Statement
British Columbia Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines

Arroyo is again selling the Philippines' patrimony

October 11, 2005

Once again, President Arroyo is proving to be the willing serf of multinational corporations when she addresses the 6th Asia Pacific Mining Conference and Exhibition (APMCE) on Oct. 11-13, 2005.

Despite the recent indictment by the province of Marinduque against Vancouver-based Placer Dome Inc. Arroyo continues to ignore the environmental and social havoc that mining companies have done and continue to do in the country.

She has proven once more that she will offer herself and the country to the service of foreign entities just as she offered the Philippines as an ally of the U.S. in its immoral war against the people of Iraq – one of the first country in the world to do so. This recent action by President Arroyo is consistent with her record of subservience. As a senator prior to being elected vice-president, Arroyo authored the controversial Philippine Mining Act of 1995 which gives unprecedented rights to foreign mining companies to explore and exploit the mineral resources of the Philippines.

One of her first acts when catapulted to power in 2001 was to give an audience to the Mining Chamber of the Philippines, assuring them that business will be as usual under her watch.

What is the Philippines to gain in mining investments? The Arroyo government reports that from January to September of this year, mining investments worth $345 million poured into the country from 23 mining companies, which included Canada’s TVI Resources. But according to the IBON Foundation, an independent research organization, these government figures like the $6-7 billion potential investments in the next ten years, P57 billion annual tax revenues and $800 million export revenues are readily cancelled out by the economic, social and environmental costs of transnational mining operations.

The recent International Solidarity Mission (ISM) to the Philippines confirms the fact that foreign mining companies are being protected and using the Philippine military to pursue their projects despite opposition from local residents. The militarization of these areas are the main cause of the horrific human rights violations committed by the Arroyo regime.

The mining issue is just but one of the many reasons we in the solidarity movement in Canada strongly supports the Filipino people’s call to oust the Arroyo government. Instead of pandering to the mining transnational companies, Arroyo should hold them liable for their social and environmental crimes and promptly repeal the Philippine Mining Act of 1995.

We call on the government to:

1. Support the Marinduque government in their suit against Placer Dome Inc. and Marcopper.
2. Put a stop to all mining explorations until past claims for compensation are properly addressed.
3. Review and implement the recommendations of the 1998 International Conference Against Mining Transnational Corporations.

No to the plunder of the Philippines’ natural and human resources!
Compensate the people of Marinduque and clean up its waste !
Repeal the Philippine Mining Act of 1995!