovillos et al., 2003). In both 1991 and 1992,
the MGB held a series of seminars in London, Manila, and Vancouver to encourage foreign
mining companies to invest in the Philippines (United States Bureau of Mines, 1991; 1992).
Then, in March of 1995, the presiding Philippine president, President Ramos signed into law
Republic Act No. 7942 (United States Geological Survey, 1995) (Pye-Smith, 1997; United
States Geological Survey, 1995).

This led to substantial delegation of responsibility from

national government agencies to local governments for regulating the mining industry. During
the previous Marcos presidency, political power had been centralized to a much greater degree
than in previous administrations (Weekley, 2001).

For many years this statute had been highly promoted by the Philippine mining industry through
the Philippine Chamber of Mines. The most significant aspect of the act was its creation of new
types of production agreements which would govern the mineral deposit ownership requirements
under which a foreign mining corporation could operate in the Philippines (Holden, 2005).

The Philippine national government believes that through mineral mining operations, national
economic development objectives can be achieved in the form of income, employment, exports,
and the generation of tax revenues – all to be used to fund public capacity building initiatives
(Humphreys et al., 2007). As pressure trickles down from the federal government to local
governmental units to ramp up thirteen IPAs (investment promotion agencies), the Caraga
Region is under added pressure due to the growing awareness of the region’s mining potential.
According to new statistical data on the mining tenements issued as of February 2009 by the

26

MGB, Caraga hosted 42 approved Mineral Production and Sharing Agreements (MPSA)
covering 103,643.25 hectares or 55.29% of the entire mining permits approved in Mindanao
(NSO, 2011). However, this supposed mining capital of Asia is still home to some of the poorest
provinces in the country and the majority of these mining permits are within ancestral domains
of the indigenous Manobo-Mamanwa tribes (Olchondra, 2011; personal interview with 07-2712A, 2010).

History of Mining Rights for the Extraction of Mn Ore at the Taguibo Watershed
th

On the 17

of July 1979, the Associated Mining Corporation (ASMINCO) owned by Mr.

Kittlestedt (a Filipino) was granted a mining lease contract (MLC) No. 185 located at
Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte (personal interview 7-27-12A, 2010). MLC No. 185 expired on
the 16

th

July 2004. According to personal interviews with the MGB, low prices of metallic

minerals in the world market resulted in ASMINCO stopping its mining operations before the
expiration of its MLC. Consequently, Mn ore that was extracted before the company ceased
operations never made it to the market for distribution. The mine operators chose to hold on to
mineral ore stockpiles until market prices rose to more profitable levels (personal interview 7-2712A 2010). The area where ASMINCO and others have stockpiled the already extracted Mn ore
is within the Taguibo Watershed limits. Government officials believed this stockpiled ore to be a
potential water quality and human health hazard. “These fine materials (heavy metals) are
dangerous because once they are brought to the tributaries and the Taguibo River, well this is
very dangerous if it gets into water” (personal interview 07-27-12A, 2010). In addition to MCL
No. 185 there were subsequent mining applications. Sometime between 1992 to 1998, smallscale mining permits were issued within the area to McBern Mining Company, Mr. Gerardo G.
Zerda and Mr. and Mrs. Cecilia Lucentalies, under the small-scale mining permits No.X-491, X27

1112 and X1122 respectively (RM-M-05-08-828, 2005). These permits were issued after the
former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos declared the Taguibo watershed a protected area
th

under the Presidential Proclamation No. 1076 on September 4 , 1997; clearly stating that the
area is:
Established as the Taguibo River Watershed Forest Reserve (TRWFR) for the purpose of
protection, maintenance and improvement of its water yield and providing restraining
mechanism for inappropriate forest exploitation and land-use practices,
The implementation of forestry development programs consistent with the objectives of the
proclamations as may be determined by the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources,
The reservation shall be under the administrative jurisdiction, supervision and control of DENR
in coordination with Butuan City Water District (BCWD) and other agencies. A Watershed
Management Council shall be crafted and act as the policy making body over the Watershed
Area. The Council is composed of all concerned government agencies and Non-Government
Organizations (NGO’s).
Memorandum No. 34302, November 24, 1997

Proclamation 1076, makes the areas covered within the TRWFR closed to any mining operation
pursuant to R.A. No. 7942 (Philippine Mining Act of 1995). As section 18- Areas open to
Mining Operations- in the R.A. 7942, the Mining Act states:
Subject to any existing rights or reservations and prior agreements of all parties, all mineral
resources in public or private lands, including timber or forestlands as defined in existing laws
shall be open to mineral agreements or financial or technical assistance agreement applications.
Any conflicts that may arise under this provision shall be heard and resolved by the panel of
arbitrators.
Whereas, section 19- Areas Closed to Mining Applicants- states: Mineral agreement or financial
or technical assistance agreement applications shall not be allowed:
Paragraph (f): Old growth or virgin forests, proclaimed watershed forest reservations, wilderness
areas, mangrove forests, mossy forests, national parks, provincial/municipal forests, parks,
greenbelts, game refuge and bird sanctuaries as defined by law in areas expressly prohibited
28

under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) under Republic Act No. 7586,
Department Administrative Order No. 25, series of 1992 and other laws.

As described in section 19 of the 1995 Mining Act, all previous mining permits granted pre1997 that fell within the watershed limits were deemed expired. Regardless, the once actively
mined area referred to as “Black Mountain” (personal interview 06-26-2A, 2010) is now by law
completely off-limits to any sort of mining project.

Black Mountain, part of the Taguibo

Watershed is where three different illegal mining operations took place (personal interview 07th

27-12A, 2010). On the 09 of August 2004, there was a drastic increase of demand for minerals
on the international market, resulting in increased market prices (personal interview 07-27-12A,
2010; RD-M-05-08-828, 2005). When global mineral demand increased, small-scale mining
company owners felt a sense of urgency to get mineral ore transport permits (OTP) granted. One
way of reaping wealth from mineral ores is to acquire an OTP to transport various stockpiles of
ore out of the watershed and to the market (personal interview 07-27-12A, 2010). These permits
were desired to claim the already abandoned stockpiles of Mn ore within the watershed area
(personal interview 07-27-12A, 2010).
Conversations with the EMB-DENR RO. No. XIII and the EMB-DENR RO. No. XIII suggested
that previous mining licens contract owners may have stolen Mn ore from the watershed area.
th

As outlined in a Memorandum of Agreements (MOA) on September the 27

of 2005 and signed

by Secretary Michael T. Defensor and Governor Erlpe John M. Amante, the manganese ore
stockpiled in the San Antonio, RTR, Agusan del Norte area, shall be disposed of by the
Provincial Governor of Agusan del Norte and proceeds will be given to the same (personal
interview 07-27-12A, 2010). Another MGB interviewee stated that the proceeds of the ore
29

disposal were to be utilized for the rehabilitation of the Taguibo Watershed (i.e. turbidity and
other non-point source pollution control) as well as to meet the needs of infrastructure projects of
the Provincial Government of Agusan del Norte (personal interview, 07-27-12A, 2010).
However, as described in various interviews with the PENRO and the MGB RO. No. XIII, the
mineral revenues never benefited the Provincial Government of Agusan del Norte. “Since the
manganese was stolen the provincial government was not able to raise that money” (personal
interview 07-08-6AA, 2010). Therefore, government agencies and public entities were unable to
apply the mineral revenues to broad-based socio-economic development.

Research Process and Methods
General Overview
The emergent design of this inquiry was grounded in the research paradigm which holds that
knowledge is generated or discovered in a particular context, and assumes active interaction
between the researcher and the researched in generating understanding (Lincon and Gubba,
1994). The ontological standpoint that guided this work is that of constructivism. Bryman
explains from this perspective the researcher acknowledges the importance of social leaders and
presents the view that reality is in constant flux; dependent on personal experiences (Bryman,
2004). This reflexive approach was applied by the researcher in order to ensure flexibility
throughout the study. In-depth interviews and participant observations are methods which are
compatible with the emergent research design of this inquiry process. Interviews were audio
recorded to facilitate note-taking and help add to the internal validity of this inquiry. Expanded
notes following participant observations, and, where acceptable, written notes were quickly
jotted down and photographs taken to capture the essence of the insiders’ perspectives. The

30

various perspectives gathered represent the basis which enabled the researcher to present both
empirical and value-laden interpretations of the institutional challenges present in the natural
resource-based conflict in the TRWFR.
This inquiry aimed to solicit insiders’ perspectives on the illegal operations which took place in
the Caraga Region through participatory and collaborative methods. Therefore, semi-structured
interviews, described by Bryman (2004), were employed as the data collection strategy during
fieldwork to investigate the views and understanding of interviewees regarding the unit of study,
that is the Taguibo Watershed management case (Bryman, 2004).

Follow-up interviews

occurred when time permitted to test the homogenous nature of stakeholder groups’ perceptions.
For this purpose an interview guide was developed. This guide contained the study’s key
information needs and main questions as well as more specific sub questions, which were used to
direct the interview. Further detail on the interview topics and key questions can be found in
Appendix II.
In addition, participant observations were also employed to further explore perceived impacts of
the illegal small-scale mining operations and various associated illegal activities by being able to
capture both verbal and non-verbal impacts. For example, I volunteered with the National
Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Caraga Region XIII office and took part in a tree
planting trip to a former metal mining site located on Mount Mayapay. The tree planting group
consisted of volunteers from ‘Habitat For Humanity: Florida’ sector, several NEDA workers, and
local indigenous community members from the mountain area. This particular participant
observation allowed the researcher to visualize the physical impacts of small-scale surface
mining on a steep mountainous area. In addition, spending time with men and women from the
indigenous community allowed for me as the research to be submerged in their culture. Hauling
31

trees and shovels up the mountain with the indigenous community allows the researcher to
understand just what a labor intensive task eating on a forming mining site can be.
Participant observations allowed the researcher to create more sophisticated questions to ask
future interviewees about their perspectives related to more specific impacts such as water
quality, livelihood priorities and assets. For example, interviews with Manobo tribal members
exposed me to real life examples of economic hardships, which demonstrated high priorities
placed by the indigenous communities on youth education and access to health care (personal
interview, 08-04-1A, 2010). This information helped me to craft specific questions directed
towards the Butuan City Water District (BCWD) to determine if any livelihood assistance
programs have been deployed by this agency for the purpose of assisting indigenous
communities impacted by BCWD activities.
Each interviewee is impacted by the watershed management decisions differently due to
variations in diverse aspects such as moral values, ideological views of the world and material
and economic circumstances; therefore customized interview guides were produced accordingly.
A majority of the interviews were conducted in English and audio-recorded with consent of the
interviewee as this allowed the researcher to focus on the conversation and the interviewee’s
answers and reactions (Bryman, 2004). For interviewees who did not speak English, a native
speaking translator was used to facilitate dialogue. A brief summary of the key points of the
interview was done afterwards. Additionally, each audio was analyzed thoroughly and entire
conversations were transcribed into verbatim text.

32

Procedure
This inquiry was largely conducted in the Caraga Region, Philippines. Due to the international
setting of the data collection process, resource and time constraints impacted the methodologies
and timeline. The intermediary, a well known academic figure from Father Saturnino Urios
University (FSUU), was known by the researcher before the investigation began, and was able to
connect subjects with the researcher. This was particularly important due to the unfamiliarity of
the area for the researcher. The intermediary, an FSUU affiliate, Lawyer, Butuan Resident, local
business owner and proud mother of four children made the initial contact with the various
governmental agencies and community stakeholders in the Butuan area. Additional contacts were
made through networking at initial interviews and during participant observation events.
Staff members at the FSUU have been working on trying to understand the diverse issues
surrounding mining in the TRWFR for years. This researcher was able to tap into the existing
knowledge revenues in order to gain access to relevant and actively involved community
residents. In addition, having the FSUU staff assist in creating initial connections allowed local
people to vouch for the researcher’s presence in the area, which in turn helped to validate a
neutral academic reputation in this inquiry process.
Specific times and locations of interviews were established via fax and text messages as that was
a culturally popular form of communication for all ages. Interviews were carried out in
convenient locations such as the subject’s place of employment, community centers or other
public places such as the City Hall or the FSUU lobby. The purpose of this was to increase the
interviewees’ comfort level and provide subjects with sufficient privacy when they answered the
interview questions.

33

Concepts which emerged from the in-depth interviews and participant observations helped to
refine and redirect interview guides for subsequent interviewees. Follow-up interviews took
place with two government agencies, the Provincial Department of Environment and Natural
Resource Office (PENRO) and the Butuan City Water District (BCWD). This approach allowed
for further details or clarifications to be obtained regarding the information mentioned during the
initial face-to-face interviews. In order to increase the internal validity of the findings, a second
and sometimes a third in-depth cultural interview was held with another interviewee from the
same institution.

Obtaining additional perspectives within the various homogenous groups

helped to reflect a more nuanced viewpoint and test the saturation level regarding the perceived
impacts of the illegal small-scale mining operations in the TRWFR.
Expanded notes and verbatim text generated from the data collection activities provided the
starting point for continuous data analysis throughout the research process. Preliminary codes
(with accompanying symbols, definitions, rules, and examples) related to interview concepts and
themes were developed. Codes were used to extract data that directly related to the main
research questions. The codes were then applied to the text of each unit of textual data collected
in the field. Summary statements were then created to group together evidence that helps to
answer each of the research questions.

These summary statements were used to create

conceptually clustered matrices for each of the research questions. The matrices facilitate easier
visualizations of the similarities and differences in the perceptions held by the different
homogenous groups included in this study. The matrices also helped to accentuate the important
relationships among the interview statements, which were important in answering the research
questions by providing the empirical evidence along with the credibility of that evidence.

34

Subject Population
The choice criteria for the subjects were any individuals who were currently employed
municipal, provincial or regional workers from different agencies with a mandate related to the
regulation or distribution of water or mineral ores. Such agencies include the: Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) and
the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) - both line agencies of the DENR; Community
Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO); Provincial Environment and Natural
Resources (PENRO); Department of Tourism (DOT) in Butuan City; Butuan City Water District
(BCWD); Local Government Units (LGUs) and the Department of the Interior and Local
Government (DILG). In addition, local Butuan residents who drank water directly from the
Taguibo River were interviewed along with tribal members identified by the National Council
for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) who rely on the natural resources nested in the TRWFR to
sustain their livelihood needs. Those included in this study were at least eighteen years of age;
male and female.

