(Updated) Considering what is at stake, big bourgeois comprador interests in the mining industry surely mobilized hundreds of millions of pesos and relied on their vast political influence to ensure that the Commission on Appointments would reject the appointment of environmentalist Gina Lopez as head of the DENR.

With the rejection of Lopez, the Filipino people and their revolutionary forces lost a friend in the GRP in their struggle to defend the environment and the livelihood of peoples, especially the masses of peasants and national minority peoples. However, as she pursues her advocacy to defend the environment, she will always have a friend in the Filipino people and find common ground with the national democratic movement in the struggle against the plunderers.

Lopez’s rejection by the Commission on Appointments only underscores the necessity for the people to rely primarily on their unity and strength in opposing and resisting the entry of mining companies which plunder the country’s patrimony and employ the military and armed groups to oppress the people and their communities.

The Filipino people can always rely on the New People’s Army (NPA) to defend their welfare and interests. The NPA will continue to implement policies of the people’s democratic government and carry out its orders to punish all plunderers and prevent the further destruction of the environment by mining companies and big plantations.