Tribal leaders protest large-scale mining (Philippines)

[struggle4progress]

By THOMAS F. PICAÑA, The Manila Times Northern Luzon Bureau Chief

BAGUIO CITY - Tribal leaders here on Tuesday led a protest march along Session Road to cap a three-day conference focusing on the damage done by large-scale mining on their ancestral lands.

The elders of tribal communities nationwide organized the parade after a three-day National Indigenous People’s Conference on Mining at the La Consolacion Villa Woodsgate Subdivision, Camp 7.

Jaybee Garganera, one of the conveners of Alyansa Tigil Mina which organized the conference, said they wanted "authorities to hear their plight on the dangers of the these big mining operations." <snip>

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines recently called for a stop to all large-scale mining because of the damage it causes to the lands of ethnic tribes.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=32681