PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

CPP urges "national war" against foreign mining companies
February 3, 2005

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today urged the Filipino people "to carry out a national war to defend the Philippine national patrimony and natural wealth against foreign mining companies."

CPP spokesman Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said the Filipino people "should unite and employ all possible means to stop the plunder of our forests and rivers."

Rosal condemned the Arroyo regime for "selling out one of the last frontiers of Philippine national patrimony. Arroyo is the biggest pimp offering the Philippine's natural wealth to be raped by the ravenous foreign mining companies."

The CPP spokesman also said that the decision of the Supreme Court the other day declaring the Mining Act of 1995 as constitutional "was obviously made in time with the three-day mining summit to assure foreign firms that they will be allowed unrestricted operations and remittances of profit."

Rosal said Supreme Court justices were bribed by foreign oil and mining companies that pooled together a $50 million slush fund to reverse its earlier decision in December 2003 declaring the Mining Act of 1995 as unconstitutional.

The CPP spokesman said "the Filipino people are the biggest losers of the Arroyo regime's all-out campaign to allow foreign mining companies to plunder our natural wealth."

"Under the Mining Act of 1995, foreign mining firms will be allowed to ravage the environment without having to comply with any environmental standard. The large-scale entry of mining firms will result in the untold destruction of forests, riverways and agricultural lands," Rosal said.

"Furthermore, billions of dollars of mineral resources will be siphoned out of the country by foreign big capitalists," Rosal added.

Rosal also said that mining operations "will be accompanied by militarization and widespread human rights violations as the AFP and PNP are employed to evacuate and control local populations to pave the way for the entry and operations of foreing mining firms."

Rosal called for a "broad alliance against the Mining Act". He said revolutionary forces must exert all efforts to unite cause-oriented groups, national minority groups, environmentalists, church groups, political parties and other forces to unite and stop foreign mining companies from ravaging the environment."

Rosal said revolutionary authorities have been directed to "mobilize the masses and vigorously implement the policies of the People's Democratic Government defending the people's land rights and human rights against the destruction of the environment."

The CPP spokesman explained "that the New People's Army (NPA) shall help enforce these policies to prevent the entry of foreign mining firms."

"The worst foreign mining companies who plunder and ravage the environment and our mineral resources, as well as their military and police protectors, will be punished," Rosal added. "NPA units can carry out a wide range of measures to disable the operations of the most destructive mining companies."

Reference:
Anne Buenaventura
Media Officer
Cellphone Number: +63910-240-3553



Back to top