Region 11

Lumads gather to forge own agenda

Kailash — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 09:47:28 +0100

LANTAPAN, BUKIDNON—-Some 100 indigenous peoples (IP) leaders representing lumad communities all over the country gathered here to forge an IP Agenda for the newly inaugurated Aquino administration.

Dubbed as the State of the Indigenous Peoples Address (SIPA ’10 kicked off yesterday at the Hall of Peace, Sungco, Lantapan town, here in Bukidnon. The opening coincides with the first State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III.

IFC Investment in Mindoro Resources Supports Responsible Mining in the Philippines

Kailash — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:22:43 +0100

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA and MANILA, PHILIPPINES – IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, today agreed to invest about 2.1 million Canadian dollars in Mindoro Resources Ltd to support a nickel exploration project in the Philippines that is expected to provide jobs and government revenues once a mine is developed.

Mindoro, a Canada-based mining exploration company, will use IFC’s investment for exploration at the Agata nickel project in the Surigao district on Mindanao Island.

Stay order on mining project issued

Kailash — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:46:51 +0100

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Civil society groups have obtained a restraining order against three mining firms involved in a project in Surigao del Norte province, the first issued under a legal instrument introduced by the Supreme Court.

Judge Evangeline Yuipco-Bayana of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 30 in Surigao City has issued a 20-day temporary environmental protection order (TEPO) after conducting a hearing a week ago against Manila Mining Corp., Kalayaan Copper Gold Resources and Silangan Mindanao Mining, Inc.

Lumads end protest as DENR settles row

Kailash — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:43:54 +0100

BUTUAN CITY – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has resolved its dispute with a group of 200 lumads after a five-hour dialogue last Tuesday that finally ended the protest rally at the DENR compound in Barangay Ambago, this city, officials said Thursday.

The lumads belonging to the different tribes of Mamanwa, Manobo and Higaonon under the “Diwata-Tricom-Yellow Force” held the rally to air their grievances on forestry and mining issues.

The dialogue between the protesting tribal group headed by the tribal consultant Victoriano Vidal and the DENR officials headed

Groups seek stronger World Bank investment standards to protect poor

Kailash — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:33:54 +0100

Organizations from different Asian countries demanded that multilateral agencies place additional and stronger safety provisions in their investment standards to ensure that poor communities do not become more vulnerable due to ‘aggressive’ development projects.

The call came in the heels of a scheduled review process of the International Finance Corp. (IFC) —- the World Bank’s (WB) investment arm —- to revise its performance standards in its investments in private sector lending in developing countries in Manila.

Lumads hit ‘deception’ in carbon trading, demand ‘climate justice

Kailash — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:17:20 +0100

DAVAO CITY – Lumads or indigenous peoples belonging to 12 tribes in Mindanao’s southern provinces have declared their opposition to what they call the deceptive nature of treaty-based schemes to reduce carbon emissions, saying these are being promoted by countries that are being accused as the main culprits of climate change.

In a manifesto sent to media, the Lumads cited in particular the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus (REDD+).

The CDM is one of the “flexibility mechanisms” defined in the 1991 Kyoto Protoco

AFP vows full support of RP mining industry projects

Kailash — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:15:08 +0100

DAVAO CITY – Citing its bright economic prospects, the Philippine mining industry has the full support of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), according to Brig. Gen. Romero Fajardo, deputy commanding general of the 10th Infantry Division based here in the Davao Region.

“We are ready to help in the security requirements of mining companies operating in this country,” Fajardo told participants of the Mining Industry Forum held here recently at the Grand Men Seng Hotel.

First Environmental Case Against Mining Giants

Kailash — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:54:09 +0100

SURIGAO CITY — Hundreds of residents from a village in Surigao del Norte will storm the hall of justice here to file an ‘environmental case’ against three mining companies and a government agency at around 9:30 am, Tuesday.

Calling themselves the Anislagan Bantay Kalikasan Task Force, Inc. (Abakataf), the complainants from barangay Anislagan, in Placer town, Surigao del Norte, will file an injunction ‘mandamus’ class suit against Manila Mining Corp. (MMC), Kalayaan Copper Gold Resources (KCGR), Silangan Mindanao Mining, Inc.

Community resisting benefits of mining venture

Kailash — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:44:07 +0100

SURIGAO CITY — Scarecrows stand in front of tattered tarpaulins that serve as protest messages to miners approaching Barangay Anislagan in the remote town of Placer in Surigao del Norte.

A stone’s throw away from the village’s boundary in Barangay Timamana in the municipality of Tubod, backhoes are working overtime, scarring the land for copper, nickel and gold.

“We have been holding protest actions against mining since 2002,” said Mario E.

House to probe mining intrusion in Davao Oriental

Kailash — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:02:16 +0100

THE House of Representatives is set to look into the alleged intrusion of mining companies in ancestral lands of the indigenous people in a mining area in Mati, Davao Oriental.

Reports reaching Sun.Star Davao showed that House committee on environment and natural resources chair, Representative Ignacio Arroyo, has already invited the local government of Mati, lumad representatives in barangays Macambol and Cabuaya, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), and the two mining companies — Asiaticus Management Corporation (Amcor) and international mining giant BHP Billiton.