“Kon langit ang atong kab-oton, nganong yuta man ang atong kutkuton?” (Leofe Calongo, 9 years old)
(“If we aim for heaven, why do we dig the earth?”)
(“If we aim for heaven, why do we dig the earth?”)
The CBCP Monitor called my attention one day;
“Bishop Sued for Libel after Exposing Mining Anomalies”
Reading closely…Oh! OUR bishop, a priest, and lay advocates in our diocese
grabbed the headline…on the very front page!
Wow, real advocates of the cultural and environmental concerns,
I salute them!
Could this be the reason, then, why I CHOSE to write an article about mining?
Well, why not? After all, the advocates and the concerned ones belong to my diocese, so how could I not…
Yet, there’s a deeper reason…
But the fact that I don’t have a firm background on mining and its laws;
And the fact that I don’t have any concrete contact with the Subanons and their affected place;
How, then, could I write a reliable and experienced-based article?
What basically moved me, then?
I believe it lies on the essential commonalities that we share;
From that, flow the other reasons:
Such great values such as love, compassion, empathy…
The basic truth lies on our being humans: I, too, cry as they do.
I was not there but I, too, have been living in a home securely planted on earth and water.
I was not there, but I, too, am embraced warmly by my culture and enjoy my rights.
How, then, could you not feel cold and empty when someone strip you naked?
Their stories are my own stories too!
Ok, let’s start in the courting process;
A process wherein mining companies and miting de avance commonly share:
Benefits like employment, education, healthcare and community projects;
Well, nice start ah!
But, imagine how terrible will it be when the sweetness gradually gets lost from a sugar-coated bitter root:
Behind employment is the rigid selection and arrival of commercial mining
which continuously reduces the number of manpower;
Low paid jobs go along with long laborious hours, with less or no benefits at all;
And let’s not forget the great danger of accidents, illnesses and disasters…whew!
Behind projects lay smuggling, seizures of lands, and deforestation in the construction of infrastructures;
Developments of businesses even lead to vices, gambling, drunkenness, and prostitution.
Degradation of cultural values…then, where is education?
And the most visible long-term regrettable impact points to the health and environmental corruption:
Removal of vast amounts of earth clears forests and farms; destructs clean water source system;
Improper acidic waste disposal leads to the pollution and eventual death of aqua-food farms and clean air.
In a country wherein livelihood depends mostly on agri- and aquaculture,
the serious environmental destruction coupled with the risk of health problems,
disastrously lead to a gradual decrease of earning money – their traditional economy.
“How, then, can we be able to cope with our children’s education?!”
And, didn’t we talk about ‘seizures of lands’ a while ago?
The Subanons, who occupied the land for centuries, are now the ones struggling to get their domain back.
Big-scale mining operations have aggressively trespassed their ancestral realm!
A tiny, abundant vegetable farm bulldozed into a raw and naked earth…an open pit mining;
Dislocated and relocated…but into houses like squeezed and constricted chicken dens.
Now, compare it to officials’ concrete houses…guess who’s got the gold?
Then comes ‘persecution’ (highlighting the experience of the Subanons in their place in our diocese):
Injury after injury, tortures and bruises after demolition of houses…
No court orders, thus, trespassers!
From threats to gunshots; food blockades and confiscations TO spikes on footpaths in forests;
Armed forces and militarization OVER the peace-loving Subanons
Then Jesus said, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit?” (Mt.26:55)
In such danger of land-loss, the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) was granted to them.
Hence, the right to manage their own forests…the land as their own, for them, “a chance to heal…”
In our folks’ demands for the recognition of their cultural rights,
emerged the 1997 Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) saying that,
Before “exploration and extraction…the whole community must be informed and
agree to the decision…otherwise…a project cannot proceed.”
But what made such companies so aggressive, exploitative and confident in continuing mining operations despite petitions?
Well, how could any foreign company be not attracted to the benefits of the 1995 Mining Act of RA 7942:
100% ownership, 81,000 hectare claim over an area for 50 years; 10-year tax holidays, etc., whew!
So, going back, despite Subanon’s rights, agencies of the Philippine government still support the mining companies more than the locality…Ehem!