35

• BCWD
National

Regional

• DENR
• BCWD

MGB
EMB

• NEDA
PENRO
• DOT
Provincal • Police of Agusan del Norte
• LGU of Butuan City
• CENRO of Butuan City
Municipal • DILG of Butuan City

Figure 1 Hierarchy of Government Agencies involved in this inquiry
Note: For interpretation of the references to color in this and all other figures, the reader is
referred to the electronic version of this thesis.
The sample size was comprised of thirty one different interviewees in total. This number was
arrived at by optimizing the feasibility and reliability concerns. All together, the infield data
collection lasted for sixty-two days. The range of interviews allowed this researcher to achieve
two
sufficient reliability in the statements recorded within particular stakeholder groups (provincial,
recorded
municipal, indigenous peoples, local inhabitants who drank directly from the Taguibo River) to
test the homogeneity within groups.
Caraga is located in the northeast section of the island of Mindanao and is endowed with fertile
lands, numerous eco-tourism spots and abundant resources. It has four provinces, three cities,
tourism
seventy one municipalities and 1,306 barangays with a land area covering approximately
1,884,697 hectares, representing 6.3 percent of the country’s total land area and 18.5% of
6.3

36

Mindanao’s. Region XIII is the timber capital of the country, per DENR Administrative Order
No. 99-13, and it also supports many watersheds such as the Taguibo Watershed, which provide
clean drinking water for urban areas.
The total population of the region per census in year 2000 was 2,095,367. Based on data
available, the population growth rate was 1.63 percent annually between 1995 and 2000, which
is low compared to the country’s annual average growth rate for 1995-2000 of 2.36 percent
(NEDA, 2004-2010 report pg:3). In the 1995 and 2000 census, Caraga was the 2

nd

least

populous region in the country.
Table 1 Population of the Philippines and Caraga, CYs 1995 and 2000
Annual
Land area
Average
Population
1995
2000
(sq. Km)
Growth
Rate
Philippines
300,000.00 68,616,536 76,504,077
2.36
Bislig City
405.0
103,668
97,860
(0.99)
Butuan City
816.62
247,074
267,279
1.58
Surigao City
245.3
104,909
118,534
2.46
Agusan del
3637.6
267,411
285,570
1.32
Norte
Agusan del Sur
8965.5
514,736
559,294
1.67
Surigao del
2739.0
442,203
481,416
1.47
Norte
Surigao del Sur
4552.2
471,263
501,808
1.91
Caraga
20,710.9
1,942,687
2,095,367
1.63
Source: National Statistics Office

Population
Density
(2000)
255
242
327
483
79
62
176
110
101

From 2001 to 2003 Caraga region ranked fifth out of six regions in Mindanao in terms of the
Gross Regional Domestic Product (NEDA, 2004 report pg 4). During the 2001-2003 time span,
Caraga had a 0.9 percent economic growth rate compared to the 9.5 percent growth rate of
neighboring Region 12. In terms of per capita income, Caraga has the second lowest per capita
income among Mindanao regions and nationwide (NEDA, 2004 pg 4).

37

Table 2 Ranking of Regions in Per Capita Gross Regional Domestic Product, Mindanao Regions,
CYs 2002-2003
2002
2003
Region/ Year
PC
Rank
PC
Rank
GRDP
GRDP
IX
9,147
4
9,331
4
X
13,375
1
13,782
1
XI
12,080
2
12,286
2
XII
10,963
3
11,110
3
ARMM
4,455
6
4,493
6
XIII (Caraga)
4,900
5
4,823
5
Source: National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB), 2004;
Legend: PC GRDP- Per Capita Gross Domestic Product

Poverty incidence in the region decreased by 1.7 percent from 44.7 percent in 1997 to 42.9
percent in 2000 (NSCB, 2004). Another positive development is the increase in the regional
annual family income based on the 1997 and 2000 Family Income and Expenditure Survey,
which increased by 13.65 percent from Philippine Pesos (PhP) 717,126.00 in 1997 to PhP
81,519.00 in 2000. Regional annual family expenditure also posted a 16.65 percent increase,
from PhP 61,815.00 in 1997 to PhP 72,108.00 in 2000 (NSCB, 2004). Some suggest that the
establishment of new local infrastructure, particularly buildings such as the Gaisano Mall in
Butuan City “would not be standing without the presence of mining operations in the area”
(personal interview 07-16-11A, 2010). Buildings such as the Gaisano Mall help to boost the
local economy by generating employment, increasing income and stimulating economic activity
(NEDA, 2004). Contrary to the employment generation associated with new infrastructure (i.e.
the Gaisano Mall), the poor performance of the region’s economy still had a considerable dent on
the labor and employment situation in the region; meaning that there is serious unemployment in
the region.

38

Caraga’s labor and employment situation considerably declined between 2001 and 2003. The
unemployment rate from 2003 stood at 13.3 percent, a 1.5 percent and 3.8 percent increase from
2002 and 2001 respectively (Philippines Yearbook-PSY, 2003). According to the Region XIII:
Caraga Development Plan 2004-2010, the deterioration in the employment figures came with the
increase in the labor force of the region which increased 10.9 percent from 2002 to 2003. It is
also interesting to note that while the agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors still employ more
than half of the region’s labor force (53 percent in 1997 and 52 percent in 2002), the Service
sector’s share of the labor force has been increasing from 36 percent in 1997 to 39 percent in
2002 (PSY, 2004).
From a national perspective, Caraga Region is one of the most impoverished regions in the
country (NEDA, 2004). The region has the fourth highest family poverty incidence among all
the regions in the country for years 1997 and 2000, while among Mindanao regions, Caraga has
the third highest poverty incidence (NSCP, 2004). Recent poverty reduction programs shifted
from the dole-out method and espoused people empowerment (NEDA, 2004). Such projects
include the Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) Programs and the Integrated Forest
Management Agreements (IFMAs), “allowing claimants of the forested land to secure twentyfive years of tenure to ensure that socio-economic conditions of those farmers will be uplifted.
So that is our (DENR RO. No. XIII) ultimate goal” (personal interview 08-05-5A, 2010).
Data Collection
The path chosen in this inquiry was driven by the need to use methods which would most
effectively provide answers to the research questions. Key imperatives were the need to try to
assess the attitudes of underrepresented minorities in the Caraga Region by exploring the

39

sampled stakeholders’ perspectives related to the natural resource-based conflict associated with
the alleged small-scale mining operations inside the TRWFR.
In-depth interviews are effective in exploring new issues and are often used in conjunction with
other qualitative modalities (Biber and Levey, 2006). This method is compatible with the
emergent research design of this case study given the time constraints imposed and the eighteen
different heterogeneous stakeholder groups.
While in-depth interviews provide opportunities for exploring new ideas, participant
observations allowed for understanding the issues in context (Patton, 2002). Various participant
observations allowed for both verbal and nonverbal observations to be obtained to further
explore the four research questions. For example, I attended Sunday mass at Vineyard, a local
church in Butuan City with indigenous leaders and visited them in their communities. This
allowed me to catch both the non-verbal and verbal interactions that describe the livelihoods and
quality of water in the TRWFR. In addition, these observation exercises helped me to develop
more sophisticated questions to gain more examples of insider perspectives towards the social
and environmental impacts associated with the alleged illegal mining operations. For each of the
data collections, detailed expanded notes and/or verbatim transcripts were produced. This
textural data provided the input for data analysis.
Data Analysis
Glaser and Strauss (1967) and Lincoln and Guba (1985) describe one of the most common
analytical induction technique. This techniques assumes that:

40

1. Incidents are assigned to categories by comparing them to other units already assigned. If
some units don't fit any preexisting category, the researcher may have to create new
classifications.
2. While refining categories, the researcher must write rules or propositions that describe
the underlying meaning that defines the category. These rules help to refine the
categorization and help to "explore the theoretical dimensions of the emerging
categorization system."
3. The researcher searches for relationships and patterns across categories, and examines
propositional statements looking for connections.
4. Finally, the researcher simplifies and integrates data into a coherent theoretical structure.
(Wimmer & Dominick, 2003, 112-3)

Expanded notes and verbatim text generated from the thirty nine total data collection activities
provided the starting point for continuous data analysis throughout the research process. The
analysis followed on the tradition of Carney’s Ladder of Analytical Abstraction (1990). At the
end of each data collection activity, a preliminary analysis of text was conducted. This served
the dual process of informing subsequent data gathering, as well as identifying emerging
concepts and themes related to the research questions.
At the end of the observations, preliminary codes, related to the concepts and themes were
developed. These codes sought to extract data related to the research questions. For example,
“Graft” was used to represent interviewees’ speculations of the gain in capital assets through
dishonest, unfair or illegal means, especially through the abuse of one’s political positions.
Table 3 gives an example of how codes were developed.

41

Code
(symbol)
Graft (CP-G)

Table 3 Sample of Codes
Definition
Rule

Applies to the gain of money
or advantage by dishonest,
unfair or illegal means,
especially through the abuse of
one’s political position

Applied when an
respondent refers to an
observation regarding a
dishonest event that took
place between two or more
separate parties for the sole
purpose of elite capture of
natural resources and/or
wealth

These codes were shared with colleagues, in order to verify their appropriateness and
subsequently revised in order to more directly relate to the research questions. Appendix II
shows the codes which were used in the data analysis. I then applied the codes to the text of each
unit of textual data collected. Each unit of coded data was then summarized in terms of its
relation to the research questions. These summary statements were then used to make a
conceptual matrix for each research question.

The matrices summarized stakeholders’

perspectives on the environmental and social impacts incurred by the illegal mining operations
and their effect on livelihood options, water quality of the Taguibo River, distrust in those
responsible for monitoring the natural ecosystems, and suggestions for improving the
management of a protected watershed forest reserve.
The matrices facilitated easier visualization of the stakeholders’ perspectives regarding the
institutional challenges, weak government and growing awareness of the lack of the mining
companies aligning with local community’s livelihood priorities and national drinking water
standards. They accentuated the relationships which were important to the research questions,
provided empirical evidence, and served as the basis for explaining this natural resource-based

42

conflict through the lens of different heterogeneous groups in the Caraga Region. Section Two
provides a comprehensive outline of the results of the analysis.

Results
Mining and Sustainability Challenges in Region XIII Caraga
Macro-overview
Despite the vast natural resources found within Region XIII, the economic performance observed
within the Caraga Region has not promoted anchored broad-based socio-economic development
(personal interview 07-06-4A, 2010). Infield interviews with the eighteen different stakeholder
groups failed to uncover any personal observations of benefits associated with the illegal smallscale manganese mining in the watershed. Often times the lack of support for the illegal mining
was associated with the fact that benefits were unfairly distributed and the negative
environmental consequences were mainly impacting the marginalized upland farmers and low
land Butuan City residents. A few stakeholder groups spoke about the potential benefits of
small-scale mining operations, and stressed the importance of the operations being ‘legal’.
Furthermore, the interviewees stressed that legal operations allow for local government units
(LGUs) those who have political jurisdictions where the small scale mining permits (SSMP) are
granted to collect taxes, potentially leading to anchored socio-economic development.
Traditionally mineral revenues from legal operations accumulate at the LGU level.
Unfortunately, with illegal mining operations, the economic benefits go directly to the mining
companies and the negative externalities are experienced by the marginalized farmers in the
mountains.
Representatives from the BCWD point out, per records supplied by the DENR-MGB R.O. XIII
that “this region (Region XIII) is home to the largest deposits of gold, nickel, chromate,
43

manganese and silver” in the Philippines (personal interview 06-26-2A, 2010). The ‘Black
Mountain’ found within the TRWFR, also nested in the Hilong-Hilong Mountain Range, located
in Northeastern Mindanao, is observed and recorded to house some of the country’s highest
quality and quantity of Mn ore (personal interview 06-26-2A, 2010). The rich manganese
endowments make the Caraga Region, particularly the Taguibo watershed, a highly sought after
location for tenure rights (personal interview 6-26-2A, 2010).
According to some stakeholder groups interviewed, the Caraga Region is responsible for
producing “55% of the gross domestic production (GDP) for the whole Philippines”.
Surprisingly, one interviewee stated that the region is only receiving 15% of the GDP back” (IP
8-4-1A, 2010).

Even though the Caraga Region is currently the Mining Capital of the

Philippines (personal interview 7-27-12A, 2010); “The past three years, mining companies are in
the business of cutting into Caraga” (personal interview 7-20-13A, 2010); “mainly Chinese
companies are coming into the area to invest. As you may know, Chinese for the most part are
not the best people to talk to about mitigating environmental impacts or talking about sustainable
practices” (Personal interview 8-13-16AA, 2010).
From the perspective of the upland farmers, it is clear how dependent those communities are on
the forest products to sustain their livelihoods. Thus, any sort of disruption in the productivity of
the upland forests will have a lagged negative impact on the upland farmers. This is attributed to
the fact that the mining in the Taguibo watershed was also accompanied by other destructive
‘clearing’ activities in the uplands resulting in frequent landslides and turbid water. This caused
serious impacts on the upland farmers in the form of landslides and loss of crop land to newly
constructed access roads. This region houses some of the country’s last standing virgin forests

44

(personal interview: 7-26-1AAAA; 8-4-1A; 7-6-4A; 7-8-6AA, 2010), so deforestation also
results in the loss of biological diversity.
It is recognized by the DENR-MGB Region XIII, that the Caraga region currently has the highest
number of mining operations ever recorded; “we have 23 mining rights in the Caraga Region
right now” (personal interview 7-27-12A, 2010).

“Previously, the mining capital was in

Northern Luzon, and now it is here in Caraga” (personal interview 7-20-13A, 2010).
Commonly, stakeholder groups felt as though their local assets were underutilized by locals and
the benefits were sent far away for others’ benefit, while local people suffered. A local IP and
former construction company owner described this in a personal interview: “when it comes to
mining, they are bringing the land to Japan, they just give it away to China. They are giving my
land away, they are shipping it out! The land is not just staying here and being developed they
are getting the land” (personal interview 08-04-1A, 2010). Not only is the raw material being
shipped away; no additional value accrues locally. Raw material is shipped elsewhere to be
refined and processed.
Another interviewee expressed pure frustration with the impacts associated with the illegal
mining going on in the area: “We have suffered enough already and we don’t want to suffer
anymore”. This Butuan Resident and DOT employee is referring specifically to the lowland
water shortages as an end result of the various activities occurring in the uplands (personal
interview 07-16-11A, 2010).
The largest English-language web presence in the Philippines called the ‘Philippine Daily
Inquirer’, validated comments heard in the field (Higgins, 2002). This source reported that
Caraga is the new mining capital. Mining tenement maps issued in February of 2009 also

45

identified the Caraga region as the emerging mining capital in Asia. Many of the stakeholder
groups interviewed failed to make a positive connection between increasing mineral tenements
and rising economic and/or social well-being in the region. When local government officials
were interviewed, one lawyer in the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)
claimed that the natural resource management here in the region is very complicated. He said
“above the soil there are trees and below aside from the minerals we have our water sources so
it’s complicated” (personal interview 7-5-14A, 2010). Moreover, he insinuated that the
complication stems from disparities in land tenure. He continued, “Back where you come from,
you don’t have people living where they mine minerals, but here there are lots of people living in
the mountains and we can’t just kick them out of their lands” (personal interview 07-05-14A,
2010). Furthermore, Republic Act No. 8371, also known as the Indigenous Peoples Right Act
(IPRA), clearly stipulates in section 7 of paragraph c that indigenous peoples (IPs), which are
commonly understood to be the dominant ethnic population in the Hilong-Hilong Mountain
Range, have the right to stay in their territories and not be removed. It is further described in
section 7, paragraph d, that if displacement occurs as the result only of natural catastrophes, the
State shall endeavor to resettle the displaced IPs (IPRA, 1997).
Contrary to the generally negative perspectives of interviewees regarding the local mining
operations in the area, the Regional Director of the Department of Trade and Industry, Mr.
Brielgo O. Pagaran, points out that “the mining operations in the Caraga region have improved
the living conditions of the people in the countryside as many villagers, mostly IPs, find work
while tax revenues for the local governments also increase” (Crismundo, 2010). The glaring
implications of these ‘development projects’ however, result in conflicts around the access to,
control and use of the natural resources in the uplands and lowlands area throughout the Caraga
46

Region. Escalating community resistance against such development projects is not an isolated
story. As Mr. Pagaran says, one could consider this region “the center of resources conflict in
the Philippines” (Crismundo, 2010).
As pointed out by the National Census Office, fifty three-percent (53%), of the region’s
population is considered to be earning less than what is needed for daily survival (Reyes, 2010).
This emerging Asian mining capital hosts two of the poorest provinces in the country and a
majority of these mining permits are within the ancestral domains of the Manobo-Mamanwa
tribes but only five (5) Certificates of Ancestral Domain Claims/Titles were issued (Carrales,
2009).
Mining, Water and Livelihoods
Mining has potential adverse effects on livelihoods primarily through its impacts on land and
water resources.

