An ecumenical pledge to condemn and oppose large-scale mining in Eastern Visayas, Masbate province and all over the country

A unity statement by the Eastern Visayas Ecumenical Forum during the People’s Mining Forum at the Cawaksi Learning Center, San Jose, Tacloban City
March 19, 2012

Biblical Text: Romans 8:22-24a - “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.”

With this FORUM, we are launching in our churches and communities in Eastern Visayas and Masbate province our sacred crusade to stop large-scale commercial mining and thereby preserve what is left of the natural wealth of the land, rivers, seas God has endowed Eastern Visayas and the province of Masbate. We believe it is a demand of our faith to show our commitment to uplift the poor and the hungry in the rural areas using the resources of our land and seas to our advantage.

The integrity of God’s creation given to the people of Samar, Leyte, Biliran and Masbate has been desecrated and destroyed for ages now by a few and powerful mining foreign investors with their Filipino counterparts as their dummies and in cahoots with the government. This problem has been with the Eastern Visayanos and Masbateños for almost a century now. This has made impossible the distribution of unused public lands and the tenanted lands of the rural landlords to the landless farmers. In spite of all this exploitation that could be valued in billions, we know there are still trillions of pesos worth of bauxite, chromites, pyrite, nickel, copper, gold, uranium, coal, aluminium, vanadium, titanium, and 20 other mineral deposits left in the whole of Eastern Visayas.

To be more specific, they are in the municipalities of Laoang, Mapanas and Palapag of Northern Samar province; Guiuan, Salcedo, Gen. McArthur, Hernani, Llorente, Maydolong and Borongan of Eastern Samar province; Gandara, Jiabong, Motiong, Paranas, San Jose de Buan, Hinabangan, Calbiga and Basey of Western Samar province; Ormoc, Albuera, Abuyog, Mahaplag, McArthur, Baybay, Inopacan of Leyte province; Hilongos, Bato, Matalom, Tomas Oppus, Bontoc, Macrohon, Pintuyan, Hinunangan, Hinundayan, and the Panaon Islands in Southern Leyte province; the island province of Biliran; and, Aroroy, Masbate.

There are still close to half a million hectares of virgin forests and centuries-old trees in our hinterlands, plus the hundred thousand metric tons of fish and sea resources in our ten seas, bays and rivers. With the lifting of the 1995 ban on mining, the “revitalization program”, and the transfer of direct and exclusive control on mining to the Office of the President of the Republic of the Philippines, this remaining wealth of God’s creation meant for us and those coming after us is in serious danger of being taken away again, even with planned Executive Order on Mining by the P-Noy government.

We believe it is an imperative of the faith of the religious in our region to join hands and lives to preserve and defend the wealth God has bestowed on the people of Eastern Visayas and Masbate. We are happy with the six Bishops and their clergy in the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Catarman, Calbayog, Borongan, Palo, Naval, and Maasin; with the Conference Ministers, Pastors and Lay Leaders led by the Area Bishop in the East Visayas Jurisdiction of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines; and with the Bishops and Priests of the Diocese of BILLESA (Biliran, Leyte and Samar) of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente. They have already shown their unequivocal position against the large-scale mining in more ways than one. We join hands with them and the religious organizations and groups in Eastern Visayas and all over the country in this action of protest against destructive mining operations.

With this FORUM, we want this CALL:

1. Stop the wanton anti-people exploitation of our wealth by foreign and local mining companies;

2. Junk or repeal Mining Act of 1995;

3. Support and uphold People’s Mining Bill 4315

4. For all parishioners of Roman Catholic, Iglesia Filipinas Independiente and United Church of Christ in the Philippines to participate in the education, mobilization and organization programs and activities on upholding the People’s Mining Bill 4315.

We must remember that we are part of the four million people of the region in their collective efforts to sustain, develop and make these natural resources useful to our quest for survival and decent living.

Indeed, the region’s natural wealth of mines and lumber is estimated to be more than $33.33 billion or P1.833 trillion, or 27% of the natural resources of the entire country.  Yes, the region is rich, but the people are poor and hungry. Out of the 4.2 million people in Eastern Visayas alone, 1.9 million have no work, under-employed, and under-salaried. Most of them earn P100 a day, far below the minimum wage of P238, and P496 as family wage. Ninety percent (90%) of these who are without work, under-employed and under-salaried are rural peasants, tenants and agricultural workers. Ten percent (10%) are urban poor: the region’s counterpart of the national sectors of the teachers, the students, and the government employees, the transport drivers of buses, vans, jeeps and tricycles, as already mentioned earlier.

We appeal for steadfastness and perseverance in this crusade to obey God’s mandate to take organized care of our land, its minerals and trees, our seas and rivers here in Samar, Leyte, Biliran and Masbate. With this, we will all the more strongly expose, oppose and stop the exploitative mining activities of any corporation, foreign and local, in Eastern Visayas and Masbate.