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Tag: Manicani

DENR, the Church and the nickel ore stockpile in Manicani

Published by Ellen on August 20, 2015

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje
Environment Secretary Ramon Paje
Has the government relinquished its duty of regulating the mining industry to the Catholic Church?

That’s the question I asked Environment Secretary Ramon Paje when he said that Hinatuan Mining Corporation (HMC) has to get the approval of the church to their request to remove the 1.1 million metric tons nickel ore stockpile in Manicani which poses risk to the environment minerals pose this rainy season.

Way back 2003 (the Environment secretary then was Heherson Alvarez), the Mines and Geoscience Bureau and Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources investigated and evaluated the impacts of mining operations in Manicani and Homonhon islands in Guiuan, Eastern Samar and the recommendation on the stockpile was, “while the operations of Hinatuan remains suspended, all available ore materials stockpiled form shipment must be disposed of immediately as these materials may cause siltation and water pollution along the seashore subject, however, to compliance with the other requirements of the DENR, MGB and EMB, as well as with the pertinent laws, rules and regulations.”

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Manicani: A tough little island

Published by Ellen on November 19, 2014

By Ellen T. Tordesillas, VERA Files

Manicani today hardly bears signs of the havoc wrought by supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) a year ago.

Color is back on this 11.7-square-kilometer island of 3,000 people in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, which was a harrowing picture of destruction only 12 months ago after Yolanda ferociously battered it for straight four hours.

Nemesio and Adela Abucejo in their newly-built house.
Nemesio and Adela Abucejo in their newly-built house.
The roofless or flattened houses, destroyed concrete structures, uprooted trees and toppled posts are almost gone. In their stead are houses painted green, yellow, blue, red and pink, many with vegetable and flower gardens.

The houses were built by the homeowners themselves, courtesy of the cash for work program of the mining company Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC). Berthed on shore near many homes were new fishing boats, which the islanders requested from NAC officials when asked after Yolanda what they wanted aside from a decent shelter.

A 25- to 30-minute boat ride from Guiuan, Manicani during World War II was a United States Navy naval repair facility. It’s primarily a fishing community today.

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Manicani in Guiuan, Eastern Samar sets example

Published by Ellen on November 6, 2014

Manicani today. Two of the more than 400 houses built by Nickel Asia Corporation for victims of Yolanda.
Manicani today. Two of the more than 400 houses built by Nickel Asia Corporation for victims of Yolanda.
GUIUAN, Eastern Samar – It was in this town at the southernmost tip of Samar Island that typhoon Yolanda (international name, Haiyan), packing winds at 380 kilometers per hour, that made its first landfall at wee hours of Nov. 8, one year ago.

After four hours of howling, spine-tingling winds, only a few buildings and houses remained with roofs. Electric posts were toppled. Trees were uprooted. The sturdy coconut trees looked beaten with leaves dangling from the top.

Of the more than 47,000 population of Guiuan, more than two thousand were injured. A hundred perished.

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