Inquirer article says, “Palace: No to Mining Ban”. Ahh, that’s why!
Oh, so heavy for our brothers and sisters to carry…
With that, some of them lost hope.
Pressures and poverty led them to sell their lands or get employed in the company.
Even clearly bitter is the tactic of dividing the tribal folks by making fight and argue against each other.
BUT, DESPITE THAT, THERE ARE STILL MANY WHO CONTINUE TO HOLD ON TO THE FIGHT!
And what is striking is that, the role of the Church makes a great impact in their lives…
DIOPIM (Dipolog, Ipil, Ozamiz, Pagadian, Iligan, and Marawi) Bishops and Clergy affixed their signatures
to maintain their stand, support the cause of the Subanons, and appeal for truth and justice.
For many poor people turn to them to express their grievances and seek relief from their distress
the mining activities have destructively inflicted on them.
In coming to their help, our advocates, in turn, faced a libel suit initiated by the Canadian mining firm, for such exposé.
Yet behind their backs come a firm stand and support from our bishops and clergy,
And I could not help but quote it!
“This situation is not far from the experiences of our fellow countrymen all over the country who are subjected
to different harassments just to silence them while advancing their aggressive, destructive, and exploitative
mining operations of transnational companies. We condemn the curtailment of freedom to express what we believe to be the TRUTH.”
“YOU MINE WHAT IS MINE!” a Subanon father and farmer cries, “they ‘owned’ my land!”
“YOU MINE…the last of our land; my agriculture, hunting and fishing livelihood; my sacred and safe place and ancestral settlement!”
“YOU MINE the security and future of my children! YOU MINE my traditional cultural customs and human rights!”
“This place is prepared for us by GOD…He had given it to us to live on and to care for.
This is central to the meaning of our life and culture as Subanons.
It is difficult for a foreign mining company WHO ARE NOT PART OF THIS PLACE to understand this.”
“Kon langit ang atong kab-oton, nganong yuta man ang atong kutkuton?”
If you aim for glory and riches, why do you have to disturb our peaceful, secure and sacred life?
The children themselves cry, “Madame Gloria, please listen to our views!”
May the glory that we seek resonate with your name!
“Tangtanga una ang bulawan nga gibitay sa imong dalunggan, aron imong madunggan ug ikaw mobati sa panawagan sa kabataan.”
(Remove your golden earrings that you may hear and empathize with the pleadings of the young.)
“YOU MINE WHAT IS MINE!” is also my cry;
If worldly and materialistic “miners” dig and own the gold, nickel, and copper treasures of my soul.
If I don’t grasp and defend the promotion of truth, justice, and be bothered by the ecological threat,
my life will then become a barren, wasted, and polluted land.
And from it, will the souls of those who drink by my stream be in real threat and danger.
See how the Church becomes a warm bosom for those who are in the cold.
Then I see myself…my present life…my future ministry…what shall I do then?
I believe that the nourishment of truth must start from within me – be firmly grounded
in Christ as “The Way, The TRUTH, and The Life”.
From there then flows an advocacy…a firm conviction to stand for such truth and security
which people seek and rejoice in glory with me till the end.
Stand for the TRUTH…Care for the EARTH!
A child whispers in humble prayer:
Lord, intawn kami sud-onga ug pamati-a, mga kabataan kanimo nangaliya,
Pugngi ang hulga sa among kaugmaon, apan dili ang among pagbuot ang among tumanon, kon dili and imoha gihapon.
(Lord, please look upon us and hear us your children, we implore.
Suppress the threat to our future; yet it’s your will we desire, not our own.) AMEN.
leonilo a.dagpin, jr.
february 2006
year of social concerns
Meet my companions…the advocates:
Letter of Concern and Appeal by the DIOPIM Bishops addressed to Hon. Clare Short, British Parliament, UK
Letter of Concern by the DOPIM Bishops and Clergy
Breaking promises, making profits: Mining in the Philippines (A Christian Aid and PIPLinks report, 2004)
Newsletter DIBALUY, published by DIOPIM Committee on Mining Issues, June and November 2006
A cartoon/comic entitled, “Dinagkong Pagmina Kinsay Mabulahan?” by JPIC Columban-Mindanao and MASIPAG-Mindanao
“MINA, TVI OPERATION?” a poem by Leofe Calongo, 9 years old from Jose Dalman, Zamboanga del Norte
“Bishop Sued for Libel after Exposing Mining Anomalies”
Reading closely…Oh! OUR bishop, a priest, and lay advocates in our diocese
grabbed the headline…on the very front page!
