“I hope that our government will listen to us and take some action”

A Canadian church-based group is urging Ottawa to protect the indigenous communities of the Philippines as more and more mining firms embark on treasure hunts in the mineral-rich Southeast Asian nation.

Members of the Beaconsfield Initiative, an exposure mission comprised mostly of Canadian church members, visited the Cordillera Region last week. Focusing on areas where Canadian Mining Companies operate, they found out that there is an ongoing “legal terrorism” victimizing the community people.

Reverend Patricia Lisson, director of the St. Columbia House in Canada, defined “legal terrorism” as the use of law over the rights of the people. This is being done, she said, to favor the big corporations and investors over the interests of the community.

They had observed that the rights of the communities over the lands visited by the Canadian mission are being set aside to pave way for the entrance of big corporate mining.

“These are matters of disempowering the people”, Lisson said.

The Beaconsfield Initiative is a joint effort of members of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), The Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance (CPA), the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA), the Regional Ecumenical Council of the Cordillera (Reccord) and the United Church of Canada (UCC). 

The said mission has aimed to gauge the impact of mining activities of Canadian large-scale mining companies on the lives of indigenous peoples (IPs) in the Cordillera region. And, also for the Beaconsfield Initiative to establish long-term covenants of church congregations here in the Cordilleras and the ministry sites in Canada.

The group visited mining areas in Mankayan, Benguet, Sallapadan and Tubo in Abra and Cervantes in Ilocos Sur.

According to the group, the Cordillera region is one of the mining hotspots in the country. Of the 63 priority mining projects of President Benigno Aquino III that are located here, six Canadian mining companies are operating in the provinces of Benguet and Abra. These mining companies, the group said, are located in the ancestral domains of the IPs of the Cordillera. 

To implement the proposal of the Armed Forces of the Philippines for large-scale mining firms to train Special CAFGU Active Auxiliary (SCAA), which President Aquino approved, the 5th Infantry Division of the AFP has been deployed in the region.

According to Tess Tesalona, member of the mission who came from the Canadian-based Center for Philippine Concerns, the presence of military detachments in the communities are “very disturbing.” 

She reported how they saw that public places like the Barangay hall, day care centers, health centers and schools are being used as military camps. These areas they visited are all covered by mining applications.

Tesalona said they were concerned with the illegal detention of two community people in the town of Cervantes, Ilocos Sur. What is also more disturbing, she said, is that the two are mentally challenged. 

She also noted the case of James Balao who was abducted by state agents on September 17, 2008. Balao remains missing to this day, despite a court-issued writ of amparo. Balao is a founding member of CPA and staunch human rights defender.

Rev. Marie Claude Manga, a UCC minister in St. Jean-Sur, Richeliu, Canada, noted the presence of fear. She said that fear is driving the people to the mountains where they strive to defend their rights over their ancestral land just like their forefathers did. She said that due to fear of losing everything, they are ready to fight again for their existence against the mining explorations. The question, she said, is why the government is not looking into these problems.

Rev. Dr. Bill Philips said that they will write a report based on their findings and views. This they will use to develop church policy and they will introduce it at the 41st UCC General Council in Ottawa, Canada this year. 

He added that they will also submit and present this to the standing committees on Justice and Human Rights and Foreign Affairs and International Developments of the House of Commons of the Canadian Parliament.

“I hope that our government will listen to us and take some actions,” Philips said.

According to Lisson, they will popularize their findings among the people in Canada by holding round-table discussions all over their country and presenting their report. From this, she said, they hope to influence public opinion about the operations of Canadian mining firms here in the Cordillera and various parts of the Philippines. And from there, she added, the Canadian people can put pressure on their government and Canadian mining companies to divest from their mining projects in areas like the Cordillera.

The group has identified 25 Canadian mining investments in the Philippines. It said it would continue its monitoring and mapping operations to determine the impact of corporate mining in communities around the country.

Phipps, a former moderator of the United Church of Canada said: “Canadian firms cannot just go to the Philippines and exploit mineral resources at all cost.” 

“As a former colony of the British and the French, Canada’s resources were heavily exploited by its colonizers so our country must understand the same situation of the Philippines,” said Phipps.

Last November, The Filipino Post reported that a broad range of Canadian-based Filipino groups have joined the global chorus of  condemnation against Manila for allowing mining firms to hire private armies to protect their interests.

Citing the possibility of human rights violations in local communities opposed against mining in their ancestral lands, the Vancouver-based Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights wrote a letter to President Benigno Simeon Aquino III urging him to withdraw approvals for the creation of private militias for mining companies operating in the Philippines.

According to Filipino human rights organizations, six anti-mining advocates have been killed this year in the Philippines, and 33 environmental activists have been killed since 2001. None of the 33 cases of killings have been resolved to date. “The militias are intended to protect mining companies from armed insurgents, but there is little doubt that militias will also turn against civilians, including indigenous peoples and those individuals and organizations working through legal means to ensure that theirhuman rights and the local environment are respected,” wrote Glenys Verhulst, founding member of the Victoria-Philippines Solidarity Group.

Philippines has vast amounts of gold, nickel, copper and other valuable minerals. The government estimates the Philippines has 83 billion tonnes of mineral ore deposits.

The country’s estimated gold ore reserves of four billion tonnes is the world’s third largest, its 7.9 billion tonnes of copper the fourth largest and the 815 million tonnes of nickel ore the fifth biggest in the world, it says.It said the country’s mineral reserves are estimated to be worth about $800 billion, and the industry could raise about $2.2 billion annually, enough to wipe out the country’s fiscal deficit.

This has attracted many Canadian companies to the Philippines who hold dozens of permits. They include  Altai Resources Inc, Canada Resources Corporation, Crazy Horse Resources Inc, MBMI Resources Inc, Metallum Resources Inc, Mindoro Resources Ltd, Panoro Minerals Ltd, Philex Gold Inc, Philippine Metals Inc, Rugby Mining Ltd, and Tiger International Resources Ltd, and 6 Toronto Stock Exchange mining companies with 28 properties in the Philippines, namely, CGA Mining Ltd, Crew Gold Corporation, Medusa Mining Ltd, Oceana Gold Corporation, Olympus Pacific Minerals Inc, TVI Pacific Inc.

Mining opponents have been highly critical of Canadian investment in the Philippine mining sector saying it aids in alleged human rights violations.