(Repost from http://tviphilippines.com)

Call time was 4 o’clock in the morning. It was still dark, but we needed to be up and ready before sunrise. I was in Canatuan for the shoot of TVIRD’s institutional audio-visual presentation. The first sequence on our list was the view of sunrise from Malusok, a district in Canatuan.

The video crew focused their cameras on the green mountains in the east. Excitement built up as the first rays of the sun appeared in the horizon. As if on cue, the sun brought to life the radiant colors of nature, exposing the lush green trees on the nearby valleys. I stood overwhelmed by the breathtaking view and clicked some still shots of the rising sun while the video camera rolled. I said to myself: this is going to be a wonderful experience for me.

That was not my first time to set foot on Canatuan – I had visited the TVIRD mine site a couple of times during its Gold Project phase when I was still the executive director of the Dipolog Chamber of Commerce and Industry. At that time I was already convinced of the positive socioeconomic impact that the company has been contributing to its host communities. It was, therefore, not a difficult decision for me to join TVIRD as an employee. I know that I will be joining a responsible mining company — composed of people committed to sustainable development.

Together with the 3-man video crew from Zamboanga City and the Public Affairs team of TVIRD Canatuan (Lullie Micabalo, Joey Banez and Benjie Macalisang) I set out to rediscover Canatuan and how TVIRD’s operations have touched the lives of people in and around the mining site. The three-day video shoot brought us to almost every nook and cranny of this Subanon ancestral domain and we were able to capture life at the mine site and in the communities surrounding it. There were just too many heartwarming daily scenes – hardworking employees, productive communities, children playing and learning in school, happy families, healthy kids, and more – that at one point we decided to break the crew into two groups. I chose to join the group who interviewed a former child laborer in the small-scale mining regime that lorded over Canatuan before TVIRD began operating there and a TVIRD college scholar. Both interviewees are indigenous Subanons and children of TVIRD employees. I was also able to see for myself the development projects at the Muslim coastal community of Sta. Maria where TVIRD’s copper concentrates are being warehoused before these are loaded onto ships for export. It was enlightening to note that the 40-year old fishing village of Sta. Maria will benefit from various development projects of TVIRD such as the road opening at Busikong, water system and electrification. Livelihood projects (fish drying and salt making) were likewise being prepared to augment the meager income of the marginalized fisher folks of the coastal barangay.

In those three days that I was back in Canatuan, I witnessed -- up close and personal – how TVIRD is gaining ground in achieving its triple bottom line: People, Planet and Profit. While the ball mills at the Sulphide Plant continue to grind, there are people looking after the welfare of employees, the community of Subanon men, women and children. Likewise, environmental protection standards are set in place in all aspects of the mining operations. TVIRD is putting its money where its mouth is: in socioeconomic and community welfare projects, mine rehabilitation, health and education, among others.

There is pride in everyone at TVIRD. Everybody is making sure that at the end of the mine life, Canatuan will be returned to our Subanon brothers and sisters in a good state and that the future in will be good and bountiful for everyone to enjoy.

Quoting that last lines of the video documentary: “What TVIRD has accomplished in Canatuan may be impressive but it’s how the company does things that sets it apart. It’s not just about making good business. It’s also about making a difference. In Canatuan, the future is now.”

I am proud to be with TVIRD.



*** Ernie Rojo, former Executive Director of the Dipolog Chamber of Commerce and Industry, recently joined TVI Resource Development (Phils.), Inc. [TVIRD] as the company's representative in Dipolog City, the capital of TVIRD's host province, Zamboanga del Norte. Recently, Rojo was asked to assist in the filming of TVIRD's new institutional audio-visual presentation in Canatuan, site of the company's copper-zinc mining operations northeast of Siocon town. While he had visited Canatuan before and was thus already familiar with TVIRD's activities there, the filming gave Rojo the opportunity to re-discover and examine up close and personal those activities and how they have made a positive impact on the lives of those who work and live in and around Canatuan.