ANISLAGAN, Philippines – “This is a peaceful community (but) tension among us (rose) after the mining community encroached (in) our village.”

This were the words of Neneng Gamus, a mother of two, barangay councilor, and one of the mothers in the forefront of defending their land and life in Anislagan, Placer, Surigao del Norte.

Anislagan is an agricultural village on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao whose two thousand residents have vowed to protect their land from one of the world’s largest mining conglomerates, Anglo American Plc., and free from mining projects.

In March 2007, Kalayaan Copper Gold Resources (KCGR), a joint venture between Britain’s Anglo American and the Manila Mining Company (a subsidiary of Lepanto), was awarded an exploration permit covering an area of approximately three hundred hectares.

In this community, women have an important role in tilling, planting, and harvesting the fields where corn, rice, a diversity of vegetables, coconuts, and other cash crops are grown.

Significantly, Anislagan is also the site of large spring water aquifers from which water is drawn and distributed to surrounding communities.

Knowing that a gold mine would mean an end to their agricultural livelihood and their locally accessible clean water sources, residents have been determined to keep mining companies off the green fields they consider gold.

According to Gamos, “We know that gold lies underneath our farm lots and our water source…[that is] worth millions of pesos. But, we value more the lives of the people here in our small community, the lives around our community, and [the lives of] their children’s children. These [lives] are unquantifiable by money.”

As early as 2002, residents of Anislagan mobilized themselves into a multi-sectoral environmental watchdog organization that became known as the Anislagan Bantay Kalikasan Task Force (ABAKATAF). This diverse collective includes village councilors, farmers, women, youth, and parishioners from different churches who have continued to mobilize together over the years.

Their vision of Anislagan is for it to remain a productive agricultural zone that is free of mining, with clean water for drinking and irrigation – a resource to be shared and protected. In particular, the women activists of Anislagan have tirelessly committed themselves to protect the life, land and resources of all in their community.

Recognizing the intense level of village resistance, Anglo American, along with Philex Mining Corporation, initiated a “Community Technical Working Group” to plan corporate scholarship prograes, medical dispensary services, a community garden, and other promotional activities.

And in an attempt to further silence dissent, legal actions – considered by the community and their allies as “strategic lawsuits against public participation” – have been launched by the company against individual activists. Most of those targeted were women, who continue to be at the forefront of the struggle to keep mining companies out of their village.

But the village mothers remain determined to stop the exploration activities and have been manning a 24-hour picket line they initiated in 2001. (Carl Cesar Rebuta, Project Development Officer, Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, Inc.-Kasama sa Kalikasan/Friends of the Earth-Philippines)

By DateLine Philippines

Posted on May. 08, 2010 at 3:56pm |

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