Didipio campaign

DIDIPIO COMMUNITY FILES CASE AGAINST DENR & Mining Companies

Northern Luzon Bishops hold a Thanksgiving Mass to support the Community’s Action

March 8, 2006 Philippines: Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Regional Trial Court:

The Community of Baranggay Didipio, Kasibu Nueva Vizcaya filed a Petition for Mandamus against the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Climax Arimco Mining Corporation (CAMC), and its transferee Australasian Philippines Mining Incorporated (APMI) to force the agency to cancel the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) issued to Climax Arimco/ Australasian Philippines Mining Inc. (CAMC/APMI) and prevent the implementation of an invalid Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC).

The Environmental Compliance Certificate and the Financial Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) issued to CAMC are conditioned on the local government consent requirement under sections 26 and 27 of the Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code of the Philippines. Under the law, CAMC/APMI should have obtained the consent of the Barangay, Municipal and Provincial councils as precondition to their mining operation. Both the Barangay and Municipal councils have already registered their opposition to the Didipio Gold/Copper mining project. “Accordingly, the failure to fulfill the local government consent requirement has rendered invalid the ECC of CAMC/APMI and therefore, any mining operation that will be commenced in the area will be illegal”, said Atty. Mary Ann Dela Pena –Regional Lawyer LRC-KSK/Friends of the Earth –Philippines.

On August 8, 2005, the municipal council of Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines resolved NOT TO ENDORSE the Didipio Gold-Copper Mining Project of CAMC/APMI. Despite demands to DENR and its attached agencies to enforce the Ministerial cancellation of the ECC, no response has been given. Hence, a Petition for Mandamus is being filed to compel the DENR to issue a cancellation of the subject ECC.

This case represents the right of local government units to determine their own development applicable within their boundaries to suit the specific circumstances of their local economic, social and environmental situations, while maintaining consistency with overall regional objectives of sustainable development. It also asserts the local government’s responsibility to prevent any projects which they deem to have potential social and environmental impacts from operating within the areas under their jurisdiction. “Large Scale Mining in the Philippines has never in its history proven to be a sustainable enterprise. In the past hundred years the country has been host to numerous mine spills and other environmental disasters not to mention the associated social ills mining brings to their host communities.” –JP Alipio Luzon Campaigner LRC-KSK/Friends of the Earth –Philippines

In line with this activity the Bishops of Northern Luzon led by Bishop Ramon Villena of Nueva Vizcaya and participated in by Bishop Sergio Utleg, of the Diocese of Ilagan, and Bishop Jun Andaya of the Diocese of Tabuk will be holding a thanksgiving mass at the Cathedral of Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya to support the Didipio community’s campaign against Climax Arimco/Australasian Philippines Mining Inc. The thanksgiving mass will be attended by the members of the Didipio community together with the Municipal officials of Kasibu and other advocates against large scale corporate mining in Nueva Vizcaya. For inquiries or requests for interviews with the community members, Bishops, DSAC, or Lawyers of LRC-KSK/Friends of the Earth –Philippines please get in touch with: JP Alipio Luzon Campaigns LRC-KSK/Friends of the Earth –Philippines 87- Madasalin St. Teachers Village, Q.C. Tel: 434-4079 Email: jpalipio@yahoo.com LRC-KSK/Friends of the Earth –Philippines Email: lrc.friendsoftheearth@gmail.com To know more about the Didipio campaign, please visit http://didipio.blogs.friendster.com/didipio_campaign/

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 7th, 2006 at 10:34 pm and is filed under Mining, Indigenous Communities and the Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.