Green group Kalikasan PNE, Tribal leaders claim tactical victory on DENR status-quo order on Nueva Vizcaya mining
Vows to continue barricade until formal order to stop Oxiana mining is issued
Clemente Bautista, Jr. Kalikasan-PNE National Coordinator
August 31, 2007
"This is a tactical victory for the people of Kasibu in their resolve to oppose the entry of Oxiana Philippines into their communities ", green umbrella group Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) said of the verbal order of environment secretary Lito Atienza to stop the mining firm's entry in the said community.
"We continue to support the call for a ban on mining in Kasibu and not just a stop of exploration activities", added Clemente Bautista, National Coordinator of Kalikasan PNE.
"Secretary Atienza should also respect the calls of other communities for a moratorium on mining in their areas such as those in Rapu-rapu in Albay and in Palawan", said Bautista.
"Nagpapasalamat kami kung tutoo ang order ni Atienza, pero nababahala din kami na isa itong taktika ng gobyerno para pahinain ang aming pagtutol. (We are thankful if Atienza's order is true, but we are wary that this is just a ploy of the government to weaken our resolve)", said Benito Cudiam, a tribal leader and Vice Chairperson of Kasibu Inter-tribal Response Toward Ecological Development (KIRED).
"Tuloy pa rin ang aming barikada, hangga't di namin natatanggap ang pormal na order sa pagpapatigil ng Oxiana (We will continue our barricade until we receive the formal order to stop Oxiana)", stressed Cudiam.
On the second day of their fact-finding mission in Kasibu in eastern Nueva Vizcaya, Kalikasan PNE together with Defend Patrimony, a broad alliance against mining liberalization in the Philippines, and Save the Valley, Serve the People, a Kasibu-based local alliance in opposition to the current mining projects probes human rights violations in the wake of the dispersal and the effects of two mining exploration and operation projects on the country's foremost citrus-producing producing province and critical watershed area. This fact-finding and solidarity mission team will last from August 30 to September 1.
Joining the independent probe are officers of the environmental non-government research organization Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines, and leaders of the nationwide indigenous people's federation Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP) and IP Human Rights Watch. The group will be coordinating with local government officials such as Kasibu Mayor Romeo Tayaban and local IP leaders.
An escalation of the violent dispersal yesterday by military and paramilitary groups of the barricade set up by local residents and indigenous people's opposed to the mining project was averted by the verbal order of Sec. Atienza to a halt of the entry of Oxiana's mining equipment into Kasibu.
"We continue to support the call for a ban on mining in Kasibu and not just a stop of exploration activities", added Clemente Bautista, National Coordinator of Kalikasan PNE.
"Secretary Atienza should also respect the calls of other communities for a moratorium on mining in their areas such as those in Rapu-rapu in Albay and in Palawan", said Bautista.
"Nagpapasalamat kami kung tutoo ang order ni Atienza, pero nababahala din kami na isa itong taktika ng gobyerno para pahinain ang aming pagtutol. (We are thankful if Atienza's order is true, but we are wary that this is just a ploy of the government to weaken our resolve)", said Benito Cudiam, a tribal leader and Vice Chairperson of Kasibu Inter-tribal Response Toward Ecological Development (KIRED).
"Tuloy pa rin ang aming barikada, hangga't di namin natatanggap ang pormal na order sa pagpapatigil ng Oxiana (We will continue our barricade until we receive the formal order to stop Oxiana)", stressed Cudiam.
On the second day of their fact-finding mission in Kasibu in eastern Nueva Vizcaya, Kalikasan PNE together with Defend Patrimony, a broad alliance against mining liberalization in the Philippines, and Save the Valley, Serve the People, a Kasibu-based local alliance in opposition to the current mining projects probes human rights violations in the wake of the dispersal and the effects of two mining exploration and operation projects on the country's foremost citrus-producing producing province and critical watershed area. This fact-finding and solidarity mission team will last from August 30 to September 1.
Joining the independent probe are officers of the environmental non-government research organization Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines, and leaders of the nationwide indigenous people's federation Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP) and IP Human Rights Watch. The group will be coordinating with local government officials such as Kasibu Mayor Romeo Tayaban and local IP leaders.
An escalation of the violent dispersal yesterday by military and paramilitary groups of the barricade set up by local residents and indigenous people's opposed to the mining project was averted by the verbal order of Sec. Atienza to a halt of the entry of Oxiana's mining equipment into Kasibu.
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