2 Mindanao provinces of the Philippines swamped with gold rush migrants seeking fortune

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Gloria Arroyo escapes from the Philippines for her corruption cases barred in NAIA Airport

Philippines government offered to shoulder the medication and all expenses for Mrs. Arroyo's hypoparathyroidism and bone mineral disorder but refused the government's offer and insisted to travel abroad.

Philippines' Government suspected that she might not come back to face all her high level graft and corruption and election fraud case which set to be hear end of this year as her lawyer submitted the list of countries to be visited are non Judicial- extrajudicial treaty countries with the Philippines.

Lately, it has been rumored that she is seeking for asylum to other countries to escape from the cases that filed against her. It has been reported also that early this year (2011) Mrs. Arroyo is lobbying foreign countries to put-up her investments but barred by the OFW associations abroad that are in doubts of her sources of fund as her government is rumored to be the most corrupt government in the Philippine History next to Marcos government.

With Philippine President Benigno Aquino's serious drive against high level of corruption in the country, it already resulted to a few high level ranking officials committed suicide in the midst of trial to escape from answering the government of their corruption charges and connivance with the previous administration of Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo.

Tuesday night (November 15, 20110) the Philippines government blocked former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband from leaving the country despite a Supreme Court (SC) order that allowed the couple to travel.

Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila de Lima said they will appeal the SC decision, adding the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) issued by the High Court Tuesday cannot be implemented once a motion for reconsideration has been filed.

Arroyo is expected to see her doctors abroad after suffering from hypoparathyroidism and bone mineral disorder and keep refusing the Government offer to shoulder all expenses to bring his doctors to the Philippines just to let her stay in the country to face her election fraud and corruption case during her 9 year term.

Accompanied by her husband Juan Miguel and son Ang Galing party-list Representative Mikey Arroyo, the former President arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 in an ambulance and was wheeled into a departure hall wearing a facemask and a neck brace around 8:20 p.m.

The Arroyo reportedly booked at least five different flights to Singapore, said DOJ Secretary de Lima.

The first two flights were scheduled at 4 p.m. via Philippine Airlines (PAL) and 5 p.m. via Singapore Airlines, but these flights were cancelled because the former First Couple did not appear.

Three other bookings were supposedly made via PAL and Singapore Airlines scheduled at 7:35 p.m., 7:55 p.m., and 9 p.m., respectively.

The Arroyos were ushered into a VIP lounge while their lawyers, armed with the SC decision, tried to persuade immigration officials to allow them to board a Dragon Air flight bound for Hong Kong.

Arroyo's spokesperson Elena Bautista-Horn said in a television interview late Tuesday that they booked for a flight bound for Hong Kong instead, since they missed the flights that were bound for Singapore. She clarified, though, that Arroyo's destination was Singapore.

She said they planned to go to Spain after Singapore to meet Arroyo's bone mineral disorder specialist.

After about two hours at the NAIA, however, Arroyo's lawyer Raul Lambino said the immigration officials, upon the instructions of de Lima, had prevented the couple from leaving.

"They weren't able to board the airplane," Lambino said, accusing the government of inflicting "inhumane, cruel punishment" on his client.

Arroyo and her husband later left the airport in the ambulance and headed to St. Luke's Medical Hospital in Taguig City where Arroyo was to be checked for stress, said an ally, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman.

"They are very mean. They are very cruel," husband Jose Miguel Arroyo said of the government. "I feel sad. I feel mad. How can they refuse to follow the Supreme Court order? That is tyranny."

The Arroyo camp vowed to file charges against de Lima and the immigration officials who prevented the former First Couple from leaving the country.

But presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the former First Couple, being investigated for alleged corruption and electoral cheating, would be treated with dignity but "we will be firm in our decision not to allow them to leave the country."

"This is all high drama. They want the public to sympathize with them," he said.

De Lima also maintained in a television interview that she ordered the Bureau of Immigration to direct the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and the NAIA "to exhaust all actions to implement the watch list orders."

She maintained that she is not violating any law, and that she takes full responsibility for the order.

De Lima stressed that the watch list orders will stay until the government receives a copy of the SC decision. She also said the order could still not be implemented until the High Court decides on the appeal that the Office of the Solicitor General will file upon receipt of the ruling.

But SC spokesperson Midas Marquez begged to disagree as he warned Tuesday those who will actually defy the order that they may face contempt charges.

"I hope they will realize that this was issued after a full court deliberation, there were concurring votes, and there were dissenting votes. It has to be respected and accepted, that's the rule of law. But let's see. I don't think there's no actual defiance yet," he told reporters.

"They are free to exercise their constitutional rights," Marquez added.

De Lima clarified that the Arroyos will not be arrested when spotted in the airport but only be barred from leaving.

She also insisted that there is "no life and death situation" in Arroyo's medical condition.

The 64-year-old former President is facing a string of plunder and electoral sabotage cases as she asked the court to allow her to travel after suffering from hypoparathyroidism and bone mineral disorder.

Arroyo's husband also benefitted from the injunction order after the court consolidated the separate petitions filed last week by the lawyers of the ex-First Couple, said Marquez.

The SC spokesperson also said the court voted 8-5 in favor of Arroyo's request but she can only leave the country after fulfilling some requirements.

These include the payment of P2-million bail bond, appointment of legal representatives who can receive legal documents such as subpoena, orders, and other legal processes while the Arroyos are out of the country.

Both these requisites were fulfilled by the former First Gentleman's legal representative Ferdinand Topacio, who paid the cash bond to Araceli Layuga, SC collection and disbursement officer, around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Upon arrival at their chosen destination, the SC said the Arroyo couple should also inform the Philippine Embassy or consulate about their whereabouts "at all times" either by personal appearance or by phone.

Topacio said Arroyo will immediately see her doctors in Singapore after failing to show up three times.

"She really needs to have a medical check-up. I think she has an appointment tomorrow (Wednesday)," he said, adding the former presidential couple had no plans of evading prosecution.

The DOJ was asked to give comment in three days as the court scheduled an oral argument on the watch list orders against the Arroyo couple on November 22 at 2 p.m.

Arroyo, now a Pampanga lawmaker, already secured a travel authority from the House Secretary General to leave the country from October 22 to December 5 2011.

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Not contented in Spratlys; China now Claim Palawan islands

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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