Wow, real advocates of the cultural and environmental concerns,
I salute them!
Could this be the reason, then, why I CHOSE to write an article about mining?
Well, why not? After all, the advocates and the concerned ones belong to my diocese, so how could I not…
Yet, there’s a deeper reason…
But the fact that I don’t have a firm background on mining and its laws;
And the fact that I don’t have any concrete contact with the Subanons and their affected place;
How, then, could I write a reliable and experienced-based article?
What basically moved me, then?
I believe it lies on the essential commonalities that we share;
From that, flow the other reasons:
Such great values such as love, compassion, empathy…
The basic truth lies on our being humans: I, too, cry as they do.
I was not there but I, too, have been living in a home securely planted on earth and water.
I was not there, but I, too, am embraced warmly by my culture and enjoy my rights.
How, then, could you not feel cold and empty when someone strip you naked?
Their stories are my own stories too!
Ok, let’s start in the courting process;
A process wherein mining companies and miting de avance commonly share:
Benefits like employment, education, healthcare and community projects;
Well, nice start ah!
But, imagine how terrible will it be when the sweetness gradually gets lost from a sugar-coated bitter root:
Behind employment is the rigid selection and arrival of commercial mining
which continuously reduces the number of manpower;
Low paid jobs go along with long laborious hours, with less or no benefits at all;
And let’s not forget the great danger of accidents, illnesses and disasters…whew!
Behind projects lay smuggling, seizures of lands, and deforestation in the construction of infrastructures;
Developments of businesses even lead to vices, gambling, drunkenness, and prostitution.
Degradation of cultural values…then, where is education?
And the most visible long-term regrettable impact points to the health and environmental corruption:
Removal of vast amounts of earth clears forests and farms; destructs clean water source system;
Improper acidic waste disposal leads to the pollution and eventual death of aqua-food farms and clean air.
In a country wherein livelihood depends mostly on agri- and aquaculture,
the serious environmental destruction coupled with the risk of health problems,
disastrously lead to a gradual decrease of earning money – their traditional economy.
“How, then, can we be able to cope with our children’s education?!”
And, didn’t we talk about ‘seizures of lands’ a while ago?
The Subanons, who occupied the land for centuries, are now the ones struggling to get their domain back.
Big-scale mining operations have aggressively trespassed their ancestral realm!
A tiny, abundant vegetable farm bulldozed into a raw and naked earth…an open pit mining;
Dislocated and relocated…but into houses like squeezed and constricted chicken dens.
Now, compare it to officials’ concrete houses…guess who’s got the gold?
Then comes ‘persecution’ (highlighting the experience of the Subanons in their place in our diocese):
Injury after injury, tortures and bruises after demolition of houses…
No court orders, thus, trespassers!
From threats to gunshots; food blockades and confiscations TO spikes on footpaths in forests;
Armed forces and militarization OVER the peace-loving Subanons
Then Jesus said, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit?” (Mt.26:55)
In such danger of land-loss, the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) was granted to them.
Hence, the right to manage their own forests…the land as their own, for them, “a chance to heal…”
In our folks’ demands for the recognition of their cultural rights,
emerged the 1997 Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) saying that,
Before “exploration and extraction…the whole community must be informed and
agree to the decision…otherwise…a project cannot proceed.”
But what made such companies so aggressive, exploitative and confident in continuing mining operations despite petitions?
Well, how could any foreign company be not attracted to the benefits of the 1995 Mining Act of RA 7942:
100% ownership, 81,000 hectare claim over an area for 50 years; 10-year tax holidays, etc., whew!
So, going back, despite Subanon’s rights, agencies of the Philippine government still support the mining companies more than the locality…Ehem!
Inquirer article says, “Palace: No to Mining Ban”. Ahh, that’s why!
Oh, so heavy for our brothers and sisters to carry…
With that, some of them lost hope.
