Anti-mining group to launch campaign against Villar, Angara, Enrile, Gordon

Anti-mining advocates on Tuesday identified four senatorial candidates they said they would campaign against for having interests in mining and who they feared would push the pro-mining agenda in the Senate. Jaybee Garganera, national coordinator of Alyansa Tigil Mina, said the candidates for the Senate must take a firm stand on different mining issues “plaguing [...]

Philippine tribal protest forces mine closure

A mining company announced today it has shut down operations at a nickel mine in the southern Philippine province of Surigao del Sur, after locals blocked the entrance, citing environmental concerns. Members of the Badjao tribe in the village of Cabangahan, Catilan town, formed a human barricade on Monday to prevent Marcventures Mining and Development [...]

Arrested and threatened with death, Fr Peter Geremia has seen it all

In the past four decades, Italian missionary Peter Geremia has been accused of being a communist and a rebel leader, been arrested, forced into hiding and threatened with death. He has sided with slum dwellers against the demolition of their shanties, worked with indigenous people against large scale mining in the mountains, and stood up [...]

Mine gets green light despite opposition

The government yesterday granted an environmental compliance certificate to the country’s largest mining project, despite opposition from various sectors, including Church leaders in the southern Philippines. The controversial US$5.9-billion Tampakan copper-gold project of Swiss firm Xstrata and its local unit, Sagittarius Mining Inc., was stalled for years over a ban on open-pit mining in South [...]

Tribal leader killed in Mindanao

Government forces this week shot and killed a tribal leader who had allegedly been waging war against an Australian-backed mining company in South Cotabato. Kitari Capion was reported to be unarmed when soldiers attacked his house Tuesday. Capion was allegedly shot in the back when 15 soldiers shot at the tribal leader’s house. The military [...]

Bishops take up mining, elections in ongoing assembly

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines opened its semi-annual plenary assembly in Manila on Saturday to tackle Church matters and pressing national concerns. Some 100 bishops from various dioceses were expected at the three-day gathering at the Pope Pius XII Center on UN Avenue in Manila. The prelates are expected to discuss mining, the [...]

CHR: Violations vs IP rights an alarming trend

“Dear President Aquino, I am Erita Capion, sister of Daguil Capion, a target of your armed forces. I believe you must have already known the merciless killing of my sister-in law, Juvy Capion and her two sons, Jordan and Mark John, both minor, by 13 soldiers of the 27th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army.” [...]

PHL highest Catholic official assures help to victims of political killings, rights abuses in Mindanao

The country’s highest official of the Catholic church, Cardinal Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, expressed that he will help human rights victims of Mindanao and will bring the matter to President Aquino. In a dialogue with Manilakbayan (Journey to Manila) delegates on Saturday, Tagle said, “He (the President) asked me once to just tell him what [...]

Protestant church calls on Aquino to act on murder of tribe leader, stop the killings

Taking the cudgels for the widow of slain anti-mining tribe leader in Bukidnon, bishops of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP) wrote to President Benigno Aquino III seeking justice for Jimmy Liguyon. Liguyon, a UCCP leader, was shot to death in front of his family on March 5 by Alde Salusad and [...]

Myanmar: Copper mine protesters defy gov’t deadline

A government deadline for hundreds of monks, students and villagers in Monywa town to end their sit-in protest of a copper mine expired at 12am today as demonstrators continued to block the entrance to the project site. The deadline was announced yesterday on state-run television and threatened legal action if the protests, which have forced [...]

Myanmar: Protesters close down copper mine

Residents of Monywa town in Sagaing division last week blocked the entrance to a controversial copper mine that has been the focus of two months of protests. Villagers have set up round-the-clock sit-ins and have urged the permanent closure of the mine amid plans by the government to expand operations there. The protesters have made [...]

Diocese to conduct mining accident probe

Daet Dicocese in central Camarines Norte province says it will conduct an independent inquiry into an accident that left three people dead at a gold mine this week following a recent series of deaths there. Father Edwin Visda, social action director of the diocese, said there were “attempts to cover up the tragedy” amid what [...]

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