In the Caraga Region, land rights were initially held by the IPs in the area.

“Actually the truth is the entire Caraga Region is claimed as ancestral domain” (personal
interview 07-16-11A). As described in the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 (IPRA) the
IPs of the area have the right to utilize those resources nested within their ancestral domains,
except those reserves intended for common and public welfare and service (IPRA Sect. 7
paragraph g, 1997). This means, because the Taguibo Watershed is a proclaimed watershed with
the main purpose “to serve as the primary source of irrigation and potable water for the residents
of Butuan City as well as the source of forest and non-forest based livelihood of the communities
living in the watershed” (personal interview 06-26-2A, 2010), the IPs in the area have to adhere
to prior mandates under Presidential Proclamation No. 1076 (1997).

47

On November 6

th

2006, a joint manifesto petition from San Antonio Tribal Council, San

Antonio, RTR, Agusan del Norte and Anticala Tribal Council, Butuan City was addressed to
“Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal Arroyo” requesting President Arroyo of the Republic of the
Philippines, to help the concerned tribal groups who are requesting alternative livelihood
opportunities to alleviate present economic problems they are facing in the TRWFR (Joint
Manifesto, 2006).
The IPs are asking to be granted a rightful possession of the manganese ore previously extracted
and stockpiled within the TRWFR with an estimated weight of 15,000 tons.

This is the same

stockpile of Mn ore that has been already granted to the provincial government of Agusan del
Norte. In addition, the IPs are also seeking control over the Mn ore still in the earth’s crust,
suggesting that IPs from the “Black Mountain” area are the legal owners of those minerals. The
local IPs claim to have legal rights to the Mn ore because it falls under the IPs ancestral domain
claims. It is important to point out that these same stockpiles of Mn ore being claimed by the IPs
are also being claimed by Mr. Zerda and McBern Mining Corporation (personal observation, 0727-12A, 2010).

Ironically, it is common knowledge that large portions of the previously

extracted Mn ore has already been stolen according to DENR-MGB, DENR-EMB and PENRO
Officials interviewed. It was unclear who was responsible for stealing the Mn ore from within
the Taguibo watershed, or even who the mineral ores rightfully belong to. However, the debate
over who should be rightful owners of the Mn ore continues today. According to some the
previous mayor of Butuan City, Mr. Plaza II, was both directly and indirectly responsible for
allowing illegal operations to occur inside the watershed.

48

Another request coming from the IPs is that three hundred hectares of land be excluded from the
Taguibo Watershed for the purpose of legal small-scale mining livelihood diversification
opportunities. As many interviews suggested, the small-scale mining tends to lead to ineffective
mining because of the lack of proper environmental mitigation practices and technologies
implemented in small-scale projects. As the DENR-MGB official describes “with small-scale
mining they do not have enough funds to have proper mitigation measures in place. Small-scale
mining groups are instead interested in extracting the raw materials at the lowest cost possible
and are not interested in protecting the environment” (personal interview, 07-27-12A, 2010).
A final request from the IPs was to disapprove, disallow and cancel the MPSA application of
United Philippines and China Mining Corp. (UPCMC) also referred as the AAM-Philippines
Natural Resources and Development Corp. It appeared to be common knowledge that the
UPCMC and the AAM-Philippines are the same company because they have the same office
address at Suite 601 A S & L Building, 1500 Roxas Boulevard, Ermite, Manila. More recently,
the UPCMC and the AAM-Philippines were later referred to as the United Lumad Mining
Corporation (ULMC). It was pointed out during infield interviews with various provincial and
regional officials in the Caraga Region, that the ULMC

6

was responsible for the illegal

extraction of Mn ore as well as road construction/rehabilitation and illegal timber harvest in the
area. Almost every stakeholder group, with the exception of the CENRO and Taguibo
Community members, informed the researcher in personal conversation that numerous civil
cases have been filed against ULMC President Mr. Roger Patanao for being responsible for the
mining and road construction in the watershed area. As the local IPs continue to bear the cost of

6

UPCMC also known as AAM-Phil, was even further converted into what is now referred to as
the ULMC which is run by Mr. Roger Patanao as President.
49

the various illegal operations it did not take long before the upland farmers and IPs voiced their
concerns regarding the negative environmental impacts the illegal mining is having on their local
natural resources. Hence, one of the tribal leaders (a datu) stepped up and acted as a prime
witness in a court hearing against Roger Patanao to convict him and his workers for the
destruction of the watershed area (personal interview, 07-08-1AA, 2010).
Weak Local Government Units
Unfortunately, existing institutional arrangements favor promotion of mining over its regulation
or its synergy with economic development. The idea of the manipulative use of power in the
form of funds or political clout was described by all but two stakeholder groups. This elite
capture of goods through inappropriate use of power was referred to in the coding process as
7

graft . Graft was described as often resulting in conflicts and/or tension over water and other
natural resources. This tension tends to hound communities in this region.
A former Parish Priest of Ampayon described this dishonest behavior of the LGU in Butuan City
in relation to the TRWFR case: “In implementing the laws of the land, the local government
officials would be the ones to impose and implement the law but they are the ones violating the
laws” (Personal interview 08-10-18A, 2010).
This comment followed the opening question which asked the interviewee to describe his
perception of the illegal mining, road construction and timber harvest that occurred in the
Taguibo watershed from approximately late 2003 to early 2010. He stated that part of being a
parish priest in the diocese is carrying-out capacity building exercises as a way to help fellow
Christians sustain their livelihood needs.

The interviewee described various negative

7

Applies to the gain of money of advantage by dishonest, unfair or illegal means, especially
through the abuse of one’s political position
50

environmental impacts associated with the mining projects such as frequent landslides and
noticeable changes in climate. The negative impact of the mining operation on local ecosystem
services was the key reason why the diocese reached out to the local farmers in the Ampayon
area.
The interviewee described that when he was assigned as the priest in the area he tried to educate
and give some sort of forum for those farmers and others who are living among destructive
mining operations. The purpose of this was to act as a way to allow the members a place to
share concerns and potentially fill knowledge gaps related to dynamic nature between humans
and the environment. He went on to say that only a few participants were interested in listening
to the information mainly because they were comfortable with current mining practices. The
interviewee believed this to be somewhat normal seeing that the local barangay officials are
being pressured by the Butuan City administration to proceed with current development
mechanisms-- timber harvest, small-scale mining and high chemical input farming. A transcript
of from the forum summarizes some of the main comments of local farmers from the Ampayon
area:
“Some (local Ampayan farmers) would say that there are some local officials involved in the
illegal activities (illegal mining & timber harvest etc.). Sometimes, they (LGU in Butuan under
Plaza II family) use policemen to protect them, acting as their escort. Most people would not
give any comment because they know that it is people of a particular local government unit who
are involved. They (local farmers) would not make any comment regarding what was seen
especially if those activities are clearly coming from local government and local officials.”
(Personal interview 08-10-18A, 2010)

This quote points out that most people understand that the LGU in Butuan City, under the
previous administration led by the Plaza family is responsible in part for the illegal activities.
51

Thus not only is graft an issue but so is fear of political retaliation. Fear was a common feeling
expressed among all but two stakeholder groups (the CENRO and the Regional DENR offices).
Fear becomes an issue for government workers, especially, for those individuals or groups of
individuals who do not align with the Plaza II family’s actions and values. Through my personal
interviews with the CENRO forester, I learned that he was personally elected by previous mayor
Plaza to run the office. In a subsequent interview with the NEDA office I inquired about the
CENRO of Butuan City’s, involvement with the illegal mining operations in the watershed.
Electronic photographs were presented during the NEDA interview which represented Mayor
Plaza’s son and various LGU officials from Butuan City blocking various multi-sectored
(provincial, national, and municipal) investigation teams from analyzing the environmental
impacts of the illegal mining operations in the watershed area.
Various land tenure systems were approved in the Caraga region through the Regional DENR
after the region was already proclaimed a watershed. This marks one of the many discrepancies
in the natural resources tenure systems found within the TRWFR. The overlapping Community
Based Forest Management Agreements (CBFMAs) and Caraga Ancestral Domain Claims
(CADCs) were approved well after the P.D. No. 1076

8

was enacted in 1997. The Manobo-

Mamanwa Tribal Communities Development Cooperative certificate No. 70022 was issued in
2003 covering 2,562 hectares of land; the Kablay Tree Planters Association Inc. (KPTAI)
certificate number 70009 was issued in 1999 covering 1,282 hectares of land; and the Anticala
Tribal Sellers Association (ATRISA) Certificate number 70007 was also issued in 1999
including 1,000 hectares of land (DENR website, 2010). Therefore, the Manobo-Mamanwa
Tribes which are seeking primary jurisdiction and control over the land and the subsequent
8

Presidential proclamation proclaiming the Taguibo River a protected watershed forest reserve
52

resources do not legally have that right because their certificates were granted after the
Presidential Proclamation. This ruling is outlined in the Republic Act No. 8371 also known as
the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 (IPRA, 1997). Section 56 describes they must follow
existing tenure laws.
Table 4 Tenure Systems within the Biophysical boundaries of the Taguibo Watershed
Land Tenure
Issue Year
IPRA No. 8371

1997

P.D. No. 1076

1997

TCDC No. 70022

2003

KPTAI No. 7009

1999

KPTAI No. 7007

1999

As a result of the Taguibo watershed being proclaimed a protected area in 1997, the
administrative jurisdiction, supervision and control of the forest reservation is given to the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources in coordination with Butuan City Water
District (BCWD) and other government agencies with the objective of maintaining the area’s
usefulness as a source of water for domestic use, irrigation and other forestry purposes. It is
important to point out that this gives DENR and BCWD the lead control over the watershed and
its nested resources (i.e. water and forestry products). The BCWD is a government owned and
controlled corporation responsible for providing clean and safe potable water to over 300,000
residents in the greater Butuan area.
To date (June 2011), the conflict between the BCWD and the IPs continues as to whether IPs
should be entitled to a share of BCWD’s gross profit from water rights. The conflict is not
53

resolved and debates continue between the two stakeholder groups. The IPs from the watershed
area think the BCWD should provide the IPs with economic or social development compensation
9

for the river water taken from within the CADC (No. 178). As previously stated, the BCWD is
a national agency and must go through extensive bureaucratic processes to change any aspect of
their budget, which provides the BCWD with a reason/excuse as to why they cannot easily
provide compensation to the IPs for the water extraction.
Mining activities have fundamentally altered the spatial extent of livelihood resource bases,
leading to unsustainable intensification and increasing livelihood insecurity. Personal interviews
from 2010 show that upland farmers, a majority of which are IP’s, struggle to maintain
productive farm lands. This is because of landslides and new land-use rules imposed on those
residing within the TRWFR. As described throughout the field research the main source of
livelihood for the IPs in the San Antonio area is comprised of subsistence farming of maize, as
well as upland rice, vegetables and banana production (personal interview 07-30-8A; 07-301AA; 08-04-1A, 2010). “The erosion has destroyed our farming; our farms have been rushed out
through landslides” (personal interview 07-30-1AA, 2010). “I think one of the marked effects of
that activity (illegal mining and associated activities in the TRWFR) is when we plant banana
trees they turn dry quickly and they just die. I only think, I do not know for sure, but maybe
because of the use of chemicals in the mining process is causing the bananas to just die”
(personal interview 07-30-8A, 2010).
Another side effect perceived to be associated with the said illegal activities in the watershed is
the decreasing crop yields observed by the upland farmers. Some IPs associate the decreasing

9

Caraga Ancestral Domain Claim
54

crop yields with the fact that they are no longer allowed to till their farms or use chemical inputs
within the watershed area. One interviewee said, “we really observed diminish in our crop
product” (personal interview 07-30-1AAA). After the enactment of the P.D. No. 1076, chemical
fertilizers and pesticides are no longer permitted for use inside the watershed boundaries. This
presidential decree also bans the traditional way of farming: slash and burn techniques. It
appears that social relations were also impacted by the activities and associated mandates
described above. “The first time I learned our ancestral domain is part of the watershed area in
2004, I realized that we have lost the rights to our ancestral domain. We feel like we lost the
rights over the land because it is part of the watershed which is a protected area” (personal
interview 07-30-1AA, 2010).
Various IP’s from the San Antonio area and “Datu Pantagan” Gregorio Antong, who were
interviewed at their regular meeting center (similar to a town hall which was in sight of the
mining area in mount Hilong-Hilong), directly correlated increasing average temperatures in the
mountain area to deforestation accompanying the illegal Mn mining operations (personal
interviews 07-30-8A; 07-30-1AA; 08-04-1A, 2010).

Many further explained that the main

source of their livelihoods is vegetable farming. Not only do upland farmers depend on selling
surplus agriculture produce to the lowlanders as an additional source of income, the lowlanders,
particularly Butuan Residents, depend on those vegetables for their subsistence needs.
The systematic nature of biophysical watersheds means that all social, environmental and even
economic elements impact each other.

