MANILA – Twenty five protesters, including two Catholic priests, have gone on a hunger strike to denounce a senior member of the Arroyo Cabinet, for allowing a Norwegian firm to conduct nickel mining exploration on an island province in Southern Luzon.
The protesters, composed of 15 Mangyan tribesmen and seven others, including the two priests, staged their strike in front of the national office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in suburban Quezon City, Metro Manila.
Through their spokesman, the Reverend Edu Garriguez of the Mangyan Mission, the protesters said their hunger strike would continue until DENR Secretary Lito Atienza revokes the environmental compliance certificate he has granted to the Norwegian firm, Intex Resources.
Garriguez accused Atienza of allegedly railroading the ECC in violation of a 2002 ordinance which imposes a 25-year ban on large-scale mining on the two Mindoro Island provinces – Mindoro Occidental and Mindoro Oriental – in Southern Luzon.
He added the ECC allowed the Norwegian company to conduct nickel mining exploration on close to 12,000 hectares of land on the island, which could cause irreparable ecological damage, endanger the the health and lives of people and threaten their food security.
Garriguez pointed out that part of the exploration area is a watershed that irrigates farms of three towns of Mindoro Occidental which provides 51 percent of the total rice production on the island.
But more than that, he said the area is part of the ancestral domain of the Mangyans, the indigenous people who have made Mindoro their home for centuries.
A reliable DENR source, who requested anonymity, confirmed that Atienza had shown “keen interest” in rushing the issuance of the ECC to the Norwegian company as he pointed out: “This is part of the ‘midnight deals’ that critics have been warning against because President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is to step down from Malacanang on June 30, 2010.”
One of the critics, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., sounded the warning, particularly in the disposal and sale of government assets as well as the granting of permits under anomalous circumstances.
On Wednesday, Pimentel joined the protesters in demanding the immediate revocation of the permit granted by Atienza to the Norwegian company. He said the permit was granted in total disregard of the strong objections from the two provincial governments and the people due to the project’s potentially harmful effects on agriculture and human health.
Pimentel said described the permit as the height of government insensitivity and arrogance as he emphasized: “Secretary Atienza and other DENR officials should have disallowed the project because watersheds are protected areas and are off-limits to mining.”
In particular, the senator said the Mining Code of 1995 provides the consent of the indigenous people and other residents of communities around mining sites should be obtained before the government could allow any mining operations.
He reminded Atienza that one of his predecessors, former DENR secretary Heherson Alvarez, had cancelled the permit for the same project in 2002 because it would cause irreparable damage to the environment which, in turn, will cost human lives, health and livelihood for the Mindoro farmers and fishermen, thus endangering their food security.
In Malacanang, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said President Arroyo immediately ordered Atienza to explain why he granted the permit to the Norwegian firm.
Remonde admitted that the Arroyo administration has been encouraging both local and foreign companies to resurrect the country’s mining industry which has been in the doldrums for years before the Mining Code of 1995 was enacted.
But Remonde also stressed that mining activities should be undertaken in line with the government policy of sustainable development, meaning these would not destroy the environment and protect the health, safety and even lives of the affected people anywhere in the country.
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This article is the most detailed and comprehensive yet on the Sec. Atienza’s rush to give Intex the authority to proceed mining in Mindoro without complying to his own DENR’s Administrative order 96-40 on the rules and Implementation of the 1995 MIning Act.He now did a Pilate- washing- his- hands by suspending for 90 days what he just signed.This will leave the Mindorenos to suffer while he takes leave soon.