Comments: No one wants mining, love the following statement: "Mining is an outright violation of our inherent rights over our land and resources" and look at the next statement, must be the way of all mining companies: "There have been reports of mining companies bribing local officials to endorse their applications and to discourage popular opposition". But it seems to be VA leaders at this time!
April 2, 2010
For the mining companies, it's a golden opportunity. But for the Igorot peoples, who comprise seven major ethnolinguistic groups and have lived on and tended to the Cordillera since time immemorial, it's an outrage -- one they are mobilizing to fight. The Cordillera People's Alliance (CPA) is a confederation of grassroots organization of indigenous peoples of the Cordillera.
They formed in 1984 around the successful indigenous struggles against the Chico dams and commercial logging, and are currently in the forefront of the anti-mining movement. "We are promoting indigenous people's rights and working for the recognition and defense of these rights, especially now in the face of, globalization, with peoples resources and territories being taken over by multinational companies," says Joan Carling, CPA's Secretary-General and a Kankana-ey from Benguet province.
The growing anti-mining movement is raising a number of issues and concerns about the entry of large-scale mining into members' communities. These include the poisoning of the rivers, devastation of the forest, destruction of their farmland, and the total disregard for their ancestral land rights.
"Mining is an outright violation of our inherent rights over our land and resources. Because our life depends on the land, our spirituality -- our culture -- is basically in oneness with the land. So once you evict indigenous people from the land, that's already ethnocide. They lose their ethnicity and their distinctness," explains Ms. Carling. "And we are now trying to prevent this from happening."
Opposition to mining in the Cordillera is widespread and militant. A unity pact has been signed by elders from all provinces of the Cordillera vowing to oppose the entry of mining companies in collective defense of their land, livelihood, and resources. In Mountain Province, the anti-mining sentiment has grown so strong that the provincial governor has publicly proclaimed a no-entry policy on mining operations there. But many people are skeptical.
There have been reports of mining companies bribing local officials to endorse their applications and to discourage popular opposition. It is also alleged that "development projects" have been offered as a bonus to local officials for their support. -
- See more at: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/the-cordillera-peoples-alliance-mining-and-indigenous-rights-luzon-highl#sthash.n0hJ005G.dpuf