Not only are upland activities impacting lowland

livelihoods; changing mean temperatures in the mountains will potentially jeopardize the overall
sustainability of this Region by deteriorating the comparative advantage of upland mountain
vegetable farming plots and the water regulator capabilities of the forest areas.
55

As mean

temperatures in the mountains increase farmers are being forced to plant alternative (heat and
drought tolerant) crops. As the former parish priest of Ampayon states:
“A lot of farmers who plant vegetables try to divert their livelihoods. One time I asked one
farmer why before he was planting vegetables now he is planting flowers? He responded because
flowers can be transported very easily compared to vegetables and flowers can be put in a basket
and brought to city without any more expense than vegetables. And another consequence if we
continue to plant vegetables considering the area is polluted and changed; we now need more
chemicals and fertilizers which is very expensive and our government is not really serious in
supporting us (the local farmers) in regards to subsidizing the expenses in planning vegetables or
other forms of agricultural products.”
(Personal interview 08-10-18A)
Various IPs described crop yeild reductions observed post illegal mining operations. This is
perceived to have a detrimental direct effect on the livelihoods of farmers, adding to the current
poverty level and worsening hunger among the IP communities. Because the Butuan City
residents are very much dependent on the agricultural products from the upland IPs, they too will
feel the repercussions of diminishing agricultural yields as fewer and fewer vegetables make it to
the market.
As pointed out by many interviewees, poverty in the upland areas is a serious problem. The
RDENR officer replied when asked about their general perception regarding the illegal mining
activities “the real issue is maybe poverty. Like why do people do illegal and negative activities,
well because they do not have economic opportunities, so we cannot blame them” (personal
interview 08-05-5A, 2010). There is no question that, the IPs in the watershed area, are being
hired by the illegal mining companies, specifically the ULMC owned by Roger Patanao, to work
as miners. One of the many IPs from the area interviewed explained that there is a lack of fair
compensation being provided to the IPs, from the BCWD in the form of economic compensation
(i.e. money, hospitalization, education for children) for use of the Taguibo River (personal
interview 08-04-1A, 2010). The same IP pointed out that because of IPs lack of access to
56

livelihood opportunities, “they resort to other forms of income be it illegal or legal mining or
logging” (personal interview 08-04-1A). As one Datu points out, “the forest is the source for
what we call the market, we get food, wood it is our source of livelihood” (personal interview
07-26-1AAAA, 2010). So as expected, when the IPs populations grow

10

, added stresses are

being placed on the forests’ ability to regenerate at an appropriate rate to supply needed food and
fiber materials.
Taguibo River Concerns
All stakeholder groups interviewed expressed a genuine desire for an integrated watershed
management approach to maintain the Taguibo River. During the rainy season, Butuan City
residents are without water, which is counterintuitive. As a local government representative
commented, “heavy rains means no water, and when it doesn’t rain we have water, strange”
(personal interview 07-01-3A, 2010). Many interviewees explained the water shortage issue in
the Butuan City area to be a result of turbidity which is caused from the erosion of upland soils
that during heavy rains get washed down the mountain. The roads used for transporting the
mined Mn ore act as a conveyor for the siltation to end up in the Taguibo River and neighboring
tributaries. As records from DENR RO. No. XIII state, the roads were constructed illegally, as it
is against jurisdiction for construction or heavy equipment to be carried out in a protected
watershed area (personal interview 06-26-2A, 2010). The principle road construction project
managers as required by the IPRA law section 59 titled Certification Precondition to obtain
FPIC before project operations begin (personal interview 06-26-2A, 2010); however, there is no
written record of a Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) signed by the responsible IPs in the
watershed area.
10

or as low- land residents from Butuan City migrate to the upland areas (personal interview 0714-6AAA)
57

According to many interviewees, the main contributor of river turbidity is road construction (also
referred to as rehabilitation). The newly constructed road systems lack proper drainage. These
roads were supposedly funded by the Local Government under the previous Butuan City Mayor
D. Plaza II’s ‘Farm to Market Road’ project. The supposed purpose of the road extension project
was to connect Butuan City with San Antonio, RTR for the purpose of allowing upland farmers
to more easily access the markets in the lowland areas to distribute marketable goods. The road
was actually used to transport the illegally extracted mineral ore and timber that was obtained
from the mining areas and old working tunnels

11

located in the San Antonio, RTR area

(personal interview, 07-20-13A, 2010). Additional photographs were shown during an initial
interview with NEDA and BCWD officials who captured a shot of the IPs log book which is an
ongoing record of any vehicle that passes through the IPs territory. This particular territory is
within the watershed; the log book had recorded vehicles license plates and signatures of drives
hauling Mn ore out of the watershed heading south towards Butuan City.
An interview with an FSUU staff member described the complex nature behind actions that must
be taken when the turbidity in the river surpasses allowable limit five Nephelometric Turbidity
Units (5NTUs):
“The turbidity caused the more immediate and tangible problem. Every time there was
moderately heavy rain, we really did not have water supply in the city (Butuan City) how
horrible is that. No water in the city! That was the main problem, the reliability of water. If you
have no water you can only imagine the problems that arise with that. Then you have to wait for
the water to clear, BCWD before turning the Infiltration Gallery back on they must flush all 7
filters. So the thing is every time that happens the water pressure goes down and you have
siltation in the pipes”
(Personal interview 08-13-16AA)

11

“Area 9 which has all the old American tunnels this is the most exposed area for manganese.
Right at the bottom of the tunnel were stockpiles of Mn.” (personal interview 07-27-12A, 2010)
58

Additional water quality concerns raised are as follows: Many community members
demonstrated overall frustration in their interviews with the reliability and safety of the BCWD’s
potable water source. BCWD interviewees were among those who discussed the common
complaints coming from concessionaries and put them into two categories, water security and
safety issues. A Butuan City Water District lab technician stated:
“We did have complaints. A year ago so we did an information drive on illegal activities and
safety in the Taguibo Watershed. I think the customers are also satisfied. So during that time the
main concern is how safe is the water.”
(Personal interview 07-26-2C, 2010)
Personal conversations with IPs in the San Antonio area point to a discrepancy particularly
relating to the lack of water distribution and infrastructure found in the area. When asked where
IPs and their families obtain their drinking water, it was commonly pointed out that residents
fetch their water from local springs in the mountains near their agricultural lands.

This

information was contrary to what was stated during interviews with BCWD staff (personal
interviews 07-30-1AAA; 07-30-1AA, 2010). Additionally, residents situated adjacent to the
infiltration gallery, who had access to reliable infrastructure chose not to use the water provided
by the infiltration gallery. One Taguibo resident stated: “until now we have never drank that
water, because we are afraid of the consequences of drinking that water the BCWD provides.
We are afraid of the microbes and the germs” (personal interview 07-29-15A, 2010). “Until now
we don’t drink the water we just buy water. We get our water from a different source we use the
local deep wells” (personal interview 07-29-15A, 2010). Furthermore, this same community
member explained in the interview some of the health impacts of contaminated water. The
community member stated “my neighbors have been experiencing troubles, their children have
upset stomachs from drinking the water provided by BCWD” (personal interview 07-29-15A,

59

2010). Other neighboring residents responded “my mother was hospitalized for diarrhea and
most likely that is from dirty water” (personal interview 08-12-17AA, 2010).
Water quality downstream of the manganese ore mining sites often failed to meet Philippine
National Water Standards.

Exceeding the legal limits of .04mg/L of heavy metal (Mn)

contamination forces BCWD to shut off the potable water pipelines to the Butuan City
concessionaries for extended periods of time (personal interview 06-26-2A, 2010). Laboratory
work done by and recorded at the BCWD office, demonstrates that between February 2009 to
April 2009 manganese levels well exceeded the permissible limit (personal interview 06-26-2A,
2010). Lab records from the BCWD also recorded turbidity levels in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2009
12

exceeded the legally allowable levels, surpassing 5 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTUs)

(personal interview 06-26-2A, 2010). Community respondents report increased incidences of
human ill-health and elevated levels of water cloudiness. Concerns about impacts of mining on
water underline the resistance to mining in the region. Interviews with all eighteen stakeholder
groups showed that residents’ primary concerns regarding the illegal mining were on the effect
that mining would have on the quality and quantity of water.

This can be tied to the fact that

water shortage issues have become part of the norm (personal interview 07-16-11A, 2010).
Everyone except the privileged, wealthy few, are forced to drink water from the contaminated
and unreliable Taguibo watershed. During the second round of interviews at the BWCD it was
made clear that the current task at hand for the laboratory officials was monitoring the water
quality supplied to their concessionaries. One respondent from the BCWD stated:

12

This water quality measurement is used in determining the turbidity, cloudiness, or haziness
of a fluid caused by individual particles (suspended solids) that are generally invisible to the
naked eye.
60

“So during that time (when illegal mining operations were taking place 2004-2010) the main
concern (coming from concessionaries) is how safe is water and then the comment that there is
no water during that time because we (BCWD) are forced to shut-off our water source because of
turbid water. We (BCWD employees) are concerned if there are increases in Mn or any other
heavy metal for that matter or foreign materials in our water, we will be forced to shut-down our
infiltration gallery to check if it is safe to use the water. So that is why we shut-off our
infiltration gallery to check if it is safe to use. We cannot compromise health of consumers.
Better to not have water rather than to giving them unsafe water. It would be like killing them
softly and we are the ones responsible, oh my gosh!”
(Personal interview 07-26-2C, 2010)
Not only is the water posing health concerns, it is also impacting local revenue generating
activities in the city. As one DOT employee points out, the water quality creates challenges for
the tourism industry. If foreigners travel to the area in hopes of a nice vacation, and are
confronted with no water in hotels and overall unsanitary living conditions, the likelihood of
them staying or returning in the future greatly declines. An excerpt from an in-depth interview
with one DOT employee provides a summary of the general frustration felt among Butuan
visitors and lifelong residents.
“We have received feedbacks from tourists specifically in Butuan City complaining about the
water quality in the early part of last year (2009). Since we started to feel the effects of mining
we see the destruction and the effects of it to our water supply. For instance, there were tourists
complaining in one hotel of the water quality in his bathroom. He does not like to take a bath
anymore because the water was dark. So that is one negative effect to the people here in Butuan
City. Basically though on top of it all, we are drinking that same ‘dark’ water, we are using the
same water for our baths. We hated it! During that time if you see the Face book there are a lot of
negative comments about the watershed, like ‘ What are they doing?’ ‘What kind of water do we
have?’ Especially during the rainy season instead of enjoying a strong flow of water in our
faucets we don’t have any water. Which it’s very ironic we are suppose to have a lot of water
during the rainy season but there is none not even a drop of water then. So what’s this at the
expense of people, so there was an outraged during that time.”
(Personal interview 07-16-11A)

61

Mining and Conflict
Once communities became aware of the effect the encroaching mining operations were having
13

on tenure rights and livelihood assets , they realized that their abilities to cope with the
environmental and economic changes were not clearly defined. With the current mining system
in the Caraga Region, responsibilities are fragmented and so is authority related to the
distribution and regulation of natural resource-based assets.

This leads to non-harmonized

efforts to manage the watershed and the nested resources. In conjunction with fragmented
stakeholder groups, there also exist great disparities among the various mandates describing how
power should be dispersed among the stakeholder groups regarding the monitoring, protecting,
and sustainable development of the natural resources found within the TRWFR. Although the
land is a proclaimed watershed forest reserve and is owned by the State as public property; parts
of the watershed are claimed as an Ancestral Domain which makes it also privately owned.
The system described above has the characteristics of what interviewees described as ‘lack of
effective institutional arrangements’. Similar to ‘lack of effective institutional arrangements’,
‘weak local government’ was another broad theme which emerged during the inquiry process.
As described by key informants in this inquiry process, ‘political rivalry’ and ‘captured power’
were used to describe insiders’ perceptions of weak local governance in the region.
Lack of Effective Institutional Arrangements
Over the years in the development domain, there has been growing recognition of the role that
institutions and governance structures play in shaping the prospects for economic growth and
broad-based social welfare around the extractive industry (ICMM a, 2006). Among all

13

Particularly the Philippines clean water sources and productive farm lands
62

stakeholder groups agreed that local government units should ‘spearhead’ activities related to
protecting and sustainably developing the local natural resources for the benefit of all peoples,
especially marginalized ones (i.e. women, children, indigenous peoples). However, just over half
of the stakeholder groups (10), believed that the local indigenous peoples (IPs) in the Taguibo
Watershed are more equipped than other groups to be able to effectively manage the watershed
area and resources. Therefore, local IPs are viewed more effective environmental “watchdogs”
than government officials. Unlike the local Butuan residents interviewed, a majority of the local
IPs reside in the difficult to reach rural terrain in the watershed area and thus, are the most
familiar with the remote areas. Furthermore, these IPs are believed to be the best equipped to
monitor cases of illegal natural resource-based extraction/harvesting operations within the
TRWFR.
“They (all Datu’s) have all the rights to apprehend any illegal interests in the area because the
tribal leaders are very well known, they really actually know the area very well. Even when the
community people cannot enter the area because they don’t have prior consent, the tribal leaders
are already there. So if ever there are illegal operations in the area the tribal leaders really know
because it is not easy to penetrate the area without the consent from the tribal leaders. So if ever
we could find illegal activity in the area the tribal leaders know really who is the person
conducting those illegal activities. So the DENR is supporting the tribal leaders as Forest
Protection Officers.”
(Personal conversation with two Community Development Assistant Officers from the PENRO,
07-14-6AAA, 2010)

Contrary to the popular belief that IPs who currently reside in the mountain area are best suited
to manage the resources, the legal mandates suggest otherwise. Primary jurisdiction over the
watershed is given to the BCWD and the RDENR. Unfortunately, current governing rules and
legal mandates prevent such alternative natural resource management systems from putting IPs
in charge of natural resource monitoring. Republic Act No. 7160, also referred to as the ‘Local
63

Government code of 1991’, clearly outlines the duties, general powers and new local autonomy
given to the State level.
Section 2- Declaration of Policy(a) It is hereby declared the policy of the State that the
territorial and political subdivisions of the State shall
enjoy genuine and meaningful local autonomy to enable
them to attain their fullest development as self-reliant
communities and make them more effective partners in
the attainment of national goals. Toward this end, the
State shall provide for a more responsive and accountable
local government structure instituted through a system of
decentralization whereby local government units shall be
given more powers, authority, responsibilities, and
resources. The process of decentralization shall proceed
from the national government to the local government
units.
Personal conversations with a Regional Office of the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources further explored the implications of this act by describing who was to be the lead
agency when complaints were filed in the TRWFR regarding illegal mining and associated
activities. The interviewed forest management specialist responded, “The actions are bottom up,
all actions come from the CENRO, they have the knowledge of their area so they are the ones
who will directly go into the areas” (personal interview 08-05-5A, 2010).
As the above quote points out, the LGUs, specifically the Community Environment and Natural
Resources Offices (CENRO) are a devolved power. This allows for a more bottom-up approach
to be employed, yet the DENR still holds the final say. Conversations with NEDA and other
government agencies, suggested that “supposedly if you look at the whole scenario it should be
the DENR as the Mother Agency because it is a proclaimed watershed” (personal interview 0706-4A, 2010).

Furthermore, the general understanding among those interviewed was

summarized by a key informant from the DENR-MGB RO. No. XIII stating that:
64

“After the approval (of small-scale mining permits) it is the LGUs who will implement the laws
but the oversight functions remain to the DENR. The implementation is a function of the LGUs
because this function has been devolved to them meaning the implementation and regulation of
these functions are all devolved to the LGUs but the DENR still has its oversight functions on
this because they are the national agency. So that is why every now and then they call for
assistance from us the national government.”
(Personal interview 07-27-12A, 2010)
The Republic Act No. 7160 gave autonomy to local government units. As previously described
in section one of this thesis however, if the government units on the receiving end of the power
lack sufficient capacity at the local level to effectively, efficiently and responsively use their
newly obtained political authority for the greater good of the entire community, then complex
challenges may become the norm when dealing with natural resource-based issues.
Unfortunately, this is common in the case of the Taguibo Watershed. A local Butuan resident
who is also a FSUU staff member describes in an in-depth interview that local political
institutions in Butuan City are not fulfilling their job requirements as outlined in various
mandates such as the Local Government Code.
“We asked for the local government code because we wanted to be independent, we wanted to be
our own king in our own kingdom. And now, when they (LGUs) are asked to do something, they
don’t want to be king they want someone else to do the job for them. That is the real reason we
have the local government code because these local officials are asking for local autonomy and
now they are given autonomy and now they don’t do anything with those powers-very bad
people!”
(Personal interview 08-17-16A, 2010)

“I was reading the laws, we don’t lack laws. We just lack the political will to enforce those laws.
Like the DENR they don’t need a watershed management council to do their work, they can
already go there and do everything that is being proposed in the Taguibo Watershed
Management plan”
(Personal interview 08-17-16A, 2010)

65

An employee of the Department of Tourism Region XIII went on to further describe the lack of
action-ability on the part of the LGUs because of their lack of political will. The DOT employee
stated: “It’s really a matter of political will if these laws can be strictly implemented. The local
leadership is lax about the laws nothing is going to happen; or worse, if they (local governmental
officials) are not aware or not even conscious of what the laws are- well that is the worst
scenario. So many laws already we do not need to formulate some more new laws. The truth is
everybody is already confused, so many laws; so many things to break” (personal interview 0716-11A, 2010). “Really the problem boils down to the political will of the LGU’s to impose or
to not impose environmental laws which were vested in them though the decentralization
process” (personal interview 07-16-11A, 2010).
Lack of clarity is a theme which was described during an interview with a newly elected Butuan
City Government Official (personal interview 07-01-3A, 2010) where the interviewee described
confusion to be a source of error on the part of political leaders to enforce the diverse range of
laws. Confusion is created because of the lack of clarity in the description of the ‘rules or
institutions’ in place in the Caraga region. An active faculty member at FSUU also described
lack of clarity as the cause of low effectiveness to manage the watershed and other natural
resources on the part of the LGU. The local faculty member responded as follows:
“It (the decentralization process) does not cause confusion. Like you are asked to take care of
your watershed within your area, I think that is easy you go there and take care of that and if you
need help you go to national agencies and tell them you don’t have proper capacity. In fact they
are the lead agencies, the LGUs.”
(Personal interview 08-17-16A)

66

Clearly, there are mixed opinions on the reasons why local government units are not carrying out
their described job responsibilities. There is, however, consensus among stakeholders that the
lack of enforcement of existing environmental laws is at least partly caused by a lack of
collaboration among concerned parties whose main mission is to successfully and sustainably
manage local natural resources.

