cpa@cpaphils.org | Post Office Box 975 Baguio City 2600 Philippines
The Cordillera Peoples Alliance condemns the Senate Committee on Appointments’rejection of Ms. Gina Lopez as secretary of the Department of Environment and NaturalResources. This event only shows who controls government. We cannot help but thinkthat the mining industry and the mining giants mobilised their millions to influence theCA. We ask, what kind of government puts first big mining businesses over humanrights and social justice. Years and years of experience in the Cordillera and elsewherein the Philippines has proven that where there is large, destructive mining, there isState militarisation and human rights violations; irreparable environmental destructionand violation of indigenous peoples’ ancestral lands and right to self-determination.
The rejection of Ms. Lopez as DENR secretary is one among the many indicatorsproving that it is ultimately upon the people, especially mining-affected communities andindigenous peoples, to rely on their own strength in the fight against the plunder of ourresources, ancestral lands and destructive mining.
We will continue to call for the repeal of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and theenactment of the People’s Mining Bill. We will continue to resist imperialist plunder inour lands and territories, call for a stop to the operations of large and destructive mines,and for the pullout of military troops in our communities.
