GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 22 April) – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Region 12 has declined to divulge the number of trees that had been cut down or will be toppled within the controversial $5.9-billion Tampakan project in South Cotabato, the largest undeveloped copper and gold reserve in Southeast Asia and among the largest of its kind in the world.
Maria Elvira Lumayag, DENR-12 OIC regional executive director, said the request for information on the tree cutting permit and the number of trees authorized to be cut down within the Tampakan copper-gold project falls under the agency’s “list of exceptions,” unless waived by the concerned party.
Sagittarius Mines, Inc (SMI) has been pursuing the development of the Tampakan project towards commercial production through a Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) issued by the national government in 1995.
“Copies of the issued STCEP contains information that requires waiver in writing of the concerned party and information filed in connection to government agency to which the revelation of the information may prejudice the interests of the company (sic),” she said.
STCEP stands for Special Tree Cutting and Earth-balling Permit.
According to Lumayag, SMI was issued STCEP No. RXII-14-2020 and Special Tree Cutting Permit (STCP) No. RXII-03-2024 within the municipality of Tampakan, where the bulk of the copper and gold deposits is located.
She said the copies of the tree cutting permit and the information/record “you have requested falls on the ‘List of Exceptions under Annex C’ (Non-Disclosure of Information), Item Nos. 10, 23 and 26 of the DAO 2016-29 (DENR Freedom of Information Manual).”
This reporter made a Freedom of Information (FOI) request last February 2 to then DENR-12 regional executive director Felix Alicer, who was promoted as DENR Assistant Secretary for Field Operations – Visayas and Mindanao last month.
Lumayag, who replaced Alicer, responded to the FOI request in a letter dated March 23, 2026, but which the DENR-12 Admin Records Unit released last April 13.
The “List of Exceptions” of the DENR FOI includes “personal and sensitive information concerning natural persons resulting in invasion of privacy unless waived in writing by the person concerned pursuant to Republic Act (RA) No. 10173 (Data Privacy Act of 2012),” which is Item 10.
Also exempted (Item 23) is the disclosure of information concerning the nature and specific location of a potentially significant cave pursuant to RA No. 9072 (National Caves and cave Resources Management and Protection Act of 2001).
Item 26 of the List of Exceptions states: “During the lifetime or existence of a mining permit, results of metallurgical analysis (fire assay/chemical analysis), results of test, documents submitted by the mining clients in support of their mining applications, feasibility study of mining companies, company’s drilling report, mineral resource report, final exploration report declaring a mineral resources inventory, and geologic reports.
In November last year, the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC) and Diocese of Marbel Bishop Cerilo Casicas petitioned the Supreme Court to void the DENR FOI manual “as it restricted access to environmental information of public concern.”
Atty. Rolly Francis Peoro, LRC Direct Legal Services coordinator, said the “restrictive” DENR FOI Manual practically barred access to, much less scrutinize, environmental information of 447 major environmentally critical projects that have been issued environmental compliance certificates (ECCs) by the DENR.
Casicas has been staunchly opposing the Tampakan project on concerns over the environment, food security, and health, among others.
On Tuesday, April 21, Tampakan Mayor Leonard Escobillo said the local government unit does not have any information as to how many trees have been cut or will be toppled by SMI in pursuit of the development of the mines into the commercial production stage.
“Neither DENR-12 nor SMI has informed the local government on the number trees that will be affected by the mining project,” Escobillo told MindaNews on the phone in Ilonggo.
He revealed the LGU is at the end stages of crafting its Forest Land Use Plan (FLUP), which could clash with SMI’s mining development plans.
Escobillo said the municipal government invited SMI officials to a meeting on Thursday afternoon, 23 April, to discuss the town’s FLUP vis-à-vis the firm’s forest development plans.
SMI said the most viable way to extract the minerals is through open-pit mining, which the provincial government of South Cotabato banned since 2010.
In October 2012, SMI, in an email, told MindaNews that the proposed final mine area would be about 10,000 hectares, of which “60 percent will be undisturbed by the mine. Of the area disturbed, approximately 1,300 hectares are rainforest or forest lands.”
Joseph Palanca, SMI corporate communications superintendent, declined on Wednesday, April 22, to provide a figure on the number of trees that will be affected by their Tampakan project, saying he was “not privy to answering questions regarding DENR permits.”
But in a January 13 press release, SMI said that even before entering commercial operations, it has donated 1,248,331 seedlings planted in at least 1,124 hectares, implemented through its Environmental Protection Program since 2005.
Today, April 22, is Earth Day, which is celebrated globally to highlight the need for environmental protection. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
