Fr. Edwin Gariguez during the 9th Mindanao Peace Studies Conference in Butuan City on Nov. 21, 2023. MindaNews photo by IVY MARIE MANGADLAO
BUTUAN CITY (MindaNews / 24 November) — Protecting the environment and the rights of the poor must prevail over corporate greed, a Church official told participants to the 9th Mindanao Peace Studies Conference (MPSC) held Tuesday at Father Saturnino Urios University in Butuan City.
In his keynote speech Fr. Edwin Gariguez, former executive secretary of the National Secretariat for Social Action of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said, “Protecting the rights of the poor must take precedence over corporate greed. Genuine development must prioritize the need to ensure ecological sustainability over market profitability.”
“We should never sacrifice people and the environment for the short-term benefit of the few,” he added in his speech titled “Mining, Resource Conflict, and Ecological Justice vis-a-vis the call for Ecological Conversion and Sustainability in Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si.”
In 2012, Gariguez, a prominent anti-mining advocate, was recognized as one of six recipients of the Goldman Environmental Prize, an award given annually by the Goldman Environmental Foundation to “grassroots environmental heroes from each of the world’s six inhabited continental regions.”
He was acknowledged for his commitment to saving the environment, leading a grassroots movement against a large-scale nickel mine to protect Mindoro Island’s biodiversity and its indigenous people.
Denuded mountains at a mining site in Carrascal, Surigao del Sur. MindaNews file photo by H. MARCOS C. MORDENO
In her reaction to Gariguez’s speech, Beverly Besmanos, national coordinator of Bantay Kita Inc, pointed out that House Bill 8937 (Mining Fiscal Regime) passed in September this year reduces the royalty on the gross output of mining operations within mining reservations from the current five percent to four percent.
“If it’s true that the demand for our nickel and other minerals is increasing, maybe it’s good to increase our tax since the demand is high. But why is this being lowered by our congressmen?” Besmanos said.
“Given the current status of the extractive industry in the country and the way our leaders are continuously and ingeniously plundering our country’s resources, can we still secure a future livable and worthy for the coming generations,” she added.
The 9th MPSC carried the theme “Resource Extraction: Intragenerational Justice and Intergenerational Sustainability,” and was attended by around 250 representatives from nongovernment organizations, religious groups, indigenous communities, the academe, and government agencies.
Participants to the 9th Mindanao Peace Studies Conference on November 21, 2023 in Butuan City demand the protection of local communities against the effects of mining operations. MindaNews photo by IVY MARIE MANGADLAO
“While intragenerational justice and intergenerational sustainability call for a wider and more comprehensive dialogue beyond the extractives, we hope that our conversation today will identify conflict lines and, more importantly, prompt reflections and urgent action for ecological justice and the common good for the present and future generations,” Fr. Randy Jasper Odchigue, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Research of FSUU said.
He said the MPSC was spurred in 2014 by the question of how FSUU could contribute to the Mindanao Week of Peace.
The Mindanao Week of Peace is celebrated from the last Thursday of November to the first Wednesday of December based on Proclamation Order No. 127 issued by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, to “recognize the common aspirations of Mindanaoans to live in peace, unity, and harmony with each other regardless of status in life, religion or culture.”
The MPSC featured paper presentations where academics, government agencies, and religious leaders shared insights on such topics as mining in Caraga, the Agusan Marsh, and Laudato Si, Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment.
It also facilitated a forum among leaders from indigenous communities of Dinagat Island, South Cotabato, and Agusan del Norte.With more than 20 operating large-scale mining companies, Caraga is known as the country’s mining capital.
The region comprises the provinces of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, and Dinagat Island, with Butuan City as the regional capital. (Ivy Marie Mangadlao/MindaNews)
