MANILA, Philippines – Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM), an advocacy group and people’s movement composed of more than eighty (80) organizations from mining-affected communities and civil society organizations nationwide, feared the appointment of longtime Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) director Horacio Ramos as the new Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) secretary that will put indigenous groups at higher risk to injustices.

 
“Currently, there are 354 mining applications here in Palawan. More than half of our land in Palawan was opened for mining under Horacio Ramos’ supervision as MGB director. We fear that mining permits will be approved faster and easier under Ramos as the new Environment Secretary,” said Artiso A. Mandawa, Ancestral Land/Domain Watch (ALDAW) national coordinator and  a PALA'WAN native .
 
 “Ramos as the longtime MGB director has a big role in processing and opening areas for mining applications. It is disappointing that Palawan’s Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP), a law under Republic Act 7611, was disrespected by the DENR to accommodate mining in the Province,” added Mandawa.
 
“Concrete examples are the cases of the ranges of Gantong and Bulanjao, where areas of maximum protection or core zones[i] under SEP are threatened by mining operations approved by DENR that should not be allowed in the first place. These areas are homes to more than 10,000 indigenous peoples,” said Mandawa.
 
“And now Ramos is the Environment Secretary, we also fear that mining application in Roxas, Palawan will be approved. If that will be the case, the people of Batak will also at risk to mining impacts and the lives of the Molbog tribes in Balabac will encounter the same fate,” exclaimed Mandawa.
 
“The appointment of Ramos as DENR secretary is a plunder to our natural resources and puts all our ancestral domains at risk,” exclaimed Giovanni Reyes, secretary general of Koalisyon ng Katutubong Samahan ng Pilipinas (KASAPI) and K Kankanaey Igorot of Sagada, Mountain Province.
 
“We know that he [Ramos] was a key player in the passage of the Mining Act of 1995 and the brains behind Executive Order 270-A that that shifted the government’s policy from ‘tolerance’ to the relentless promotion of large-scale mining. These policies not just promoted environmental destruction but also weakened the rights of indigenous peoples specially in governing our ancestral domains,” added Reyes.
 
“It is disappointing that Horacio Ramos, an indigenous people himself, is consistently siding with mining companies. He does not deserve to be the DENR secretary. He does not care about the destruction of environment brought by mining,” said Peter Duyapat, President of the Didipio Earth Savers Movement Association (DESAMA) and belonging to the Ifugao community from Didipio, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya.
 
“In a community dialogue conducted here in Didipio in 2009, we’ve witnessed his favored actions toward the Australian mining company OceanaGold Philippines, Inc. (OGPI). He accepted reports from OGPI without verifying it with the affected communities. As I see it, he acts more like an Australian now than an IP,” added Duyapat.
 
“ATM, see where the fearful sentiments of the indigenous groups are coming from. Thanks to Ramos’ longtime leadership as MGB director that spearheaded the development of the National Minerals Action Plan (NMAP), the listed priority mining sites under the NMAP encroaches more than 50% of ancestral domains of Indigenous peoples and 60% of protected areas in our country,” said ATM national coordinator Jaybee Garganera.
 

“It was no surprise why the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines rejoiced and gratefully welcomed Ramos’ appointment as the new Environment chief. Ramos was the key player in the government’s revitalization program for the mining industry and a good facilitator of mining business’ fast approvals,” concluded Garganera.
 
ATM is convened by HARIBON, Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center – Friends of the Earth Philippines (LRC/FOEI) and PhilDHRRA. (30)
                                                                                                                     
For more information:

Artiso Mandawa, ALDAW national coordinator, (0905) 614.56.31

Giovani Reyes,

Peter Duyapat, DESAMA president,  (0905) 711.96.85

Jaybee Garganera, ATM Coordinator, (0915) 315.37.19, < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >

Roslyn Arayata, ATM Policy & Advocacy Officer, (0917) 521.7937, < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >
 
ALDAW NETWORK
(Ancestral Land/Domain Watch)
is an advocacy-campaign network of Indigenous Peoples
jointly constituted by NATRIPAL (United Tribes of Palawan) and
BANGSA PALAWAN PHILIPPINES (Indigenous Alliance for Equity and Wellbeing)
on August 2009.