The Center for Environmental Concerns – Philippines strongly condemns the violent dispersal of the people’s barricade against OceanaGold Philippines Inc. (OGPI) yesterday, April 6, 2020 in Brgy. Didipio, Nueva Vizcaya. Amidst the CoViD-19 pandemic, around 100 personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP) forced their way through the residents to allow the passage of fuel tankers for OGPI’s operation.
The 20th of June 2019 marks the expiration of the Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) between the Philippine government and the OceanaGold Mining Company operating in the province of Nueva Vizcaya. It is the first company to be awarded an FTAA under the Mining Act of 1995, which allows 100% foreign ownership of operations. The Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines (CEC) joins the local communities, environmental advocates and Filipinos in the call for non-renewal of OceanaGold’s FTAA because of its negative impacts to the environment and local communities’ well-being, most of which are indigenous and rural people.
This March 3 marks the 24th year since the enactment of Republic Act (RA) 7942 or the Mining Act of 1995, well-known across social sectors and communities for serving as the fuel to the state machinery that liberalizes the domestic mining industry. The RA 7942 lifted regulatory measures on foreign access and control on mining in the Philippines, encouraging unfettered exploration, development, and utilization of the nation’s mineral resources. Today, the Center for Environmental Concerns – Philippines (CEC) joins the protest against this policy together with the indigenous people, farmers, and fellow environmental advocates.
The Center for Environmental Concerns – Philippines has launched the Mining Situation 2018 and People’s Mining Bill Primer (in English and Filipino). To request for an e-copy of both publications, email info@cecphils.org.
This month marks the 23rd year of legal plunder of our country’s minerals under the Philippine Mining Act of 1995. It promises national growth and development while ostensibly safeguarding the environment and protecting the rights of communities, but its neoliberal framework for profit has unleashed destruction on vast swathes of ecosystems and human rights violations.
The Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines joins hundreds of civil society groups gathered in the Philippines to hold the ASEAN People’s Forum/ASEAN Civil Society Conference 2017 (APF/ACSC), a CSO parallel event to the ASEAN Summit and related meetings hosted by the Philippine government in November 2017.
