Philippines: CBCP should reject Arroyo along with her Mining Law, environmentalists say

As the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) prepares to convene tomorrow a special emergency meeting on the current political crisis, green groups are calling out to the official organization of the Filipino Catholic episcpacy to “reject President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in light of her involvement in crafting and implementing the most environmentally-hazardous law of the land, the Mining Act of 1995″.

“If there is another concern that perhaps that entire CBCP can be united on, it is that the integrity of creation is being undermined and destroyed by the Mining Act of 1995 and the Arroyo administration’s current mining policy,” Kalikasan Peoples Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) National Coordinator Clemente Bautista Jr. said in a statement released Monday.

Arroyo is the foremost proponent of the country’s current mining policies. As a senator, Arroyo was the principal author of the Mining Act of 1995 or Republic Act 7942 when it was passed under the Ramos administration. As President, she has regularly issued policy statements aggressively promoting foreign mining investments, such as Executive Order No. 270 or the National Policy Agenda on Revitalizing Mining in the Philippines,” Bautista explained.

The Mining Act of 1995, Bautista explained, has given foreign and local mining firms more economic and political rights and privileges in the form of mining permits. These permits can give mining firms operation, timber, water, and easement rights for as long as 50 years in an area that can reach as large as 81,000 hectares. To date, more than half a million hectares of Philippine land have been turned over to the control of mining companies.

“We call on the CBCP to help place the Mining Law and its foremost proponent, President Arroyo, where they properly belong: in the trash bin of history,” Bautista said.

“Legislation has been filed seeking to repeal the current mining law, such as House Bill No. 1793 authored by Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casino. But this continues to rest on the back burner of Congress and its Committee on Natural Resources, which interestingly is being chaired by Presidential brother-in-law Rep. Iggy Arroyo. Unless Arroyo is put out of power, there can be no hope for a reversal of the Mining Law which has legalized so much plunder, destruction, and rights violations,” he noted.

The CBCP has previously made public its stand against the country’s current Mining Law. In 1998, the CBCP issued a statement of concern on the Mining Act of 1995, stating that the “adverse social impact on the affected communities will far outweigh the gains promised by mining” and that “the implementation of the Mining Act will certainly destroy both the environment and people and lead to national unrest “.

On 29 January 2006, when the CBCP released a second official Statement on Mining Concerns affirming that an “increasing number of mining affected communities, Christians and non-Christians alike, are subjected to human rights violations and economic deprivations.” #

Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) is a network of non-government organizations (NGOs), grassroots organizations, and environmental advocates.

For more information, please contact:
Mr. Clemente Bautista Jr., National Coordinator, Kalikasan PNE
Phone: +63922.844.9787; Fax : 924-8756

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