By Rep. Teddy Casiño
Bayan Muna Party List
Delivered on October 5, 2007
House of Representatives
Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues.
I rise on a matter of personal and collective privilege to express my outrage at the latest case of extrajudicial killing, this time of an environmental advocate and anti-mining activist in Sibuyan Island, Romblon, last Wednesday.
Mr. Speaker. On that fateful morning of October 3, 44 year old Armin Marin was shot dead while leading a rally of Sibuyan residents against a nickel mining project in the island.
The manner in which Armin was killed is especially gruesome and terroristic. Witnesses said he was leading a picket in front of the mining company's office when an owner-type jeep drove up. The armed men in the jeep grabbed Armin, dragged him to a distance, then shot him in the mouth.
According to media reports, the gunman was identified as Mario Chinalpan Kingo, 49, chief security of the Sibuyan Nickel Property Development Corp., a consortium which is known to include BHP Billiton of Australia, one of the world's largest mining companies.
Marin is the 23rd environmental activist killed under the Arroyo government. Of those killed, 17 were anti-mining activists like Armin, as documented by the Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) . Others would include human rights lawyer Gil Gujol and League of Filipino Students spokesperson Rei Mon Guran who were killed last year in the midst of their campaign against the Lafayette Mining project in Albay.
Armin was a well respected local leader, being a town councilor and a father of five. He and the Sibuyan residents he represented opposed the SNPDC mining project project because they knew that large-scale mining would spell the end of their island paradise. Having been separated from the mainland since the Ice Age, Sibuyan boasts of the highest endemicity in the country, with flora and fauna that can be seen only in its shores. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WFF), in 1997, as much as 75% of its forest cover was intact and it had among the most beautiful and clean rivers.
The mining industry threatens to destroy all that. Today, says the WWF, there are 13 active mining sites surrounding Mt. Guitin Guitin and its national park. Among the applicants for mining are Altai Mining, Sun Pacific, All Acacia, San Roque Mining and Pelican Resources.
The mining operations in Sibuyan is one of 24 priority mining projects of the Arroyo government. The mine's foreign partner is reported to have recently signed a contract to supply 500,000 tons of nickel over five years to BHP Billiton.
According to the Sibuyan Island Sentinels League for Environment, which wrote me a letter on the day that Armin was killed, last Aug. 24, just before leaving the Department of Natural Resources (DENR), then Secretary Angelo Reyes signed five special cutting permits to clear forest lands for mining activity in Sibuyan. These “midnight permits” involve the cutting of 69,709 trees or approximately four million board feet of timber from Sibuyan's forests to give way to DENR-approved mining operations.
No wonder Armin and his neighbors were up in arms. No wonder they fought against the mining companies. No wonder he was killed in cold blood while fighting for his island and its environment.
Last year, some 8,000 residents of Sibuyan held an island-wide caravan to protest the granting of a small-scale mining permit to Philippine, Canadian and Australian companies. Just last June, some 3,000 residents demonstrated to opposed the mining operations of JKL Brothers Mineral Ore Quarrying Enterprises.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in Congress to condemn this latest, brutal attack on an activist and his cause for the environment. We should hold the authorities to task for their failure to protect the life of Armin Marin and others like him who have made the protection of our environment their advocacy.
I call on Congress as well to conduct an inquiry into the killing of Armin and the increasing cases of mining-related extrajudicial killings, disappearances and other human rights violations. Indeed, mining kills not only our forests, mountains, streams, rivers and oceans, but our people as well.
Lastly, I call for a stop to all mining activities in Sibuyan and other mining areas where residents have opposed the operations and where human rights violations have escalated, until this issue is cleared once and for all. These would include not only Sibuyan, Romblon but also Rapu-Rapu in Albay, Kasibu in Nueva Vizcaya, various areas in Eastern Visayas and Mindanao, among others.
Thank you Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues.
Bayan Muna Party List
Delivered on October 5, 2007
House of Representatives
Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues.
I rise on a matter of personal and collective privilege to express my outrage at the latest case of extrajudicial killing, this time of an environmental advocate and anti-mining activist in Sibuyan Island, Romblon, last Wednesday.
Mr. Speaker. On that fateful morning of October 3, 44 year old Armin Marin was shot dead while leading a rally of Sibuyan residents against a nickel mining project in the island.
The manner in which Armin was killed is especially gruesome and terroristic. Witnesses said he was leading a picket in front of the mining company's office when an owner-type jeep drove up. The armed men in the jeep grabbed Armin, dragged him to a distance, then shot him in the mouth.
According to media reports, the gunman was identified as Mario Chinalpan Kingo, 49, chief security of the Sibuyan Nickel Property Development Corp., a consortium which is known to include BHP Billiton of Australia, one of the world's largest mining companies.
Marin is the 23rd environmental activist killed under the Arroyo government. Of those killed, 17 were anti-mining activists like Armin, as documented by the Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) . Others would include human rights lawyer Gil Gujol and League of Filipino Students spokesperson Rei Mon Guran who were killed last year in the midst of their campaign against the Lafayette Mining project in Albay.
Armin was a well respected local leader, being a town councilor and a father of five. He and the Sibuyan residents he represented opposed the SNPDC mining project project because they knew that large-scale mining would spell the end of their island paradise. Having been separated from the mainland since the Ice Age, Sibuyan boasts of the highest endemicity in the country, with flora and fauna that can be seen only in its shores. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WFF), in 1997, as much as 75% of its forest cover was intact and it had among the most beautiful and clean rivers.
The mining industry threatens to destroy all that. Today, says the WWF, there are 13 active mining sites surrounding Mt. Guitin Guitin and its national park. Among the applicants for mining are Altai Mining, Sun Pacific, All Acacia, San Roque Mining and Pelican Resources.
The mining operations in Sibuyan is one of 24 priority mining projects of the Arroyo government. The mine's foreign partner is reported to have recently signed a contract to supply 500,000 tons of nickel over five years to BHP Billiton.
According to the Sibuyan Island Sentinels League for Environment, which wrote me a letter on the day that Armin was killed, last Aug. 24, just before leaving the Department of Natural Resources (DENR), then Secretary Angelo Reyes signed five special cutting permits to clear forest lands for mining activity in Sibuyan. These “midnight permits” involve the cutting of 69,709 trees or approximately four million board feet of timber from Sibuyan's forests to give way to DENR-approved mining operations.
No wonder Armin and his neighbors were up in arms. No wonder they fought against the mining companies. No wonder he was killed in cold blood while fighting for his island and its environment.
Last year, some 8,000 residents of Sibuyan held an island-wide caravan to protest the granting of a small-scale mining permit to Philippine, Canadian and Australian companies. Just last June, some 3,000 residents demonstrated to opposed the mining operations of JKL Brothers Mineral Ore Quarrying Enterprises.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in Congress to condemn this latest, brutal attack on an activist and his cause for the environment. We should hold the authorities to task for their failure to protect the life of Armin Marin and others like him who have made the protection of our environment their advocacy.
I call on Congress as well to conduct an inquiry into the killing of Armin and the increasing cases of mining-related extrajudicial killings, disappearances and other human rights violations. Indeed, mining kills not only our forests, mountains, streams, rivers and oceans, but our people as well.
Lastly, I call for a stop to all mining activities in Sibuyan and other mining areas where residents have opposed the operations and where human rights violations have escalated, until this issue is cleared once and for all. These would include not only Sibuyan, Romblon but also Rapu-Rapu in Albay, Kasibu in Nueva Vizcaya, various areas in Eastern Visayas and Mindanao, among others.
Thank you Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues.
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