PHILIPPINES: Mining the Last Frontier

Lucrative mining projects backed by foreign investors are destroying forests and threatening indigenous tribes who live off the land in the Philippines’ Palawan. Aljazeera’s 101 East explores if a balance could be struck between development and local interests.

PHILIPPINES: IMPUNITY NO LET-UP | Another indigenous leader killed in San Fernando, Bukidnon, Philippines

Jimmy Liguyon, the vice chairperson of Kasilo, an organization of the Matigsalug-Manobo of Bukidnon, was shot dead in front of his home on Monday, March 5 by Aldy “Butsoy” Salusad, a leader of a paramilitary group in the province.

Liguyon is also the Barangay Captain of Dao, San Fernando, Bukidnon.  In October last year, he already received death threats from the group of Salusad.  Salusad is the son of Ben ‘Nonong’ Salusad, appointed head of the tribal arms of the San Fernando Matigsalug Tribal Datus (SANMATRIDA) which has a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title over 52,000 hectares in San Fernando, Bukidnon.  The SANMATRIDA Multi-purpose Cooperative, chaired by Herman P. Estrella, has been enticing mining investors into their domain since it was instituted in 2009.  The tribal datu of Barangay Dao under the SANMATRIDA is Aldy’s uncle, Datu ‘Manayab’ Carillo Salusad.

PHILIPPINES: CWEARC Celebrated its Gains in 25 years of Empowering Indigenous Women in the Cordillera

In time for the International Day of Toiling Women, on 8 March 2012, the Cordillera Women’s Education Action Research Center (CWEARC) celebrated its 25th year of partnership with women’s organizations in the Cordillera region particularly indigenous women in line with its mission of empowering indigenous women in the region.

The occasion was attended by 220 delegates from its local partners of women’s organizations, communities in the region, networks and allies. “Indeed, it was a reunion of women’s organizations and leaders that CWEARC partnered with in different periods of the 25 years of existence of CWEARC”, said Vernie Yocogan-Diano, current executive director of the Center.

PHILIPPINES: Any new Executive Order on mining must affirm IPS rights over their ancestral domain

Published : Wednesday, March 07, 2012 Written by : Gualberto B. Lumauig

COMMENTARY

Former governor and congressman of Ifugao

As major players in the mining industry debate their respective social responsibilities in the exploitation of our country’s vast mineral resources, they should not lose sight of the rights and concerns of the indigenous people over their ancestral lands and domains.

We need a reaffirmation from our government and the mining industry stakeholders that our indigenous peoples’ occupation, possession and propriety rights over their ancestral domains are their exclusive birthright and privilege that should seriously be taken into account when government, through its licensing mandate, starts allowing developers and investors to encroach on these ancestral territories.

Philippines: Indigenous Peoples Solon Notes Rejection Of Mining At Local Level

“We’re seeing a wave of local ordinances declaring their corresponding jurisdictions as mining-free zones and asserting moratoriums on open pit mining, which can only mean that at the local level, people are rejecting mining.”

Thus remarked Cong. Teddy Brawner Baguilat (Lone District, Ifugao) at the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) Forum last Tuesday at Intramuros, Manila.

Baguilat observed that Davao City, Capiz, Zamboanga Sur, Romblon, Nueva Vizcaya, and a number of other local governments, are passing ordinances banning mining in their territories.

PHILIPPINES: Indigenous Peoples’ Group Challenges Aquino Regime: ‘Stop Foreign Mining And Plunder Of Resources’

Indigenous peoples under the progressive partylist KATRIBU, together with various environmental groups, called on the Aquino administration to halt foreign mining operations and defend national resources from plunder, in a protest action at Mendiola earlier today.

More than 600 people from KATRIBU and other groups held the protest in commemoration of the 17th anniversary of the passage of the Philippine Mining Act, which liberalized mining in the country and encouraged foreign investments in the industry.

Protesters decried Aquino’s policy on mining as subservient to foreign interests, and burned an effigy of a foreign puppeteer controlling a marionette of the Philippine president in a backhoe during the program to symbolize their condemnation.

Philippines: Bangsamoro, Indigenous Peoples Of Mindanao To Re-Affirm Kinship Relations

Apipa P. Bagumbaran, 2012

A ritual to re-affirm the kinship between the Bangsamoro and the indigenous peoples (IPs) of Mindanao is slated to be held at the Talaandig Ancestral Territory in Sungko, Lantapan town, Bukidnon province on March 7 and 8.

The ceremony on the re-affirmation of kinship among the non-Islamized natives and the Bangsamoro of Mindanao is designed to help facilitate the peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

PHILIPPINES: (Indigenous Community) Conservation Area In Bukidnon Declared

By ELLALYN B. DE VERA

February 25, 2012, 6:01pm

MANILA, Philippines — A 4,000-hectare land within the ancestral domain of the Menuvu tribe in Balmar, Bukidnon has been declared a conservation area or indigenous community conserved area (ICCA).The ICCA declaration rites was witnessed by officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) led by Undersecretary Analiza Teh, representatives of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), non-government organization Philippine Association of Intercultural Development (PAFID), and Presidential Adviser for Environmental Protection Nereus Acosta.

PHILIPPINES: Groups from Northern Luzon hold protest against mining corporations

PUBLISHED ON MARCH 1, 2012

By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com

Some 300 members of anti-irresponsible mining groups and residents from various provinces in Northern Luzon held a rally in front of the offices of well-know mining corporations in Manila earlier this week in protest against what they said are the countless rights violations these companies have been perpetuating as they implement their mining projects.

Northern Luzon is composed of the Cagayan Valley, Ilocos and Cordillera regions where famous man-made and natural wonders can be found such as the Baguio rice terraces. Majority of residents come from marginalized sectors, among them peasants, fisher folk and indigenous peoples. Many of the mining projects that are posed for implementation are in the mountainous areas where the communities of several indigenous groups such as the Agta, Ilongot and Igorot have been established for centuries.

PHILIPPINES: Government misses mining Executive Order deadline

By Norman Bordadora

Philippine Daily Inquirer

3:49 am | Thursday, March 1st, 2012

The Aquino administration has failed to meet its own deadline to come up with a comprehensive mining policy amid concerns in the industry over a draft executive order outlining such a proposed mining policy.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. on Wednesday said that “due to the weighty issues involved and the significant impact the mining industry has on the welfare of our people and the environment, we are at present conducting additional consultations with industry stakeholders.”