Environmental advocates call for new mining law in Easter appeal  

Invoking the spirit of renewal that Easter brings, environmental and church groups reiterated their appeal to President Benigno Aquino III to protect the lives of people in communities affected by giant mining operations in the Philippines.

In reaction to President Aquino's Easter message, Jaybee Garganera, national coordinator of Alyansa Tigil Mina, said  this "Easter Sunday is a good occasion to remember the mining disasters that have affected the lives of mining communities that are continuously ignored and  whose  rights are violated with impunity."

He also appealed to the President to order a "stop to operations of large-scale mining operations and the immediate passage of  the Alternative Minerals Management Bill (AMMB)."

Together with the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), the ATM, an alliance of mining-affected communities and their supporters, also calls for a moratorium on the issuance of new mining permits.

In his Easter message, Aquino had called on all Filipinos to "sacrifice for others."

"Lubusin natin ang mga pagkakataong ito... Nasa kamay po natin ang susi ng ganap na pag-asenso. Tiyak pong sa ating malasakit sa isa't isa at sa patnubay ng Panginoon, mararating natin ang katuparan ng ating mga panalangin at mithiin," he said.

Also, he said that under his watch, the nation has risen from rampant graft and poverty, with people's trust restored in the government.

But Garganera said protecting the environment, especially from destructive mining operations, "is an expression of self-sacrifice for our poor brethren in mining-affected communities."

He said, "there is no end in sight to mining disasters with the current policy in mining industry under the Mining Act of 1995.

Back in 1998, the CBCP issued a letter on the environment, "What Is Happening to Our Beautiful Land?" In this letter, the CBCP lamented the assault on the environment  by the large-scale mining firms, said Garganera.

The testimonies of mining of affected communities of Marinduque and Compostela Valley paint a picture of the gravity of environmental degradation and human rights violations brought by the large scale mining in these areas, he added.

These conditions impair communities' rights to adequate housing, safe water and to an environment that does not harm their well-being. The past nineteen years since the Mining Act of 1995 enacted, it is very disheartening to witness the worsening rural poverty and continuing disaffection of affected communities on mining, Garganera said

On April 22, various environmental groups, including ATM will participate in the celebration of Earth Day by holding public action in different parts of the country. — Jerbert Briola /LBG, GMA News