Weak Local Governance
The dynamic natural resource-based conflicts nested in the TRWFR stem from what most
believe to be devolution of power from the national government down to the local government
units (LGUs). It was described by many interviewees that the LGUs should be the lead agency
when it comes to the protection, regulation and distribution of natural resources within their
jurisdictions to “attain their fullest development as self-reliant communities” (LGC, 1991). All
of the eighteen stakeholder groups pointed out the DENR is to act as the oversight agency when
it comes to the protection, regulation and sustainable development of the natural resources in the
protected forested areas, such as the TRWFR. Personal conversation with EMB staff clearly
demonstrates the dynamic and overlapping characteristic of natural resource-based management
in the Caraga region:
“Once the forest is impacted the water will also be impacted because they are connected. At this
moment it is the LGU and DENR who have responsibility to protect the forest area. And also
there are some indigenous people who live in the watershed area so maybe it is the NCIP who
also are involved. The NCIP help these indigenous people. Then I think there are local units like
the Barangay of Anticala who have also taken part in helping preserve the forested area in the
Taguibo River. For now I think each government works but separate; we do not have close
coordination. Once we create this Watershed Management Plan, then we will bring together the
responsible agencies political officers and IPs in the area.”
(Personal interview 08-12-13C, 2010)

67

However, one employee of the NEDA RO. No. XIII stated that the DENR is to be the “Mother
Agency because the area is a proclaimed watershed” (personal interview 07-06-4A, 2010).
Specifically related to the regulation, management and use of water and metallic mineral ores
there is an additional overlap in jurisdiction which resulted in the tendency of one stakeholder
group (BCWD) to blame another group for failure to do their jobs. The BCWD engineer had
filed a civil complaint against four other government officials

14

for “grave misconduct,

negligence and unjustifiable refusal to perform official duties” (personal interview 06-26-2A,
2010). This fragmentation of authority can be seen within the management of potable water
distribution in the Caraga region, mainly Butuan City.

For the purpose of this report,

fragmentation of authority describes a distribution or regulation role over natural resources (i.e.
land, water and minerals) that calls on multiple concerned government agencies to collaborate in
a integrated approach, as outlined by the laws governing such resources in order to achieve some
form of common ground acceptable to all stakeholder groups.
The Butuan City Water District (BCWD), which is responsible for supplying over 300,000
residents with a clean and safe water source is also a government-owned and controlled
corporation (GOCC) (personal interview 06-26-2A, 2010); meaning that it also has legal
mandates to follow (personal interview 07-26-2C, 2010). The source of water for the BCWD is
the Taguibo River

15

.

The delineation of the Taguibo watershed was prepared by the

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and it is under the administrative
14

PENRO officer, Rosendo A. Asunto; Regional Executive Director DENR Region 13,
Edilberto S. Buiser; CENR officer for Butuan City, Achilles C. Ebron; CENR officer for
Cabadbaran, Raul A. Rosales
15
Which was proclaimed as the Taguibo River Watershed Forest Reserve (TRWFR) under
Presidential Proclamation No. 1076
68

jurisdiction of the DENR. Supervision and control of the reservation is also in coordination with
BCWD as primary stakeholder.
Other government agencies are active in achieving the same objective of maintaining the
Taguibo Watershed use as a source of water for domestic use, irrigation and other forestry
purposes (personal interview 06-26-2A, 2010).
respondent pointed out R.A. No. 8371

16

,

During an interview with the BCWD, a

Section 7 paragraph g- Right to Claim Parts of

Reservations. It states, that recognized IPs have “The right to claim parts of the ancestral
domains (land and nested resources) which have been reserved for various purposes (land uses),
except those reserved and intended for common and public welfare and service” (IPRA, 1997).
This demonstrates that the IPs do not have legal jurisdiction over land that is being used to serve
the common welfare of other community members. They therefore do not have legal backing to
demand any percentage of the compensation from BCWD’s gross income. Furthermore, the fact
that the Taguibo River Forest Reserve was proclaimed a protected watershed just months before
the IPRA law was enacted and years before the CADC No. 178 was issued and resulted in a
discrepancy in the primary tenure system to be followed. This provided the BCWD with a legal
advantage.

The BCWD being a government owned and operated business and being the ones

who were first given right to use and protect the watershed, also means that they do not have to
provide the IPs with compensation for the utilization of some of the water from the Taguibo
River.
Recap, CADC No. 178; CBFM Areas Certificate numbers 70022, 70007, 70009 and the P.P. No.
1076 were issued in 2004, 2003, 1999, 1999 and 1997; respectively. Thus, as outlined in the

16

also known as Indigenous Peoples Right Act (IPRA) of 1997
69

concerned laws described above regarding watershed management, the DENR has primary
control. This was then given to the BCWD which is the main stakeholder, followed by the
EMB’s pollution control division, Regional City Health Office and the other concerned Local
Government Units (personal interview 08-12-13C, 2010). The overlapping mandates governing
the above listed agencies means that water management calls for close collaborations to happen
among those agencies in order to meet the needs of all Taguibo Watershed users. As described
by many interviewees, “BCWD concessionaries encountered a lot of problems because there is
no coordination between the government agencies” (personal interview 08-10-18A, 2010).
Contrary to rulings in R.A. No. 8371, a conversation with the Regional DENR employee
revealed additional overlap regarding watershed management and primary jurisdiction. In
personal conversation, Republic Act No. 7116 was described which further points to the LGUs
as the said unit to take the lead role in managing the Taguibo watershed. An RDENR official
stated that:
“So for example, in the (Taguibo) watershed as to the LGUs it is outlined in the RA 7116 the
decentralization of devolution of functions from the DENR to the LGUs. The LGUs have
specific functions over the watershed of 5,000 hectares and below. That is what we call a
community watershed. If they intend to manage that, the DENR will make a resolution over that
5,000 hectares or below watershed that they will use it for their domestic water so the DENR,
specifically the Secretary will issue an Executive Order declaring that certain watershed has been
given the management to the LGUs. Although the management was given to the LGU but the
DENR and LGU will still have close collaboration. Still the DENR has the jurisdiction over the
management of all the forest lands.”
(Personal interview 08-05-5A, 2010)
Many others attributed the lack of enforcement to the fact that most government agencies lack
proper capacity to carry out newly obtained responsibilities.

Here almost every single

government agency interviewed described issues of peace and order in the mountain region
which poses great risk to government officials who are directed to go investigate or monitor
70

activities in the San Antonio, RTR area.

In the context of the Philippines, the national

government defines peace and order as a continuous and active campaign against terrorism and
criminality, including kidnapping, illegal drug trade and smuggling and street crimes among
others. A member from the newly elected Butuan City Mayors office attributes the lack of
physical monitoring in the mountain area to be a result of inaccessibility of the mountain area.
“The problem again is this is somewhere very far away, we cannot afford to send military
personnel so any small time activities they are still doing it is because there is no one physically
there to stop them” (personal interview 07-01-3A, 2010). It is significant to note that this is the
same individual who stressed the fact that as a newly elected official they will do what is in their
power to “make more laws that emphasize on the violations and make penalties very visible.
Make it real to the people, force them into justice” (personal interview 07-01-3A, 2010).
Interestingly, the two government agencies (CENRO and RDENR) suggested by other
stakeholder groups to be directly or indirectly linked to the illegal mining operations were the
same two stakeholder groups who failed to describe fear as a main element preventing
government officials from fulfilling their job requirements.
“Now if we provincial employees man the monitoring we are also afraid to go there because two
or three people are also there fully armed. So we need escorts too not only three escorts but full
company escorts. If ever they will fight against us, we can also sustain ourselves.”
(Personal interview 07-14-6AAA, 2010)
The same respondents described one government plan, which was unsuccessfully implemented.
The plan was to monitor the legality of forest materials that were being shipped out of the
watershed area were. They claimed that the current critical state of the area prevented such
monitoring activities from being successfully carried through and sustained. One PENRO official
stated:
71

“In fact we had a plan to put a check point in the area but we realized that the area is very critical
many armed men are living in the upland because the illegal miners before have supported those
armed men by providing them with ballots, provide the arms, they even provide them with
consumption (food and water supplies). So there are wanted men that live in the area that are
affiliated with the illegal mining activities. So as we know there are 5 wanted people living in
that area supported by the illegal mining, miners. So those armed men are protecting the illegal
activities so we cannot go in the area without escorts.”
(Personal interview 07-14-6AAA, 2010)

When asked why the LGU’s failed to monitor mandatory checkpoints in the area, the CENRO
officer from Butuan City explained that “sometimes due to limiting funds we cannot exercise all
of our functions” (personal interview 07-07-7A, 2010). Furthermore, this same CENRO official
pointed out that what happened beyond Butuan City’s political jurisdiction is not of their
concern. However, the Taguibo Watershed covers four different political boundaries and the
Butuan City government is responsible for the integrity of this watershed. Specifically when
asked what activities this agency took in the monitoring of the environmental and water quality
in the Taguibo Watershed to determine the causes of water shortage the CENRO official
responded:
“As far as I know there was already a joint team created to investigate on that report. But the
turbidity of water in the Taguibo watershed, well the team has gone to the site to conduct the
actual investigation and of course I cannot speak, I can only speak on areas that fall under the
areas that Butuan City has jurisdiction. There was investigation on that, and the report, the result
of which is that there is no mining in Butuan City. There is no timber poaching found in Butuan
City. So I cannot say exactly what causes turbidity is the mining because so far as Butuan City is
concerned there is no mining operations there is no timber or logging operations. I do not know
up stream, but as I told you before I can only speak for the jurisdiction of Butuan city.”
(Personal interview 07-07-7A, 2010)
There is much discrepancy in perspective among the different jurisdictions, which prevents
successful integrated watershed management efforts from taking root.

72

During interviews with other government agencies besides the Regional office of the DENR No.
XIII and CENRO of Butuan City, it was pointed out that in fact, the previous Mayor of Butuan
City, Democrito Plaza II,

17

had issued a mineral transport permit to an individual by the name

of Ruben B. Dapeniagan on December the 16

th

of 2008. Unfortunately, this was never brought

up in any of the multiple conversations with the CENRO Officer. It was surprising to hear from
multiple stakeholder groups that the area from which the mineral transport originated, which is
immediately adjacent to the Taguibo watershed, was declared a mineral-bare area by the MBG
(personal interview 07-27-12A, 2010). A Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) member
speculated that the approval of the SSMP issued by Previous Butuan City Mayor Plaza II, was a
way to illegally mine materials within the Taguibo watershed by filing a permit suggesting that
they come from an adjacent watershed. In the case of mining in the Caraga Region, a PMRB
member who is also an employee with the MGB, points out that permits in the Philippines tend
to hold little to no importance:
“So in our belief so that their (Mn miners) illegal activities would be legalized those engaged in
the illegal mining secured a small-scale mining permit from the Butuan City Government
(former Mayor Plaza II) even though at the very start it was stated by the MGB that the said area,
which was granted the permit has no Mn deposits there. They just wanted to have the legal
papers so that whatever Mn they were able to get from inside the watershed at Agusan del Norte
side they could legally transport it outside the watershed through the Butuan City jurisdiction.”
(Personal interview, 07-08-6AA, 2010)

These parties do have the legal documents required, but as a member of the Diocese points out
“they believe what they are doing is legal because they have the paper but it is still immoral”
(personal interview 08-10-18A, 2010). Further conversation with another government agency

17

Also known as ‘Boy Daku’
73

however, provided additional evidence to support the idea that even in the presence of a valid
permit, mining activities are not necessarily legal. One government official stated:
“But we can observe when we have applicants we can immediately hypothesis or see the person
applying is an Amante or not. So during the processes of the applications these people who did
not vote for the Amante’s, are hesitant to apply for a permit (small-scale mining permit) in the
sense that during the permit approval these permits would not be granted, and thus it would be a
disappointment. For example the Amante’s here in Butuan, so when I will be accepted back into
(my political position) I will be scrutinizing some of the old records (previous small-scale mining
permits), for example the one issued in Taguibo. Ultimately we will recommend these places for
closers. Because there are no operations here, and these places here will only augment the
operations to continue inside the watershed area.”
(Personal interview 07-27-12A, 2010)

As demonstrated by the above excerpts, it is clear that permits in the region lack credibility.
Even though the newly elected Mayor Amante of Butuan City gained office in 2010, he too is
faced with issues of credibility and government corruption.

What seems to be backing the

permits is what some experts in the field of political corruption would describe as campaign
support and voter kick-backs. Clearly, individuals who support elected officials feel confident
that they will be granted a permit regardless of their project’s ability to align with local mandates
set forth by the legislative bodies. This idea was only infrequently brought up in conversation
with stakeholder groups. This could be because people are afraid of the repercussions that can
be associated with discussing such contentious issues. The fear of turning in those powerful
officials who have taken part in dishonest activities created a barrier in the interview process. It
was common that during interviews, especially those with government officials, I was asked to
keep names confidential.

For example, one interviewee stated, “Do not include my name

because these are political issues” (personal interview 07-27-12A, 2010).

74

As described by one of the newly elected Butuan City councilmen, “If you are in power it is easy
to get a permit for your own benefit.

That’s why they joke here in the Philippines: what is

illegal is legal mining, what is illegal is made legal, they make it legal. You can not issue a
permit here in the watershed it is obviously illegal for that” (personal interview 07-01-3A, 2010).
Regarding the approval of the SSMP issued by the former mayor Plaza II, one interviewee
stated: “As far as that you know the timing of the giving of the permit there was already
something fishy about it. There is no mining, there is no ore, then why is there a permit”
(personal interview 07-01-3A, 2010). This among other events stirred-up many accusations
about the previous Mayor of Butuan City.

