By CHERYLL D. FIEL
Residents of Pantukan, a coastal town in Compostela Valley province, are locked in battle against two large-scale mining companies attempting to wrest full control of the area’s mineral resources. They also bewail the unfair advantage the government gives to these companies at the expense of small-scale miners.
Press Statement 2 February 2011 Kalikasan PNE joins the family of Dr. Gerry Ortega, the bishops of Palawan and the thousands of Palawenos in mourning as he was laid to his final resting place. A veterinarian, broadcaster, and an environmentalist, Dr. Ortega is respected and loved by the people of Palawan. He tirelessly worked with…
Abuses by mining companies are not new in the Philippines. Destructive mining have, for decades and in tandem with wanton logging and the equally destructive building of dams, destroyed and poisoned whole communities. Mining companies have been shortchanging these communities. Worse, these firms have been using the police, the military and paramilitary units as their security guards, leading to human-rights abuses such as those suffered by the Ifugaos in Nueva Vizcaya.
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
“Companies like OceanaGold that violate human rights and destroy the environment have no reason to stay and should not be allowed to operate in our country…” – Clemente G. Bautista Jr., national coordinator of Kalikasan PNE.
By RONALYN V. OLEA
The Aquino government continues to implement Arroyo’s National Minerals Policy, said Piya Malayao, spokeswoman of KAMP. “Aquino’s private-public partnerships would further hasten foreign investments on mining at the expense of indigenous peoples,” Malayao added.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
The results of two environmental investigative missions belie the declaration of President Benigno Aquino III that local communities would decide whether to allow mining operations in their area or not. In South Cotabato, Aquino was reported to have mediated to reverse the decision of the local government disallowing mining in their jurisdiction.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
President Aquino’s electoral platform, inaugural speech and State of the Nation Address (SONA) contain no clear environmental agenda and position on major issues such as mining, climate change and the garbage problem, said Clemente Bautista of Kalikasan.
By MARYA SALAMAT
Forming his team to set the direction of change or political payback? So far, except for Justice Sec. Leila de Lima, the Cabinet of Pres. Benigno Aquino III is a mixture of key figures in his campaign, representatives of big business, and old hands of the former Arroyo administration.
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
For the farmers, peasants and indigenous peoples of Southern Mindanao, the past several years had been a period of great danger and violence as big mining companies encroach into ancestral and agricultural land, using the military to drive them away. Many peasant and Lumad leaders who opposed these projects have ended up dead and tortured.
Heritage