Manicani is a small island in the

Leyte Gulf Leyte Gulf is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and is bounded by two islands; Samar in the north and Leyte in the west. On the south of the bay is Mindana ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. The local governing body is the municipality of

Guiuan Guiuan ( �giˌwan; war, Bungto han Guiuan, fil, Bayan ng Guiuan), officially the Municipality of Guiuan, is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Eastern Samar, Philippines. It constitutes the southeastern extremity of Samar Island and ...

Eastern Samar Eastern Samar (Waray-Waray: ''Sinirangan Samar''; tl, Silangang Samar), officially the Province of Eastern Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Borongan. Eastern Samar occupie ...

province. Its 3,000 residents live in four

barangays A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan ...

: San Jose, Banaag, Hamorawon and Buenavista. Housing and construction is mostly simple timber or concrete huts without power or plumbing.

History

Second World War

During World War II, the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

transformed Manicani into a major naval repair facility,

Leyte-Samar Naval Base Leyte-Samar Naval Base was a large United States Navy base in the Philippines on the Islands of Leyte and Samar. The Base was built during World War II to support the many naval ships fighting and patrolling in the South West Pacific theatre of ...

. It was built to carry out maintenance and repairs to any of the ships in the fleet. The facility included housing for 10,000 people, a mess hall, shops, administration buildings, and an outdoor movie theater. In addition, the

USS Artisan (AFDB-1) USS ''Artisan'' (ABSD-1), later redesignated as (AFDB-1), was a ten-section, non-self-propelled, large auxiliary floating drydock of the United States Navy. The only U.S. warship with this name, ''Artisan'' was constructed in sections during 194 ...

and

USS ABSD-5 USS ABSD-5, later redesignated as AFDB-5, was a nine-section, non-self-propelled, large auxiliary floating drydock of the US Navy. Advance Base Sectional Dock-5 (Auxiliary Floating Dock Big-5) was constructed in sections during 1943 and 1944 b ...

were brought to Manicani. Upon leaving Manicani, all buildings and utilities were dismantled and removed by US Navy personnel.

Typhoon Yolanda

Manicani Island suffered a direct hit from

Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. On making landfall, Haiyan devastated portions of Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. It is one of the ...

(locally known as ''Yolanda''). Almost every home was obliterated including a church with 42 people taking refuge inside. Contrary to media reports the island was not evacuated. Many spent the majority of the storm without shelter. It took more than a week for aid to reach Manicani.

Manicani Mine

The Hinatuan Mining Corporation (HMC), a

Nickel Asia Nickel Asia Corporation (NAC) is a Philippine mining company based at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, Metro Manila which primarily mines lateritic nickel ore. Mining Founded in 1969 by Manuel “Manny” B. Zamora Jr, brother of businessm ...

(NAC) subsidiary, acquired the rights to the Manicani site in 1987, with the first recorded commercial shipments from the mine coming in 1992. HMC ceased operations in 1994 due to falling nickel prices. In 2001, despite fierce local opposition, mining resumed. In May 2001 protesting locals clashed with HMC. A Manicani local and two others were seriously wounded when a vehicle rammed the picket lines. Also in 2001, due to the destruction of the delicate ecosystem the HMC was issued a suspension order. In 2005 HMC was granted a permit to remove stockpiles. Allegations of human rights abuses arose when 70 protesters were violently dispersed by police. In June 2012 one of Nickle Asia's other subsidiaries, Samar Nickel Resource Corp, filed criminal charges when members of an anti-mining group blockaded the port to stop delivery of a vehicle meant to transport schoolchildren around the island.

Effects of mining

Open pit nickel mine mining, like the one used on Manicani has been outlawed in many countries due to the devastating ecological effects.

“Manicani Island nickel mining has reduced the amount of land available to farmers and siltation into the ocean has adversely impacted fishing; before mining, agriculture and aquaculture could sustain the people of Manicani Island but now they have been made poorer.” - ''Journal of Geography and Geology'', 2013''Journal of Geography and Geology''; Vol. 5, No. 4; 2013

References