After The Mine Has Left: The Case Of Maricalum Mining In Negros Island, Philippines
by John Edison Ubaldo, Kellyane Levac, Dominique Caouette The municipality of Sipalay in Southern Negros Island, Philippines is copper deposit haven. Interest in the copper deposits came as early as the 1930s but nothing materialized until a mining company started operating in the 1950s. Residents who lived to witness the glorious days of the mines would recall how “wealthy” their community was as household income would meet more than their daily needs. Economic activities skyrocketed as the mining operations required more workers to answer the demand for expansion. The population of the municipality, later promoted to a city due to the income generated from the mines, increased exponentially over a short period of time with electric and water services provided to the local communities by the mine. A school and other infrastructural projects, funded by the mining company, were also built to aid the LGU and the community. While CSR was not in use at the time, it looked like Maricalum Mining Industrial Corp. (MMIC) was doing well by providing social services and taking care of their impacted local communities. However, by the time it closed in the early 1990s, after five decades of operation, the municipality had also suffered from the damages of numerous disasters including mining spills. And although the school continues to provide accessible education to the community, the electric and water services were cut off. Maricalum Mining operations left the municipality with a deformed topography that brings about danger to the community, millions of pesos in unpaid taxes, and hundreds of unemployed and retrenched workers who remain uncompensated to this day. This paper examines the paradoxes and contradictions of the mines’ achievements and downfall from the narratives of locals interviewed highlighting the double-edged nature of CSR efforts.File Name: CASID-2021-Caouette-Levac-Ubaldo.pptx