We are stewards of creation and must protect it and the people 
(republishing, copying, no restrictions)
By: Father Shay Cullen
Bishops, priests, environmental defenders, indigenous people and the common Filipino have one thing in common and that is a love of their once beautiful land and the environment. When they are told that there is bonanza of wealth that could make them all rich they just laugh. It’s all lies, stories of greedy speculators trying to convince them to abandon their sustained and well focused opposition to the Philippine and international mining industry.
The titans of industry are waiting like vultures to get their prey. They have oodles of investment funds and lots of guns and goons and now the law on their side. Exploitation environmental destruction, loss of land and livelihood, houses, toxic waste sickness and disease and poverty and great landslides are just some of the problems that mining brings. There is nothing in it for the people but the mining moguls there are vast profits.
The buzzards are already feeding on the corpse of ravaged mother earth. They are digging, gouging, pillaging and plundering the earth of its natural resources leaving destruction behind. Why spend millions when government environmental officials have been already paid off?
Greed for gold, now at astronomical prices of US$555 an ounce and climbing is driving this relentless corruption and exploitation. Copper, chromate, marble, ore, Silica, and many more minerals are gaining in value daily and investors know they can’t loose.
The industry estimates the foreign investors are poised to spend as much as $8.5 billion to exploit the $1 trillion worth of minerals. While one of the richest nations in minerals, it is also one of the most corrupt according to transparency international.
The sacredness of the creation, the duty to protect it and the rights of the people to live a decent life without mountains and the rivers being turned to toxic waste dumps and mud covered mass graves is what drives the broad opposition to destructive mining. Even national parks are not safe.
If you are from Bulacan, it’s time to weep. An area of 330 hectares of beautiful forested mountain, preserved by law as a national park for future generations and home of rare species of wild life, is under threat from Rose moor Mining Company. It has all the permits to rip open the sacred mountain where the famous freedom fighters of the Katipunan launched their uprising against Spanish domination.
Everywhere seems like government officials are in cahoots with the mining corporations who can fund their re-election campaigns and see they get a sliver of the earnings. That's how corrupt politicians rise to the top in case you are wondering if the Filipino deserve the governments they get. When they protest and demand justice and an end to the exploitation, they can get arrested, beaten, shot or disappeared. When brave journalists speak out, they too are shot. Even the priests are threatened.
Monsignor Crisanto de la Cruz found a gift box on the altar in St. Joseph’s Church recently containing two bullets and a bar of soap. The threat was clear, two bullets for you and the soap to wash away the river of blood. Father Chris is bravely leading the anti-mining campaign in the archdiocese of Zamboanga in the Southern Philippines. “No amount of threats will silence me, I will continue with the crusade, I know the people are behind me”, he told the press.
A Chinese funded mining operation wants to extract the ore from the nearby mountains, but that will destroy at least six villages said father Chris and do untold damage. Despite the rallies and demands of the people to stop the operations of Link tone mining, the city council voted for it. So much for democracy in this nation ruled by an oligarchy of the rich and powerful.
Government officials have issued large scale mining permits again in Dumagete City, Negros, for Goodyear resources Development Corporation to mine silica. Its operation was suspended after health and environmental problems became apparent. In Subic, Zambales, a river of toxic pollutants are causing rashes, burns and many sicknesses to the residents. Protests have fallen on deaf ears in local government. The only thing they hear is the jingle of coins according to Father Chris.
The Catholic Church has demanded a reveal of the mining act which grants full operational ownership of mining operations to foreign owned mining corporations. They pay a pittance in bribes and so avoid spending the necessary millions on pollution control and environmental protection and restoration.
With most of forest cover logged out, the mountains only need a slight earth tremor to unleash torrent killer landslides that buries people alive. That is all they expect from mining. [End]