People questioned whether or not the local

government was directly or indirectly involved in the said illegal mining activities in the
TRWFR. Many pointed out that corruption is common in the Philippines. Additional comments
were made by many of the government agencies, besides the CENRO and RDENR offices, that
under the local government of Plaza II, the “illegal miners were supported by the politicians in
Butuan City” (personal interview 07-14-6AAA). “Those involved in the illegal activity are
coming from the city” (personal interview 07-08-6AA). Although much of the conversations
about the culprits responsible for the illegal activities were speculations,
“Although we don’t have any proof of that, I don’t think they are lazy they are protecting certain
interests. I don’t know if they are protecting certain interests because they received pay or maybe
their superiors or people in power in the city are well asking them to act dumb and they might be
afraid that their life might be threatened or their positions might be in threatened they might just
be transferred somewhere else because they did not say yes to the powerful people”
(Personal interview 8-17-16A, 2010)
There were a few cases presented during infield data collection which help to put some sound
evidence behind the common belief that the former LGU in Butuan City was in part to blame for
the illegal mining operations. Various representatives from the DENR-MGB RO No. XIII,
75

NEDA, BCWD, Diocese and the Provincial office of the DENR in Agusan del Norte provided
such evidence. Several court case findings and mining tenure maps were shared. Lab results
demonstrating heavy metal contamination over time were provided during interviews and
personal photographs taken by local government officials illustrated some of the previous Plaza
administration blocking the multi-sector investigation teams from conducting inquiries in the
Taguibo Watershed area.

All of the stakeholder groups listed above presented what little

evidence there is to demonstrate the lack of harmonized efforts among agencies concerned with
the protection and integrated management of the TRWFR, resulting from local government
corruption. It was made apparent through personal conversations (06-26-2A, 2010) and written
reports crafted as a product of the field investigations, that this lack of collaboration was being
blamed on the Local Government of Butuan City, under the previous supervision of D. Plaza II,
for hindering various collaborative efforts from conducting site investigations. For example, the
former Parish Priest of the Ampayon area describes some of his observations from the area.
“When we had our monthly meeting in the Parish I tried to ask the local leaders to give some updates on what is happening in that area. Stressing to them that it did not have to be a religious or
spiritual activities, we welcomed more general topics such as the peace and order in those areas.
From that sharing I learned that there were illegal activities in the area. From the finding I tried
to make some follow-ups in the area. Usually in the parish I have to conduct interviews for those
who choice to go into married life and when I notice these particular people are coming from that
area I also ask some questions to get more information about activities in the area. Then there are
some visible signs of illegal activity. For example, the tracking of all these illegal goods out of
the area [local IPs who were manning checkpoints kept a log book which recorded license plant
numbers of the vehicles that pass through their jurisdiction also making note of the amount of
content which was being transported]. When I visited the area sometimes I encountered these
kinds of transportation of these kinds of products from the mountains. So the people are also
sometimes afraid to tell what is going on because they are threatened by some of these operators.
But generally it is visible to the human eyes that there are already illegal activities in the area.
Not to mention a lot of heavy equipment being brought to the area, and visible people with
private arms are being hired to protect the business. Worse than that there are some government
vehicles being used. Others would say that there are some local officials from Butuan involved in
the activities sometimes, they use policemen to protect them to be their escort and the people
would not give any comment because they know that it is people of particular local government
76

units in control. They would not make any comment in regards to what was seen especially if
those activities are clearly coming from local government and local officials.”
(Personal interview 08-10-18A, 2010)
As one stakeholder group is able to capture power in order to manipulate the law in their favor,
this enables them to make what is once illegal legal. Often described throughout all stakeholder
groups is this idea of fear. The long excerpt from the Parish Priest demonstrates this by showing
that even in a religious meeting; people still do not feel safe discussing illegal operations in their
home barangays. Fear in the case of the TRWFR is a powerful tool used by the illegal miners. It
was explained by many that there are many armed men in the area guarding the mines and the
adjacent checkpoints (personal interview 07-14-6AAA, 2010). This idea of fear was further
highlighted during my second visit to the BCWD. One of the workers there asked me “have you
ever been to the area?” they continued to say “it’s quite risky there, you better not go!” (personal
interview 07-26-2C, 2010).
Many of the government workers described fear as one of the main reasons why they were
unable to carry out their job responsibilities. A MGB officer explained that the DENR RO. No.
XIII recommended that the MGB RO. No. XIII should be the ones to “blast the mining tunnel
area so that it is inaccessible” (personal interview 08-13-12AA, 2010).

The interviewee

continued by saying “but one we do not have dynamite to blast the area and besides we were
afraid of the area” (personal interview 08-13-12AA, 2010). Furthermore, a DENR-EMB Region
XIII officer revealed in an interview that just one week after a checkpoint was established in
Barangay Taguibo seven men were abducted and brought to the mountain area in RTR, Agusan
del Norte 7-20-13A, 2010). The interviewee presented this event to the researcher as if an
acceptable excuse to avoid going to the mountain area to investigate and monitor the natural
resource extraction.

Many of the stakeholders interviewed sympathized with those EMB
77

officials who were kidnapped.

A large majority of the interviewees representing local

government offices believe that the indigenous peoples in the mountainous area were hired by
the ULMC to carry-out the kidnapping. Allegedly, three indigenous members kidnapped seven
DENR workers as a scare tactic. One interviewee from the DOT stated:
“In some of the regional development council meetings they (the DENR-EMB RO. No. XIII)
were bombarded with a lot of questions how come your agency is not…ect. And their head of
office was saying how can you do something about it when you are confounded with guns what’s
more important your job or your life. Well what can we say those guys have families as well. So
everybody just kept quiet.”
(Personal interview 07-16-11A, 2010)
As a faculty member at FSUU pointed out in an interview, the DENR and even the EMB have
the jurisdiction to investigate what is going on in the TRWFR.

As pointed out by the

interviewee:
“You (addressing the researcher) know what we did when we didn’t know what was happening
in the watershed which we are drinking from so we ask them (DENR) to go there and investigate
they don’t have to arrest anyone, but they were afraid to go there because they have to ask
permission. I said they don’t need to ask permission (from the IPs) like you don’t need to go
through a dialogue that would take months with the IPs. The government can do that, if the
government sees something is wrong they can ask permission and say can we come in and if they
say no then they go to court and get order but if they say yes you can come in, then why couldn’t
they just go up there. I have been telling DENR about that, like you go there, you are not going
into something very private. There’s nothing private about it, that’s just their land. In fact I was
telling them (DENR) about BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue), BIR will just send notice and say
ok I want to inspect your books, you don’t need a court order for that they can just send notice
saying they want to inspect your books because there is a complaint. But they (the DENR) never
did that. You know Sarah, they have the power they just are acting dumb. Like that they are
dumb and that’s not very good.”
(Personal interview 08-17-16A, 2010)
The interviewee went on to speculate the true motives behind the kidnapping and even went so
far as to suggest that the kidnapping was a staged event by the government officials to

78

demonstrate that the matter in the TRWFR is violent and therefore should be left alone. It was
further stated:
“up to now the police report says the people who kidnapped the DENR workers were IP because
of the blockade (the checkpoint established by the DENR) they (the IPs) could no longer bring
down their wood, so their children could not go to school so they were pressed to do that (kidnap
the workers). Possibly that could be true that is what they say. But the other story which has not
yet been told, the police never investigated them. The police never studied whether they were
kidnapped. If you look at how many were kidnapped 7, I start to think, how could only two men
with borrowed guys kidnap 7 grown men. Why couldn’t they just do something. Sometimes you
would say that maybe there really was no kidnapping it was just to create a situation that would
make us (civilians) afraid of that area so that nobody would watch Taguibo, so mining could
continue. And of course if they put the mining company there it would be too obvious so they
put somebody else there (the IPs). But we don’t have any proof to that, but it is really suspicious.
Like 7 grownup men couldn’t even over power 2 others with just very crude guns.”
(Personal interview 08-17-16A, 2010)

To respond to the various illegal activities taking place in the TRWFR multiple fact-finding
teams composed of representatives from all concerned agencies were invited by the Provincial
Governor of Agusan del Norte to take part in the investigation of the alleged illegal activities,
organized through the Special Order No. 01-09. The team was called the Provincial MultiSectoral Investigation Team (PMSIT). However, Butuan City LGU was not included in this
investigation (Figure 2).
nd

The team was to set out on July the 22

of 2009, for an investigation of the area in Sitio

Malinhawod, San Antonio, RTR, Agusan del Norte. Unfortunately the PMSIT was prevented to
from passing through a Butuan City check point. Two employees of the LGU-Butuan City
Environment and Natural Resources Office (ENRO), along with a Butuan City Police officer
explained to the team that the “Honorable Mayor Democrito D. Plaza II, has ordered the city
PNP late last night to man this check point located at Barangay Taguibo to prevent the PMSIT
79

from passing though” (personal interview 06
06-26-2A, 2010). Shortly after the team arrived at the
checkpoint, additional LGU representatives including Mayor Democrito D. Plaza II, City
Director PSupt Joseph Plaza of PNP also the son of Mayor Democrito D. Plaza II-and ENR
PNPII
Officer Forester Alexander Alann arrived at the checkpoint. These powerful players made it clear
that the PMSIT would not be permitted to proceed though the area because the PMSIT “failed to
properly

coordinate

with

Lead
Agency

Members

the

City

LGU”

(PMSIT

report,
re

2009).

• LGU of Agusan del Norted

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

DENR-RO No. XIII
PENRO- Agusan del Norte
CENRO- Tubay
MGB RO. No. XIII
NEDA XIII
BCWD
Barangay San Antonio
CCPD (Caraga Council on
Peace and Development)
• PNP- Provincial office
(Philippines Nation Police)
• 30th IB of AFP
• San Antonio Tribal Council

Figure 2 Composition of the Stakeholders involved in the Provincial Multi Sectoral Investigation
Multi-Sectoral
Team (PMSIT)
Note: For interpretation of the references to color in this and all other figures, the reader is
referred to the electronic version of this thesis.
80

Although the previous mayor and fellow officials were unavailable for questioning, one can see
the conflict among political jurisdictions further complicates the natural resource-based conflicts
which are already prevalent in the TRWFR.

Conclusion
In summary
As we see in this case study, the Taguibo River Watershed Forest Reserve is a complex and
dynamic system of overlapping structures and functions, encompassing both verbal rules and
legal mandates which, when combined, determine the fate of the overall well-being of the local
residents and ecosystems. A general lack of synchronized laws and mandates allows for power
to be captured within the Caraga region to benefit a select powerful few. Those individuals
included regional DENR top officials, local government officials and more obviously the mining
company leaders.
The literature would suggest that corruption in the context of decentralization amid the mining
sector is a result of insufficient capacity at the local government level. The various government
line agencies are unable to deal with the increase in responsibilities and jurisdiction they
acquired through the devolution of power. However, those interviewed did not necessarily
clearly state that their governments unit lacked capacity, but rather stated that fear they may lose
their jobs or worse jeopardize the lives of their family or themselves was a key excuse for a lack
of action-ability. Takyi-Asiedu (1993), Cohen et al. (1996), and Husted (1999) state that cultures
with an unequal distribution of power tend to discourage questioning authority, and as a result,
citizens of such societies tend to shy away from whistle-blowing activities when confronted with
corrupt behavior. Thus, it makes sense that the greater the power distance, the higher the degree
of corruption in the country. The illegal mining operations in the watershed were very far and
81

inaccessible to those individuals who are responsible for monitoring the activities within a
protected watershed area.
The structural conflicts described throughout the in-depth interviews with the eighteen key
stakeholder groups demonstrate this region’s inability to achieve common ground around
resource management. The ability for stakeholders to respectfully conduct deliberations, with
the ultimate goal of reaching a collaborative solution to the environmental challenges is missing
from this region. In the case of TRWFR, the ability to successfully hold deliberation around
such contentious topics is greatly hindered due to the asymmetric nature of conflict in this
region. It’s important to note that conflict is not always a bad thing. For example, in this case
study, water shortage and other conflicts led to the election of a new governing family to take
office in Butuan City.
There were a few examples of high level public involvement in the Taguibo Watershed. Such
high level public involvement activities included a Community Tree planting day where
community members, government officials and other interested stakeholders come together and
plant trees in the watershed area to contribute to rehabilitating the water quality. Another high
level public involvement was community prayer; this is where the community comes together to
discuss issues surrounding the watershed problems and to have a communal prayer to
demonstrate the dedication the community has to save the Taguibo watershed. The community
prayer attracts much attention from the media and draws students together too. Here participants
can learn and study the watershed issues which is a high level public involvement.
Many stakeholder groups promoted the idea that changing people in political offices is a sure
way to rid the current political system of its corruption. Others question if that will be enough.

82

The impressive entry into Butuan City hall by the newly elected Mayor of Butuan City, former
Ampayon Barangay Captain Doctor Ferdinand Amante Jr. finally ended the 18-year reign of the
Plazaz II family. Additionally, there is an optimistic feeling among Butuan Residents in hopes
that the new and young elected city officials, whom they consider to be like-minded and welleducated individuals, will provide the necessary innovations and forward thinking needed to rid
the region of its structural based conflicts. Unfortunately, the inevitable nature of watershed
management, coupled with the fact that the TRWFR is broken down into four different political
boundaries and classified with multiple tenure systems makes integrated management a
challenge in the Taguibo watershed.
The political dynamics (power struggles) make the Caraga Region a particularly difficult area to
equitably utilize natural resources in a sustained manner which would lead to broad-based socioeconomic development.

The complexity of the overlapping and fragmented government

authority and conflicting land uses directly impacts the local communities’ ability to maintain
safe and healthy lifestyles.
The first research question asked ‘why do those who hold power in badly performing countries
lack capacity to make institutional changes?’ A lack of resources, lack of horizontal integration
among the government and public units, and limited resources tends to be reasons why
individuals are unable to collaborate to solve environmental challenges. Also mentioned in the
literature is the idea of fear among potential ‘whistle blowers’. Fear was a common excuse as to
why there was a lack of change in the environmental and social situation.

Individuals, even

those in powerful positions, feared losing their jobs. Even though there was photographic
evidence incriminating a few key political figures from the Butuan City area (Plaza II family), no
one wanted to finger-point. Thus, there is little to no evidence on record to incriminate those
83

responsible for the environmentally destructive and socially unjust activities which took place in
the watershed area.
The second research question asked how the mining sector contributes to national development
amid decentralization in the Philippines. As described in the mineral resource literature, mineral
revenues, depending on the permit granted (large or small scale operations), should first
accumulate at the local or national government level. However, when mineral extraction is done
illegally, no matter if it is large or small scale, the only people who benefit are those who are
directly linked to the illegal mining operations. In the case of the Caraga Region, the mining
contributes to the sense of fear and livelihood deterioration, not acting as a catalyst for economic
growth in non-mining sectors of the economy.

For example, there is no revolving fund

established which uses a portion of the mineral revenues to act as a source of funding for the
rehabilitation processes after the mining operations are finished. In addition, kidnappings add to
the sense of fear among community members.
Research question three tried to solicit locals’ input on the best practices to help create more
efficient, effective and responsive policy institutions.

Traditional approaches to natural

resources management and collaborative problem-solving don’t always apply to environmental
problems, which often unfold over long periods of time and spill across the borders of barangays
and municipalities.

However, the current watershed management plan is not successful at

integrating different views from the different political agendas. At one level, environmental
conflicts are about competing for access to limited resources. At a deeper level, they are about
people’s visions and ideas regarding themselves, their communities, their societies, and their
futures.

