From the Business Mirror (Nov 13): Group demands military pullout in mining-affected communities
Antimining activists on Wednesday reiterated the call for the immediate pullout of military and paramilitary forces in mining-affected communities.
They said military and paramilitary forces, who become “indebted” to mining companies, are to blame for the human-rights violations and harassment committed against those who oppose mining.
Members of the lumad tribes in Mindanao, in particular, alleged that large-scale companies directly hire and provide subsidy to military and paramilitary forces for security of mining operation.
“If their job is to protect mining companies against attacks by the New People’s Army [NPA], then these state forces should go after the NPA, not the lumads,” Clemente Bautista of the environmental advocacy group Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) said.
The Kalikasan-PNE and members of lumad communities on Tuesday staged a noise barrage in front of the Makati City offices of several large-scale mining firms.
On Wednesday more than a hundred protesters staged a picket at the gate of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) compound along North Avenue in Quezon City demanding that the mining regulatory body cancel the mining permits it issued to companies.
The protesters included lumads. They blame the increasing incidents of human-rights violations in mining-affected areas to the presence of military and paramilitary forces who, they claim, actually work for mining companies.
But MGB Acting Director Leo L. Jasareno said such claim needs to be substantiated.
“Just like any other business entity, a mining company is allowed to avail [itself] the services of a security-service provider. When there is a military unit stationed in the mining area, it is not because it is a security-service provider of the mine but because it is, on its own, securing the area because of insurgents’ activities, whether there is a mine [operating there],” Jasareno said.
But Bautista, Kalikasan-PNE national coordinator, maintains that mining companies have private security guards, enough to protect the mines against threats. Antimining advocates, he said, only conduct peaceful protests and do not burn heavy equipment or trucks owned by mining companies.
“The fact that these companies are hiring military and paramilitary forces to act as security is proof that mining is not welcome in these communities. This is because the people [feel] they do not benefit at all from mining operation,” Bautista said.
Bautista added that one of the requirements before the MGB issues a permit to operate to mining companies is a provision in the mining law that guarantees social acceptability.
These include the consent and approval of local government units (LGUs) such as the provincial, city or municipal government and barangays in the form of a resolution or ordinance.
The law also requires mining companies to secure the approval of indigenous communities in case where mines are situated within the ancestral domain of indigenous cultural communities or tribes.
“If the people benefit from mining, they will be the ones to protect the mining companies against the NPA. There will be no need for the presence of military and paramilitary forces,” Bautista explained.
Local governments, he added, oppose large-scale mining operations because they themselves feel that mining companies are not fulfilling their obligations to the host communities through taxes and social-development programs.
According to the MGB, 47 percent, or 38 out 81 provinces, in the country, have at least one LGU with antimining resolutions.
These are LGUs in Leyte, Rombolon, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Norte, Marinduque, Bukidnon, Capiz, Davao City, Mindoro Provinces, Antique, Bohol, Samar, South Cotabato, La Union, Negros Occidental, Guimaras, Aklan, Cagayan de Oro City, Sultan Kudarat and Iloilo.
There are also proposed measures filed in the House of Representatives seeking to prohibit mining in nine provinces, namely, Catanduanes, Romblon, Eastern Samar, Southern Leyte, Davao City, Sorsogon, Nueva Vizcaya, Cagayan de Oro and Biliran, as of October last year.
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/group-demands-military-pullout-in-mining-affected-communities/
Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) is a Communist Party of the Philippines cause-oriented front organization focused on environmental issues.
ReplyDeleteClemente Bautista, the head of KALIKASAN states "“If their [government soldiers] job is to protect mining companies against attacks by the New People’s Army [NPA], then these state forces should go after the NPA, not the lumads,” The only problem with that is that NPA have been recruiting heavily from lumad communities and it is now estimated that 3 in 4 NPA in Mindanao are lumad. Just how does one address the NPA insurgency problem in Mindanao without engaging local lumad communities?
But the real issue for the CPP/NPA is not human rights but recruits and money. The commies want to control the payments made by mining companies to lumad communities. The CPP/NPA has proven it is willing to kill lumad leaders who oppose them in order to protect this source of insurgent funding and maintain access to lumad recruits. To date the commies have killed an estimated 357 or more lumad datus/leaders in order to protect their interests. This is a bloody track record and one that the CPP human rights fronts fail to mention.
In reality, the activities of CPP front organizations on lumad issues are designed to support CPP/NPA objectives. The commies want unfettered access to lumad communities for recruiting cadre and want continued access to resources/funds they obtain from the region. Thus the chief demand of these CPP front groups has been and continues to be the complete withdrawal of military forces from the lumad areas of Mindanao.