KORONADAL CITY — The Tampakan copper-gold project in South Cotabato that is expected to go full swing next year is expected to generate at least P76.6 billion in national taxes, while giving employment to residents, Cotabato Governor Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza told reporters on Thursday.
The project is also expected to generate at least P4.8 billion in local taxes and at least P2.7 billion more for community development initiatives, she said.
Ms. Mendoza, chairwoman of the Regional Development Council of the National Economic and Development Authority for the Soccsksargen region, last month signed a resolution recognizing the potential contributions of the Tampakan project to the region’s economy.
“For us, the Blaan people, the council resolution is a blessing,” Domingo N. Collado, Indigenous People’s Mandatory Representative to the municipal council of Tampakan, told reporters. “These mineral-rich areas are all in our ancestral lands in Tampakan and in tribal territories in three other towns around.”
Edmund Sodog Ugal, a T’boli tribal leader, said they were optimistic that the council would also recognize the importance to the economy of prospective mineral and coal mining projects in tribal domains in other upland towns in South Cotabato.
Tampakan operator Sagittarius Mines, Inc. earlier said it had started preconstruction activities such as land acquisition and building access roads.
The company has secured its 2023 business permit from the Tampakan municipality after paying P24,579 in regulatory and other fees. The Court of Tax Appeals had halted the collection of almost P400 million in taxes from the company by the local government. — John Felix M. Unson