Understanding conflicts and promoting collaborative problem-solving in this case

therefore calls for sensitivity to the substance of environmental problems as well as to the
84

different ways they are experienced and perceived across time and place. Political boundaries,
biophysical boundaries and indigenous boundaries further complicate the environmental
challenges present in the Taguibo watershed.
The final broad research question number four aimed at answering ‘what can be done to provide
continuous evaluation, feedback and partnership to the key stakeholders responsible for
suppressing the growth of social inequality’. Findings from the inquire match up with the
themes discussed in the literature. The Philippines is an example of a predatory government that
has a high incidence of domestic conflict and civil wars. When natural resource utilization
challenges occur in this sort of domestic environment, equitable broad-based socio-economic
outcomes are especially difficult to achieve.

The microeconomic implications of natural

resources abundance suggest that it nurtures patronage, rent-seeking and asymmetric power
struggles, resulting in policy outcomes that prevent broad-based socio-economic development. It
is hard to achieve this broad-based sustainable development when the ones who are in charge of
protecting the natural resources and community as a whole, are the same ones destroying it.
Solutions
Assembling and implementing an integrated natural resource management scheme in the
Taguibo watershed
In order for the Taguibo Watershed Management Council to implement an effective integrated
natural resource scheme, the collective community must identify the problems they all are
facing. I would suggest that the council reconvenes to work through a few activities such as: a
watershed inventory, problem identification process (the Situation, Source, Target, Pathway
[SSTP] process), and the scoping phase (Heathcote, 2009). By going through the inventory and
identification steps the council would be able to identify the main causes of pollution, also
referred to as the “source” in the SSTP process (Heathcote, 2009).
85

As a result of the

identification process, limiting factors would be identified by the council which tends to be
responsible for preventing the management scheme from yielding the desired goals/targets of the
council. This can be a very helpful step in keeping the council focused and on task at all times in
the implementation phases, suggested to last for three ten year phases (Heathcote, 2009).
A suggestion I have for the watershed management council would be to come up with a few
tables that help organize the baseline findings from the inventory stage. One table should present
designated uses (of water and land), including those that are threatened and impaired. Then next
to the impaired uses the team should determine suggested and know sources of pollution causing
this current situation (point or non-point pollution). There can be various sources for each
pollutant. This is an important step to direct the watershed council towards goals that are the
most important to the collaborative group and help them to direct the limited time and resources
to the most critical and threatened uses that can actually be achieved. Another table should be
created that has the sources matched to the known causes and then another table that has
impaired uses matched with goals.
Finally, a water quality summary should be created so that anyone can easily determine what are
the top identified designated and desired uses, identified pollutants, identified sources of
pollutants, identified causes of pollutants and see what are the suggested goals to be meet. This
all helps to create a transparent management plan where anyone can easily access the main
points in which the watershed council is striving to achieve. As these tables are made available,
various discussions will spark and people might begin to clear misconceptions they have about
the current state of the watershed quality issues leading eventually to a more commonly agreed
upon management scheme.

86

The current Taguibo Watershed Management Plan (TWMP) does include various sections in the
baseline report chapter (2) that talks about issues and concerns but I feel that it would be more
helpful to add a separate section that specifically lists critical areas. This I think could help the
watershed management council reduce the scope of this project. For example, if the mining
areas and road construction sites were made critical areas then more attention would be devoted
to those areas demonstrating to all stakeholders the severity of the impact humans are causing to
the water quality in the Taguibo River.

By creating the mining area as a critical area,

stakeholders will realize that mining is a major part of the financial backing in the community
(source of livelihood and income generation) however, there is a trade-off taken here between
water quality and economic growth that must be valued by taking into account the environmental
degradation and social costs associated with these mining activities.
Targeting the placement of best management practices (BMP’s) is another way a better natural
resources management scheme could be implemented in the Taguibo watershed to save money
and time. The main point of applying BMP’s is to use methods that are effective, practical,
structural and/or non-structurally which prevent or reduce the movement of pollutants from the
land to surface or ground water, or which otherwise protect water quality from potential adverse
effects of human driven activities. Selecting the appropriate placement of a BMP to address a
particular situation is important; not only to obtain the most economical solution to the problem
but also to assure that the pollutant is effectively addressed in a timely manner and not simply
moved downstream so the costs are barred by other individuals. If the wrong BMP is applied to
an area, say for example education about conservation tillage is given to rice farmers in the low
lands instead of high land pepper farmers, the BMP will not be put to the most effective use, thus
resulting in a waste of time and money.
87

This is why it is very important to have a holist understanding of the situations, sources, targets
and ways of evaluating those targets before BMP’s are chosen to be implemented in certain
location in the watershed. Selecting the appropriate BMP is also important with regard to
landowner and community acceptance. A BMP may effectively address a pollution problem but
if it is not acceptable to the landowner (too expensive, unfamiliar technology, resource intensive
to maintain) or the community (unacceptable cost or secondary impacts) it is not likely to be
successfully implemented and maintained.
A specific plan might target the placement of BMP’s within a watershed to reduce sediments by
brining the steering committee and technical committee back together to explicitly discuss design
constrains and evaluation criteria. The purpose of this is to reevaluate the sources of the current
situations, make sure those are still correct. Through the discussion on design constraints and
evaluation criteria needed to monitor if sediment levels decline, various tables can be crafted
similar to what was presented in chapter 5 of Heathcote’s book (2009). As these various tables
are created and represent various factors such as different management strategies and
geographically where they are going to be applied, estimated cost of each of the strategies,
estimated time of implementation, whether or not it meets constraints, and the estimates of the
efficiency in reducing sediment loads are presented so the committee members will be able to
better visualize the possible options. T his process will allow for trade-offs to be made more
obvious. By allowing the steering and technical committee to pick the BMP or mixture of
BMP’s will result in the most time effective and cost friendly implementation scheme for
sediment reduction in that area.
Suggestions for other BMPs include the implementation of small-scale mining BMP’s to
minimize adverse impacts of mining on the Taguibo water quality. In this case heavy metal
88

loading increases during times of increased extraction and can cause potential human risk to
unsafe levels of manganese exposure. Other suggestions for BMPs are the implementation of
stream bank build up BMPs to try to minimize the impacts associated with the illegal
construction of the road that cuts through the entire Taguibo Watershed and is used by heavy
equipment vehicles (large 8-16 wheeled vehicles).
If I were involved in the selection and evaluation process for urban BMP's I would have first
chosen some BMP's to implement and they would include: illegal dumping control, pavement
cleaning, and the creation of storm water storage facilities. I would also include urban BMP’s in
the management plan. As of now there is only agriculture and forestry BMP’s in the Taguibo
watershed management plan. Lack of urban BMPs can result in increased pollution levels
because even though the high priority pollutant sources are coming from the mountain area the
mass majority of users of the Taguibo river live in the urban area.
The Taguibo Watershed plan does not put forth adequate attention to understanding the
performance indicators and did not always choose appropriate indicators. The management plan
lists indicators but fails to associate them with the particular goal the indicator is aimed to assess.
This lack of detail leads to confusion on what the data is actually measuring and thus leads to
confusion on what management decisions should be made.
The use of basic indicators may allow the council member to feel more equipped to continuously
evaluate their effectiveness of managing the natural resources in the watershed because more
basic indicators can appear to be less of a taunting task. The Fecal Coliform indicator, the
Phosphates indicator and the Land use indicator could be used. I would first chose the fecal
coliform indicator because it is an easy tool that can be done by fairly unskilled workers and this

89

can be done many different times for a minimal expense. This information will help show if
water quality standards meet the Philippines Clean Water Act which is a target in the
management plan. Next I would pick to use the Phosphates indicator because the Taguibo
watershed has a lot of non-point pollution sources. This indicator would help to identify proper
pollution sources and work toward reaching the minimal levels required under the Clean Water
Act. Lastly, I would use the land use indicator because of the difficult to manage physical
topography of the Taguibo watershed. It makes economical and time sense to use land use
Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to monitor land use patterns to make sure that
mining is not happening within the protected watershed boundaries.
Two other indicators I suggest to be included, if resources are available would be to use the sand
and gravel mining measure and stream flow. Sand and gravel because in Taguibo watershed
there are a lot of small-scale quarrying and mineral extraction operations that are take place. In
the watershed area erosion rates are high so understanding the rates of extraction could greatly
help to determine if management scheme are successful at reaching the goal of decreased
turbidity by tracking the amount of logged trucks hauling minerals though checkpoints.
However, in this watershed area many activities are done illegally so this might not be a feasible
indicator to use because there is no reliable data source. I suggest stream flow because it affects
everything and monitoring this is not very costly. One main watershed goal is to meet growing
potable water demands so knowing the stream flows over time can help the management council
craft more effective management schemes. Knowing flows will also help the management
council know the concentration of pollutants in the water which is of particular importance here
in the Taguibo watershed because of the heavy metals added to the watershed due to the illegal
mining operations.
90

I recommended that further research be conducted. More maps and visual aids such as aerial
photos need to be used and research also needs to incorporate other pre-existing information
sources such as indigenous ecological knowledge to help gain a better understanding of the
growing global importance of watershed management projects. The significance of assimilating
both the government level knowledge with the local resident’s knowledge sources is it helps to
obtain a more holistic view of the real world situation that is of particular interest. Because most
of these watershed problems span across a diverse range of disciplines, there is a need to blend a
mixture individuals with different backgrounds together. The hope is to address these complex
problems, simultaneously with deep knowledge from the different perspectives to spark new
changes possible even collective social behavior changes.
By having a clearer understanding that is commonly agreed upon can help to promote long last
management success because there is a collective agreement on the crucial areas within the
watershed that if dealt with first and foremost will result in the most successful outcomes. My
main suggestion here is for the watershed management council to put together a sort of
community based-data collection committee that’s main purpose is to help validate the identified
pollutions, sources and causes.
In the case of the Taguibo Watershed management committee, they failed to have the technical
committee come up with a method to prioritize the pollutants, sources and causes. Thus, the
council in my opinion is trying to monitor and evaluate way too many pollutants, sources, and
causes thus their current goals are infeasible due to time and resource constraints. It is important
that the prioritization process be conducted to help direct the council to know which pollutants
are the most detrimental to the success of meeting the legal water quality standards and meeting
the goals set forth by the council.
91

As I previously mentioned the Taguibo watershed plan fails to present clear timelines and
completely fails to present cost-benefit calculations of the potential management options. This
could be a great spot for upper level graduate students to conduct applied research that would
benefit the surrounding communities. There are some effective laws and regulations but I feel
that there are way too many laws that actually tend to have an adverse impact on the watershed
management schemes. This could possibly be attributed to the fact that the many current laws
overlap each other causing confusion on how exactly these laws should be implemented.
Limitations
Due to the complex nature of this study, there were several limitations. This research was
conducted over a period of two months, thus limiting the ability of the researcher to make
connections with key informants.

Language barriers made interviews with IPs and local

Taguibo Barangay community members an additional challenge. A translator was used during
certain interviews. This is a potential source of miscommunication due to possible language
barriers between researcher, interviewer, transcribers and interviewee. Translating and coding
the raw data could have been improved by hiring local translators and encoders. If the process
involves working in the local language, adequate resources need to be provided for translation.
This is especially the case for the data and information collected through participant observations
and key stakeholder group interviews.
The wealth of information that was generated exceeded original expectation and proved to be
difficult to manage. A significant portion of the data was solicited in the native language which
meant that a significant amount of time needs to be devoted to translation for future analysis.
There is still a great deal of knowledge to be gleaned from information collected. This requires
further review and analysis of the information. The use of experienced qualitative interviewers

92

is advised for more timely documentation of solicited information. It is therefore, suggested that
a more structured form of recoding, gathering and handling of data be developed.
Due to the contentious nature of this natural resource-based conflict, confidentiality had to be
ensured, but this proved to be a great challenge. In some areas where there was no proper venue
to conduct interviews, data was collected in areas where others were easily exposed to what was
being discussed. To address this issue, interviewees were given pseudonyms. Sufficient time is
needed for the critical reflection processing. As a newcomer to the field of qualitative research, it
was difficult for the researcher to set aside preconceived worldviews during the analysis and
write-up phase. Scheduling time for sufficient reflection would therefore allow the researcher to
deal with the unforeseen confusion that may occur. A possible suggestion would be to have a
critical reflection process in the form of peer-to-peer reviews as far as data analysis and quality
assurance is concerned.
Undertaking such a complex natural resource-based issue within a two-month span pushed
administrative and logistic arrangements to their limits. However, it is believed that extending
the timeframe of the data collecting phase may have caused there to be a loss in momentum. As
pointed out by key informants the geographic location of the mining operations are located quite
far away from the city center making it difficult to access. In addition, general concerns of
research safety were a common constraint to site visits. Due to the contentious nature of this
research topic, some stakeholder groups were unable to be reached for questioning, specifically
the mining companies.
Furthermore, there are some general disadvantages in using semi-formal in-depth interviews. It is
difficult to generalize from interview data and interviewing is done generally with a nonrandom

93

sample. In this inquiry, the intermediary was the main connection between interviewees and the
research, thus the research was dependent on which the intermediary could schedule to be
interviewed. But it is important to point out that the intermediary was chosen because of their
academic affiliation with a local university and as a respected lawyer in the community. Finally,
people being interviewed do not always say what they think. This lack of trust or prior affiliation
between research and interviewee presents problems with sensitivity to interviewer bias.
Future Research
In view of the considerable constraints placed on the researcher, it would be advised to put in
place additional site visits to the area to solicit additional stakeholder groups previously not
interviewed. On major stakeholder group that was unable to be reached was the Plaza II family.
Interviewing some of these powerful individuals could assist in uncovering some of the ‘gray
areas’ surrounding the alleged allegations that the Plaza II family was directly linked to the
illegal mining operations. Another key stakeholder group which should be interviewed in the
future is the regional City Health Office. It is the City Health Office who has is to provide
primary health care and environmental services. They too take a role in monitoring the quality
of potable water supplied to Butuan City residents making them an additional agency that is
responsible for the quality of water in the Taguibo River. Finally a local project, possibly
connected with a local university in the area should take part in a long-term monitoring project to
study the impacts of conflict on local communities’ abilities to align themselves with their
livelihood priorities.