Pressures and poverty led them to sell their lands or get employed in the company.
Even clearly bitter is the tactic of dividing the tribal folks by making fight and argue against each other.
BUT, DESPITE THAT, THERE ARE STILL MANY WHO CONTINUE TO HOLD ON TO THE FIGHT!
And what is striking is that, the role of the Church makes a great impact in their lives…
DIOPIM (Dipolog, Ipil, Ozamiz, Pagadian, Iligan, and Marawi) Bishops and Clergy affixed their signatures
to maintain their stand, support the cause of the Subanons, and appeal for truth and justice.
For many poor people turn to them to express their grievances and seek relief from their distress
the mining activities have destructively inflicted on them.
In coming to their help, our advocates, in turn, faced a libel suit initiated by the Canadian mining firm, for such exposé.
Yet behind their backs come a firm stand and support from our bishops and clergy,
And I could not help but quote it!
“This situation is not far from the experiences of our fellow countrymen all over the country who are subjected
to different harassments just to silence them while advancing their aggressive, destructive, and exploitative
mining operations of transnational companies. We condemn the curtailment of freedom to express what we believe to be the TRUTH.”
“YOU MINE WHAT IS MINE!” a Subanon father and farmer cries, “they ‘owned’ my land!”
“YOU MINE…the last of our land; my agriculture, hunting and fishing livelihood; my sacred and safe place and ancestral settlement!”
“YOU MINE the security and future of my children! YOU MINE my traditional cultural customs and human rights!”
“This place is prepared for us by GOD…He had given it to us to live on and to care for.
This is central to the meaning of our life and culture as Subanons.
It is difficult for a foreign mining company WHO ARE NOT PART OF THIS PLACE to understand this.”
“Kon langit ang atong kab-oton, nganong yuta man ang atong kutkuton?”
If you aim for glory and riches, why do you have to disturb our peaceful, secure and sacred life?
The children themselves cry, “Madame Gloria, please listen to our views!”
May the glory that we seek resonate with your name!
“Tangtanga una ang bulawan nga gibitay sa imong dalunggan, aron imong madunggan ug ikaw mobati sa panawagan sa kabataan.”
(Remove your golden earrings that you may hear and empathize with the pleadings of the young.)
“YOU MINE WHAT IS MINE!” is also my cry;
If worldly and materialistic “miners” dig and own the gold, nickel, and copper treasures of my soul.
If I don’t grasp and defend the promotion of truth, justice, and be bothered by the ecological threat,
my life will then become a barren, wasted, and polluted land.
And from it, will the souls of those who drink by my stream be in real threat and danger.
See how the Church becomes a warm bosom for those who are in the cold.
Then I see myself…my present life…my future ministry…what shall I do then?
I believe that the nourishment of truth must start from within me – be firmly grounded
in Christ as “The Way, The TRUTH, and The Life”.
From there then flows an advocacy…a firm conviction to stand for such truth and security
which people seek and rejoice in glory with me till the end.
Stand for the TRUTH…Care for the EARTH!
A child whispers in humble prayer:
Lord, intawn kami sud-onga ug pamati-a, mga kabataan kanimo nangaliya,
Pugngi ang hulga sa among kaugmaon, apan dili ang among pagbuot ang among tumanon, kon dili and imoha gihapon.
(Lord, please look upon us and hear us your children, we implore.
Suppress the threat to our future; yet it’s your will we desire, not our own.) AMEN.
leonilo a.dagpin, jr.
february 2006
year of social concerns
Meet my companions…the advocates:
Letter of Concern and Appeal by the DIOPIM Bishops addressed to Hon. Clare Short, British Parliament, UK
Letter of Concern by the DOPIM Bishops and Clergy
Breaking promises, making profits: Mining in the Philippines (A Christian Aid and PIPLinks report, 2004)
Newsletter DIBALUY, published by DIOPIM Committee on Mining Issues, June and November 2006
A cartoon/comic entitled, “Dinagkong Pagmina Kinsay Mabulahan?” by JPIC Columban-Mindanao and MASIPAG-Mindanao
“MINA, TVI OPERATION?” a poem by Leofe Calongo, 9 years old from Jose Dalman, Zamboanga del Norte
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