People wage effective resistance against Mining Act of 1995
The Mining Act of 1995 opened all of the country's natural resources to foreign exploitation. Various brutal and fraudulent means are being used to seize lands of peasants and national minorities covered by mining applications, ravage the people's livelihood, health and valuable traditions, destroy the environment and suppress resistance.
Since the Philippine Mining Act was signed into law on March 3, 1995, a flurry of applications for the Financial Technical Assistance Agreements (FTAA), Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSA) and Exploration Permits have been filed. Approved applications cover 677,770 hectares. There are pending applications covering an additional 13,548,006 hectares. Together they cover about 5% of the total land area of the Philippines, mostly ancestral lands of national minorities.
Due to the persistent and heroic resistance put up by the people in different areas of the country from the far north to the far south, and especially in areas where the revolutionary movement is strong, foreign plunderers are being thwarted and driven out in succession.
In 2000, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Capiz and Iloilo passed resolutions prohibiting foreign mining in the province. Western Mining Corporation (South Cotabato) and Arimco Mining (Nueva Vizcaya), both Australian mining firms, have been unable to start operations due to the heated protests of the people in these areas.
Recently, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Oriental Mindoro declared a 25-year moratorium on mining in the province. In particular, they opposed the plan of Crew Minerals Development Corporation, a Canadian company, to undertake open-pit mining, which involves bulldozing and excavating the soil to obtain even low-grade ore. Five other mining applications are pending in the province.
In Mati, Davao Oriental, the Mandaya (a lumad tribe) and environmental activists in Mindanao are actively opposing the applications of 20 mining companies. The latter's mining licenses cover 20,000 hectares of the Mandaya's ancestral land. Due to their firm opposition, the Mandaya have also been able to prevent the planned expansion of a local company that mines silica in the area.
In Placer, Surigao del Norte, members of Anislagan Bantay- Kalikasan Task Force (Abakataf) and Aklas-Kinaiyahan marched to the Manila Mining Corporation's mining site on December 30 to protest the destruction of the watershed areas that supply water to their farms and the entire province.
The people of Batarasa, Palawan are opposed to the planned construction of a $150-million nickel refinery plant. Sumitomo Metal Mining Corporation, a giant Japanese mining corporation and Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation owned by Ronaldo and Manuel Zamora are partners in the project. The company intends to mine 10,000 tons of nickel and 750 tons of cobalt mixed sulfide in a span of 20 years.
Despite the rapidly expanding struggle of the people against foreign mining, the big danger posed by the massive entry and plundering forays of foreign mining firms continues, aside from the perils posed by mines that are already in operation. In arousing, organizing and mobilizing the people against foreign plunder, it is important to include areas where assistance from the government and from reformist groups like the "Soc Dem" and mercenary NGOs enables foreign mining firms to deceive the people. In waging education-propaganda work and in organizing and mobilizing the people against foreign plunder, it is important to raise the level of the anti-imperialist line together with expanding the antifeudal and antifascist line.
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