(Hong Kong, November 17, 2009) Two Catholic Priests and a group of indigenous people from Mindoro Island have commenced a hunger strike of indefinite length in Manila to protest an impending mining operation by a Norwegian company.
Fr. Roberto Reyes, a staff member of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), is one of the 25 people who joined the protestors–two of whom are Catholic priests and sixteen of whom are Mangyans; as well as seven others. The group has pledged to go on a hunger strike until their demands are met.
In his statement, Fr. Roberto said of his decision to go on strike: “I go on hunger strike with the Mangyans and the people of Mindoro who hunger for justice and freedom from exploitation and oppression of foreign multinational corporations and their counterparts in the present regime”. The full text of his statement can be read below.
The group set up a makeshift tent in front of the headquarters of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Quezon City, a government agency responsible for issuing permits to mining firms. The group is protesting against the DENR’s issuance of a mining permit to Intex Resources – a Norwegian multinational mining company who work to mine ore minerals – despite strong opposition by the local government and the indigenous communities who are affected by their work.
Mindoro Island is the Philippines’ seventh largest island and is reported to have the biggest lateritic nickel ores deposit in the world.
Intex Resources, according to a local newspaper, was issued a permit to mine ores covering the areas of about 11,218 hectares, which included the ancestral domain claim of the Alangan and Tadyawan, which are indigenous Mangyan communities. The mining project covers four towns, in Victoria, Pola and Socorro in Oriental Mindoro and Sablayan in Occidental Mindoro. The operation is expected to produce 100 to 120 million tons of ore over a period of 15 to 20 years.
Legal provisions state that before any mining firms are issued work permits, there should be a public consultation and hearing with the communities and villagers who will be affected, in order to obtain their consent. Only after this consultation and willing agreement of the communities, can permits be issued.
However, according to the protestors, the DENR has issued permits to the Intex Resources despite a ‘strong and valid opposition’ from the affected communities, the local government and the Catholic Church.
FULL TEXT OF THE STATEMENT BY FR. ROBERTO REYES:
On Tuesday, November 17, 2009, I will go on hunger strike with the Mangyans and the people of Mindoro. I will be at the DENR early to put up the Kubol Pagasa, a mobile replica of the tent we pitched at the People Power Monument on July 10, 2005. Since then, the current administration has progressively lost its moral authority and credibility to govern. Corruption, human rights violations, bad governance aggravate what was already a fatal flaw in governance four years ago: the betrayal of public trust.
The present government has systematically corrupted individuals, groups and institutions in order to weaken peaceful and legitimate opposition. Corruption simply means buying loyalty and compliance through the distribution of government funds. Those first to be corrupted are government officials from the highest to the lowest whose loyalty is immediately rewarded through the release of the Countryside Development Funds (CDF) or the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA). Outside this not too honorable category of government officials are their business partners, friends and relatives who get priority or undue advantage in government bidding processes for projects. Aside from the Kaibigan and Kamag-anak incorporated are the institutional supporters which include media, church, academe, entertainment, etc. Indeed, money flows abundantly towards popular, powerful and influential personalities and institutions which directly or indirectly defend and support the president and her minions.
Corruption has polluted and alienated the Filipino soul. If those in power and those who support them choose to sink in the quicksand of corruption, we cannot allow them to drag the rest of us with them. I fast from food with those who are continually deprived of food, clean water, safe and decent housing, livelihood, education, hospitalization, disability benefits etc. I go on hunger strike with the Mangyans and the people of Mindoro who hunger for justice and freedom from exploitation and oppression of foreign multinational corporations and their counterparts in the present regime. I go on hunger strike that we may still unlearn attitudes and values that pull us down as a people. I fast and that we may start doing the following things:
First, we need to learn how to fight for our rights and those of indigenous peoples and their the environment
Second, we have to begin a process of inner and personal cleansing vis-à-vis an environment of deception, lies, corruption and stealing.
Third, we need to go back in prayer to the real God and reject the gods of politics, entertainment, business and consumerism.
Fourth, we need to re-educate our wills towards greater discipline and self control.
Fifth, we need to learn how to share not only goods but hunger as well in order to form community.
Sixth, we need to learn how to use a different language, beyond words, flashy commercials and noisy speeches. This is the language of silence and hunger, of prayer and self-sacrifice.
Seventh, we need to form through shared hunger, new and deeper bonds of solidarity with those who also desire deep and positive change in our society.
May God use this hunger strike to stop mining which ultimately is a source of funds not for development but for more corruption and exploitation. No to mining!!! Yes to a genuinely pro- environment, pro- people, pro-poor and pro-Filipino government!
Fr. Roberto P. Reyes
Kubol Pagasa
November 16, 2009