94

APPENDICES

95

Appendix I. Summary of Data Collection
Table 5 Who, What, How
Method

Objective

1)In-depth
interview
8-4-1A

Solicit perspectives regarding
illegal activities, impacts
particularly to the IPs, captured
power examples, overlap in
land tenure and mandates
Gain better understanding of
IPs values, make personal
connection with potential
interviewee

2)Participa
nt
Observatio
n
7-28-1B
3)Participa Solicit personal experiences and
nt
perspectives regarding the
Observatio institutional arrangements
n 7-28-1BB
4)In-depth
interview
7-21-9A

5)Follow
up
interview
7-26-2C

6)In-depth
interview
8-5-5A

7)In-depth
interview
7-6-4A

Respondent(s)/sit
e
IP Gearmo of
Agusan del Sur/
Prince Hotel
restaurant

Output

IP Gearmo & IP
Mac/ Local
Church Vinyard

Expanded notes
after observation

IP Gearmo & IP
Mac plus family
and visiting IPs/
Local homestead
in Ampayon
Solicit personal perspectives
Police Lue from
and experience with peace and
Provincial group in
order during fact finding trips to Agusan del Norte
illegal mining areas and
institutional arrangements
Inquire about ManoboBCWD office in
Mamanwa Tribal Council’s
Butuan City (two
Resolution No. 05-2009. Solicit new workers and
additional perspectives from
one same as first
BCWD workers regarding the
interview)
illegal small-scale mining
operations and associated
activities
Try to understand the
Regional Berry
responsibilities and jurisdictions DENR/RED’s
of this agency, overlapping
office
mandates and any other
perceptions on institutional
fragmentation examples and
suggestions for future
improvements
Solicit agencies objectives and
NEDA Andrew/
responsibilities in protecting the NEDA office-front
livelihoods of communities in
room
the TRWFR, understand
agencies primary mandates and
96

Verbatim
transcripts

Expanded notes
after observation

Verbatim
transcripts

Verbatim
transcripts

Verbatim
transcripts

Verbatim
transcripts

Table 5 cont’d

8)Participa
nt
Observatio
n 7-13-4B

gain examples of worker
perspectives on institutional
challenges
Observe interaction with local
communities in rehabilitation
activities, validate different
government line agencies
ability to rehabilitate Mt.
Mayapay

9)In-depth
interview
7-16-11A

Solicit perspectives and
experiences with the
environmental and social
impacts of the illegal mining
operations and associated
activities, understand overlap in
mandates and other institutional
challenges
10)Follow- Clarify miscommunication,
up
further explore certain topics
interview
related to institutional
7-8-6AA
challenges
11)In-depth Solicit perspectives regarding
institutional challenges,
interview
agencies mandates, and future
6-25-6A
suggestions
12)In-depth Solicit additional perspectives
from this line agency regarding
interview
institutional challenges and
7-14-10A
describe role in monitoring and
protecting local natural
resources
13)
Participant
observation
s 7-16-10B
14)In-depth
interview
7-27-12A

15)Followup
interview

Observe community nursery
project, see the innovation level
of the efforts
Solicit perspectives regarding
institutional challenges,
agencies mandates, mineral
laws, tenure maps and future
suggestions
Obtain hard copies of mineral
tenure maps, further discuss
perceptions on institutional

NEDA / tree
planting trip to
Mount Mayapay
with Habitat for
Humanity
volunteers and
NEDA workers

Expanded notes,
photographs

Department of
Tourism Jeff,
Caraga Region/
office open room

Verbatim
transcripts

PENRO,
Charlie/PENRO
office Butuan City

Verbatim
transcripts

PENRO,
Charlie/PENRO
office Butuan City

Verbatim
transcripts

PENRO (2) Vinny
and Alfanzo
community
development
assistances/
PENRO office
Butuan City
PENRO nursery in
Taguibo Barangay
with /4 PENRO
workers
MGB, Dan/
Provincial office
meeting area

Verbatim
transcripts

MGB, Dan/ Prince
Hotel restaurant
area

Verbatim
transcripts

97

Expanded notes,
photographs

Verbatim
transcripts

Table 5 cont’d
8-13-12AA
16)In-depth
interview
7-20- 13A

challenges
Solicit perspectives from this
line agency regarding
institutional challenges and
describe role in monitoring and
evaluating quality of local
natural resources
17)In-depth Solicit additional perspectives
interview
from this line agency regarding
8-12-13C
institutional challenges and
describe role in monitoring and
evaluating quality of local
natural resources
18)In-depth Solicit perspectives regarding
interview
institutional challenges and
7-1-3A
suggestions for future
19)
Observe general participants in
Participant the first ever press conference
observation with newly elected Hon. Doctor
s
Ferdinand M. Amante Jr., get a
6-30-3B
feel for general theme of
interested investors and observe
what country are represented in
the room
20)In-depth Solicit perspectives regarding
institutional challenges and
interview
social + environmental impacts
7-5-14A
associated with illegal operation
in watershed
21)In-depth Solicit personal observations
interview
regarding impacts of illegal
7-30-8A
operations, institutional
challenges and changes in
cultural traditions
22)In-depth Solicit personal observations
interview
regarding impacts of illegal
7-30-1AA
operations, institutional
challenges and changes in
cultural traditions
23)In-depth Solicit personal observations
interview
regarding impacts of illegal
7-30operations, institutional
1AAA
challenges and changes in
cultural traditions
24)In-depth Solicit personal observations

EMB, John/
EMB office

Verbatim
transcripts

EMB, Mark/ EMB
office open space
of desks

Verbatim
transcripts

LGU council men
Brain / Mayors
office
Press release with
mayor and newly
elected officials
and visiting
foreign investors/
LGU’s conference
room

Verbatim
transcripts

Department of
interior and Local
government
(DILG) Chad/
DILG office at
desk
Datu Gregorio
Antong/ San
Antonio IP’s hall

Verbatim
transcripts

IP Dapitan/ San
Antonio IP’s hall

Translator used,
notes expanded

IP DePetan/ San
Antonio IP’s hall

Translator used,
notes expanded

Datu Jessie/

Verbatim

98

Expanded notes

Translator used,
notes expanded

Table 5 cont’d
interview
7-26-8AA

regarding impacts of illegal
operations, institutional
challenges and changes in
cultural traditions
25)In-depth Solicit perspectives’ regarding
interview
the environmental impacts
7-29-15A
associated with the illegal
operations,
26)In-depth Solicit perspectives’ regarding
interview
the environmental impacts
7-29-15AA associated with the illegal
operations,
27)In-depth Solicit personal perspectives
interview
regarding institutional
8-17-16A
challenges especially
overlapping mandates

PENRO office

transcripts with
occasional
interpreter used

Taguibo Barangay
Resident Pracila/
local bodega

Translator used,
notes expanded

Taguibo Barangay
Resident Mila/
local bodega

Translator used,
notes expanded

Butuan City
resident, FSUU
dean of law school
Jojo/Homestead
Butuan City

Verbatim
transcripts

28)In-depth
interview
8-12-17A

Eirah FSUU
graduate law
student/Dean of law
school office

Verbatim transcripts

Paulo FSUU
undergraduate
informational
technology
student/basketball
court benches in
FSUU Lobby
Father John
president of
FSUU/ FSUU
office first floor

Verbatim
transcripts

Solicit personal perspectives
regarding institutional challenges
especially overlapping mandates,
and personal experience with
environmental impacts of illegal
operations

29)In-depth Solicit personal perspectives
regarding institutional
interview
8-12-17AA challenges especially
overlapping mandates, and
personal experience with
environmental impacts of illegal
operations
30)In-depth Solicit personal perspectives
interview
regarding institutional
8-13-16AA challenges especially
overlapping mandates &
fragmented responsibilities and
personal experience with
environmental impacts of illegal
operations
31)In-depth Solicit personal perspectives
interview
regarding institutional
8-10-18A
challenges especially
overlapping mandates and land
tenure & fragmented
responsibilities and personal
experience with environmental
and social impacts of illegal
operations

Father Leo with
diocese previous
parish priest of
Ampayon

99

Verbatim
transcripts

Verbatim
transcripts

Table 5 cont’d
32)In-depth Solicit personal perspectives
interview
regarding institutional
8-10-18AA challenges especially
overlapping mandates and land
tenure & fragmented
responsibilities and personal
experience with environmental
and social impacts of illegal
operations
33)
Observe community education
Participant project
observation
8-10-18B

Bishop/ homestead Verbatim
transcripts

Bishop and
workers/ Bishops
educational
organic farming
and fish farm pilot
project
34)In-depth Try to understand the
Bush is a CENRO
responsibilities and jurisdictions officer/ in closed
interview
of this agency, overlapping
7-7-7A
office
mandates and any other
perceptions on institutional
fragmentation examples and
suggestions for future
improvements
35)In-depth Try to understand the
General Manager
interview
responsibilities and jurisdictions and 2 other
6-26-2A
of this agency, overlapping
workers/ BCWD
mandates and any other
GM office
perceptions on institutional
fragmentation examples and
suggestions for future
improvements

Notes expanded

Verbatim
transcripts

Verbatim
transcripts

Legend: Month--Date--Stakeholder group category--data set
A= 1st interview on individual M only
C= Follow-up interview with individual M
AA= 2nd interview with individual T, from same stakeholder group as individual M
AAA= 3rd interview with individual W, from same stakeholder group as individuals M & T
AAAA= 4th interview with individual Z, from same stakeholder group as individuals M & T &
W
B= participant observation

100

Appendix II. Emergent Theme, Code and Sub-Code definitions; Rules and Examples when applied
Table 6 Methodological Road Map
Associated RQ #

Broad
Themes

Emerging
main-code
(symbol)

Political
Rivalry
(PA)
RQ # 3 perceived
institutional
challenges which
present obstacles to
mitigate NRCs
related to land and
water rights in the
TRWFR?

Weak local
Government
(WLG)

Captured
Power (CP)

Sub-code and Definition

Rule

Heterogeneous political conflict
(PR-HET): Applies to the
conflicts which occur between
government line agencies as a
result of the natural resource-based
conflicts stemming from the
debates over the distribution or
regulation of natural resources (i.e.
water, timber or soil)

Applied when a stakeholder describes
confrontation among two or more
government agencies surrounding the
distribution and regulation of local
natural resources found within Region 13

Graft (CP-G): Applies to the gain
of money or advantage by
dishonest, unfair or illegal means,
especially through the abuse of
one’s political position

Applied when an respondent refers to an
observation regarding a dishonest event
that took place between two or more
separate parties for the sole purpose of
elite capture of natural resources and/or
wealth

96

Table 6 cont’d

Bribery (CP-B): Refers to the
form of corruption involving
money, soliciting or a gift given
that alters the behavior of the
recipient that is in charge of
public natural resources

97

Applies to an interviewees’ response that
describes an event or story that
demonstrates someone or some small
group of people who are using their
assets to persuade another person or
group of people to take part in illegal or
dishonest activities resulting in elite
capture of natural resources for
individual purposes instead of increasing
the community’s well-being

Table 6 cont’d

Multi Jurisdiction (FRA-MJ):
Describes alterations made to
original primary jurisdiction
Lack of
effective
institutional
arrangements

Fragmentat
ion of
responsibili
ties and
authority
(FRA)

Applied when a stakeholder describes a
distribution or regulation role over
natural resources that calls on multiple
government agencies to act as lead
agency on the same issue at the same
time

Lack of enforcement (FRALOE): describes when there is a
lack of implementation of laws,
mandates or other approved
government rulings recognized as
legal documents in the Philippines,
specific to preserving, monitoring
or sustainably developing local
natural resources

Applied when a certain individual or
stakeholder group describes a
responsibility-as described by job
description, legal mandate or in terms
and conditions of contracting
agreements-does not match up with on
the ground actions

98

Table 6 cont’d

Lack of actionability (FRALOA): Applies to a respondents’
claims that describes a reason for
lack of on-the-ground-action taken
by a certain stakeholder group to
protect, preserve, monitor or
sustainably develop local land or
natural resources at the same time
and in the same space

Applied when someone refers to possible
source leading to a certain agencies lack
of capacity which prevents a stakeholder
group from successfully and honestly
following through with their
department’s current written and verbal
mandates (i.e. rules-in-use; department
mission statements)

Delay (D-D): Refers to conflicting
mandates

Applied when respondents mention a
discrepancy in mandates because of some
structural issue (such as timing of legal
mandate approvals) or confusion as to
whether or not older mandates take
precedence over new ones

Natural resource tenure system
(D-NRTS): Applies to disparities
in land development or resource
utilization plans as outlined by
either verbal or nonverbal rules

Applied when there is disagreement or
confusion as to the legality of current, or
proposed natural resource uses

Discrepanc
y (D)

99

Table 6 cont’d

Trust(C-T): Applies to a current
situation that demonstrates lack of
respect between two or more
people or groups of people

Applied when respondents refer to
distrust specifically in the credibility of
local stakeholder groups; awareness of
corruption

Intra Conflict (C-IC): This describes the actions taken by individuals who
choose to maximize personal utility versus supporting the overall
community’s’ well-being within one stakeholder group
Growing
awareness of
mining
RQ # 1 & 2
perceived impacts on companies
the livelihood assets failure to align
and water quality in with needs of
the TRWFR, Caraga local
communities’
Region?
livelihood
priorities

Credibility
(C)

Inter Conflict (C-F): Applied
when someone or some group of
people claim to be unhappy with
the current status quo of natural
resource utilization due the
growing misalignment between
natural resource distribution and
regulation with the current
insiders’ livelihood priorities

Applies to an interviewees response that
demonstrates actions taken by a person or
group of people within the same
stakeholder group which causes an issue

Observed (WQ-O): Applies to an
observation (primary or
secondary) regarding a perceived
decrease in Taguibo River water
quality

Applies when respondent provides a
comment that demonstrates a feeling of
unfair compensation for goods (natural
resources i.e. water, timber or soil);
services (employment i.e. forest guard);
or the loss of culture compared to the
other stakeholder groups

100

Table 6 cont’d

Water
quality
(WQ)

RQ # 4 possible
pathways to mitigate
negative
externalities,
perspectives from
insiders’

Changes to
local
government
leaders &
innovations:
social &
technical

Mitigation
(M)

Concerned (WQ-C): Applies to
worries that a stakeholder holds
regarding the negative impacts that
may occur as small scale mining
and associated operation continue
inside the TRWFR boundaries

Applies to stakeholders responses that
represent an observation regarding
decreasing water quality situations due to
the illegal small-scale mining and
associated operations in the TRWFR
between 1995-2010

Concerned (WQ-C): Applies to
worries that a stakeholder holds
regarding the negative impacts that
may occur as small scale mining
and associated operation continue
inside the TRWFR boundaries

Applies to stakeholders responses that
represent a concern that they have
regarding the potential negative impacts
that may occur to the environment, their
health or livelihood priorities

Institutional change (M-I∆):
Describes a possible social or
structural innovation that may help
correct some of the institutional
challenges surrounding NRCs in
the TRWFR

Applies to the mention of technological
innovations that can potentially help to
alleviate some of the non-point water
sources impacting the Taguibo River
quality

101

Appendix III. Conceptual Framework, conceptualizing the drivers of natural resource-based conflict
Table 7 Matrix of Specific Research Questions

Conceptualizing the drivers of natural resource-based conflict in the TRWFR

Research Question # 3
Perceived institutional arrangements which
prevent synergy and action-ability from
taking place?

Research Question
# 1 Perceived
impacts of smallscale surface Mn
mining on the water
quality in the
TRWFR, Caraga
Region?

Research
Question # 2
Perceived
impacts of
small-scale
surface Mn
mining on the
livelihood assets
in the TRWFR,
Caraga Region?

Lack of
effective
institutional
arrangement

Growing
awareness of
current natural
resource
management
practices failure to
align with national
water standards

Growing
awareness of
mining
companies
failure to align
with needs of
local
communities
livelihood
priorities

Broad
Themes

Weak local government

102

Research Question # 4
Possible pathways to
mitigate negative
externalities:
perspectives from
insiders’

Changes to local
government leaders &
innovations: social &
technical

Table 7 cont’d

Fragmentation
of
responsibilities
and authority
(FRA)
• Multi
Jurisdicti
on
Political Rivalry (PR)
• Lack of
• Heterogeneous
Actionab
conflict (PR-HET)
ility
(FRALOA)
• Lack of
Enforce
ment
(FRALOE)

Water quality
(WQ)
• Observe
(WQ-O)
• Concern
(WQ-C)

103

Credibility (C)
• Trust (CT)
• Intra
conflict
(C-ICa)
• Inter
conflict
(C-ICe)

Mitigation (M)
• ∆ to water
system (∆ WS)
• Institutional ∆
(I∆)

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104

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