‘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…
Controversy has greeted Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez’s successive orders – cancelling the contracts/permits of 23 mining firms in operation (out of 41), suspending five others for six months, and cancelling the contracts on 75 projects that have not yet begun. She issued the orders after a month-long audit of the…
“Maintaining healthy watersheds in these areas will guarantee that our population will have adequate, clean and safe water supply for irrigation and domestic water needs.”
“ZDMC-DMCI’s shooting against the residents of Acoje is deplorable. This is an alarming spike in the continuing violation of people’s rights by the mining firm.”
“Despite its claim of world-class mining operation, Benguet Corporation left permanent destruction and scars on the surface and beneath the earth.”
“Oceana Gold took away not just the indigenous peoples’ lands but also their chance of living a decent and healthy life.”
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo Streetwise | BusinessWorld In the last two decades, the global mining industry has tried to repair its image and whitewash its blackened record in the wake of public furor over mine “accidents” and stiff resistance by mining communities to their operations. It has launched a coordinated, well-funded, and sustained public relations campaign…
“We know the government would surely force us to accept the company by using force, but we will never give up our right to these resources.”
‘Philippine government encourages the existence of private armies as these serve its interest for counterrevolutionary purposes.’ – Maria Malaya, NDF Northern Mindanao