INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S
WATCH
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.
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RIGHTEOUS FURY: Lakay
Simplicio Sicuan lets loose his rage against the destruction wrought
by Benguet Corporation in his hometown of Itogon, Benguet
NORDIS PHOTO |
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.
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“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.
|
 Igorot
activists bring their gongs to Makati City and play their tribal music in
protest against the Asia-Pacific Mining Conference, Oct. 11.
NORDIS PHOTO
|
“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 21st 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
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