Philippine mines continue unhampered 4 years after Gina’s shutdown order In Benguet, critics are dismayed and wary of environmental degradation and natural disasters. The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines is also waiting for Malacañang to resolve the suspensions and “move mining forward.” BY MARIA ELENA CATAJAN January 31, 2021 | 12:30:00 PM
What you need to know about this story:
The late DENR Secretary Gina Lopez s closure and suspension orders against 28 mines in 2017 were not implemented following a review ordered by Malacañang.
A culture of non-implementation of environmental regulations has allowed mining companies to evade sanctions, according to former DENR undersecretary Antonio La Viña, a responsible mining advocate.
GENEVA (28 January 2021) – UN human rights experts today called on Philippine authorities to drop a reportedly unwarranted murder charge against an indigenous rights defender who submitted himself to police after a “shoot to kill” order had been issued if he resisted arrest, and to ensure his safety and well-being while in custody. “From information we have received, Mr Windel Bolinget has been falsely accused of being implicated in a murder of an indigenous leader in a province he has never even been to,” said Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. “It is believed to be a fabricated charge aimed at silencing him and other indigenous rights defenders and the charge should be dropped.”
SunStar
+ December 11, 2020 THE Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) has sent an open letter to Mountain Province after the group was declared persona non grata in the province.
Beverly Litdog Longid of the CPA advisory council said the organization wishes to take exception to the request of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)-Mountain Province director directed to the Municipal Mayor of Sagada to declare CPA as persona non-grata in the municipality.
“We hope that the DILG provincial director limited such directive to my hometown and not to all municipal mayors of Mountain Province. This request, we believe, is based on the unfounded branding of the Cordillera Peoples’ Alliance as a front organization of the CPP-NPA-NDFP (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People s Army-National Democratic Front of the Philippines), which puts in real danger the lives and safety of innocent civilians. A well-calculated but irresponsible ploy to make loc