25 more years of mining means more disasters, no future for Filipinos This year will be the 6th year that the Philippines, through the Chamber of Mines, is hosting an international mining conference to package the country’s mineral resources to foreign investors and discuss how miners can continue to plunder our mineral resources. This year, they are to come up with a vision for the next 25 years. Meanwhile, we have seen how little we have developed from the American period when they started mining the Cordilleras up to now, after the enactment of a Mining Law in 1995 (RA7942) with its unmet promises. We see the measly 1-2% contribution of mining to the GDP in the last decade. What is very evident is how mining activities result to different forms of disasters—the destruction of our environment that eventually exacerbates impacts of, if not cause, disasters; human right violations and abuse, corruption, social disorder, cultural displacement. And the long list of sad stories from mining-affected communities, continue. ATM Statement Anti-Mining Solidarity Week, 12-18 September 2014 Resisting the many negative impacts of mining and the continued plunder and rape of our lands, we believe that 25 more years of mining translate to more disasters and this means no future for Filipinos, no future for our rural communities. Miners’ greed for our resources and profit has made them immune to the resistance of mining-affected communities. To this day, they have disregarded the true costs and impacts of mining to communities and the environment, even climate change and climate disasters. To this day they claimed innocence for all the human rights abuses and killing of anti-mining leaders and their families. To this day, the mining industry hides behind the corporate veil and deceive both the government and the communities of their taxes and financial obligations. To this we reiterate our call: STOP CORPORATE IMPUNITY! The land and life of the people should be prioritized over the greed of corporations. We believe, further, that there is no future in mining for the Filipinos, especially if the government will allow the plunder of our resources. It should not give corporations/miners the power to control our land and resources. Government policies should be geared towards the country’s sustainable development, and that gives high regard for short- and long-term development of Filipino communities. Likewise, our policies should consider climate change and its impacts—more disasters—and the need for sustainable water, food and energy sources that will improve the quality of life of the Filipino people. The response of the Aquino administration is not enough to address the flaws of RA7942. Executive Order 79, s. 2012 and the proposed enactment of a mining fiscal reform bill is not enough to establish a minerals management policy that will ensure environmental and social safeguards and proper utilization of our mineral resources for our industrialization and development. WE believe that there is no future in mining for the Filipinos if the Mining Act of 1995 and current practices will prevail. Standing with mining-affected communities and their support groups, we reiterate our call: Stop the plunder, Scrap RA 7942 and enact the Alternative Minerals Management Bill! Alyansa Tigil Mina is an alliance of mining-affected communities and their support groups of NGOs/POs and other civil society organizations who oppose the aggressive promotion of large-scale mining in the Philippines. The alliance is currently pushing for a moratorium on mining, revocation of EO 270-A, repeal of the Mining Act of 1995, and passage of the AMMB. (30) For more information: Jaybee Garganera, ATM National Coordinator (0927) 761.76.02 [email protected] Farah Sevilla, ATM Policy Advocacy Officer (0915) 331.33.61 [email protected]
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 14:20:25 +0000
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