Igorots Picket AsPac Mining Meet, Condemn Arroyo’s Mining Agenda

Wearing tapis (wrap-around skirt) and baag (G-string), Igorots (general term to describe the indigenous peoples from the Cordillera mountain ranges) picketed the Asia Pacific Mining Conference and 2005 Exhibit at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati on Oct. 11.

By AT Bengwayan
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat

Wearing tapis (wrap-around skirt) and baag (G-string), Igorots (general term to describe the indigenous peoples from the Cordillera mountain ranges) picketed the Asia Pacific Mining Conference and 2005 Exhibit at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati on Oct. 11.  The conference was a gathering of representatives of international mining corporations.  President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo spoke during the conference.

The Igorots trooped to the conference all the way from the Cordillera (250 kms north of Manila) to condemn President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her relentless mining policy agenda. They also condemned the intrusion of foreign mining corporations into their lands as a violation of their collective rights, including their right to their ancestral lands. 

Leading the picket were representatives of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), Apit Tako (Peasant Alliance in the Cordillera Homeland), Mankayan-Quirino-Tadian-Cervantes Danggayan a Gunglo (Maquitacdg- an alliance of communities along the Abra River), Lepanto Employees Union-NAFLU-KMU, the Metro Baguio Tribal Elders/Leaders Assembly (MBTELA), Save Apayao Peoples Organization (SAPO) and CPA-Kalinga.

“As a reliable puppet and driving force of imperialist impositions,” CPA secretary general Winder Bolinget said during the picket, “the Arroyo regime has embarked on a policy to revitalize the mining industry in the context of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995.”

As of March 2005, there were 11 Applications for Financial and Technical Assistance (AFTAs) covering 879,887 of Cordillera land, according to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau-Cordillera Administrative Region (MGB-CAR). As of this writing, two FTAAs have been approved, one in Mindanao and another in Luzon.

Independent think-tank IBON Databank reports that mining investments soared from January to September this year. Some $345 million was invested by mining firms Coral Bay (Palawan Nickel Project), Lafayette Philippines Inc. (Rapu-Rapu Polymetallic Project), Australasian Philippines Mining Inc. (Didipio Copper-Gold Project), TVI Resources  (Canatuan Gold Project), Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (Far Southeast Gold Project), Filmenera Resources (Masbate Gold Project) and Eagle Cement Corporation (Akle Cement Project).

Development aggression

CPA chairperson Joan Carling said that the entry of corporate mining in indigenous peoples’ lands is a form of development aggression and national oppression among IPs.

“Contrary to claims that foreign mining corporations contribute to development and economic progress, indigenous people’s communities affected by corporate mining operations have become poorer and were deprived of their land and resource, which is the material base of their culture and distinct lifestyle,” she said.

Kankanaey elder Simplicio Sicuan attested to this when he narrated the Itogon people’s struggle against Benguet Corporation’s (BC) open-pit mining from 1989 to 1997 in Itogon, Benguet. Lakay (elder) Simplicio hails from the northern town of Bakun before settling in Itogon. 

“The very destruction that BC caused our lands in Itogon is why we continue to fight for our right to land and resources,” he said in Iloco.  He also recounted the current struggle of the Itogon folk against the Bulk Water Supply Project (BWSP), whose proponent is still the BC.

“Benguet Corporation has taken away our lands, now it wants to take away our water… I am a no-read no-write person, but whenever the City Hall conducts public hearings on the BWSP, I do not let that hinder me from participating to guard my rights,” he stressed.

Also joining the picket were residents from Didipio Valley in Nueva Vizcaya, along with farmers from Cagayan Valley, and member organizations under Defend Patrimony, an alliance of groups and organizations opposed to the Mining Act of 1995. The Arroyo administration has approved the first 100 percent-owned commercial mining production of Australia-based Climax-Arimco that will operate in Didipio, covering 21,465 hectares of land.

Defend Patrimony, of which the CPA is a member organization, held a press conference and a forum in Quezon City, Oct. 10, regarding the people’s continuing fight against corporate mining. Representatives of LEU, SAPO, and Macquitacdg delivered testimonies regarding the oppression and destruction caused by big mining corporations and their operations.

Members of the Philippine National Police (PNP), armed with shields and truncheons, were not able to prevent the protesters from holding a program despite repeated threats of dispersal.

Bayan Muna Rep. Joel Virador joined the protesters and called on the Arroyo administration to heed the people’s call against destructive mining projects. From an IP community in the south, Virador was the keynote speaker in 21^st Cordillera Day celebrations in Bangilo District, in Malibcong, Abra last April.

Joining the nationwide call for Arroyo’s ouster, the protesters echoed a similar demand at the close of the program, accompanied by the resounding beat of gongs. Northern Dispatch / Bulatlat

© 2005 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Publications

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