The more disturbing issue, however, is the ever-increasing human rights violations and extrajudicial killings of human rights activists who advocate for ordinary people and local communities opposed to large-scale mining operations.
There is an increasing number of commercially operating large-scale mines and mineral reservation areas under Duterte, and in the case filed by environmentalists at the IPT2018, such an expansion in mining activities has come with frequent and increasingly violent attacks against anti-mining activists and environmental defenders.
The recent deluge delivers a chilling warning about the climate crisis. Worse, 9 years after Ondoy, the capital region’s perennial vulnerability to extreme rainfall remains.
READ ALSO: In peril: Southeast Asia’s environment and its defenders (Part 1 of 2) By Clemente Bautista Jr. and Paul Christian Yang-ed Kalikasan has been conducting researches into the cases of killings of environmental defenders in Southeast Asia. From the data we gathered, so far, we observe the following three patterns or trends: – There…
With so much biodiversity and unique ecosystems holding economically valuable natural resources, Asia is an alarming hotspot of biodiversity loss.
Part of groundwork for tyranny? The Church has historically played a role in the people’s struggle against tyranny and dictatorship.
“As much as you, migrant workers all around the world are dreaming of coming back home with your families, we share with you our dreams, for our right to education, right to self-determination, a democratic government, and a just society.”
‘Duterte’s continuing diatribes against mining oligarchs and other environmental plunderers should lead to the investigation of corporate interests that have benefited from militarization.’
‘Mine companies let workers’ families starve while they rake in huge profits. The workers’ plight has taken a turn for the worse under Martial Law in Mindanao, given its assault on their right to express legitimate demands, form an assembly, and hold strikes.’
Residents believe that the 4th IB of the Philippine Army is there to secure an incoming coal mining operation.
Two aerial views from a military helicopter, hovering above the mountain terrain in Caraga region last Tuesday, remain vivid – and disturbing – in my mind. One is that of a winding river and its tributaries in Agusan del Sur whose waters are oddly thick brownish-yellow. The other, where the sea nears the edge of…