The Philippines: Videos on the impact of mining in Bulanjao and Gantong ranges in Palawan

Written on 20 May 2010. Posted in Philippines

Between July and September 2009, a mission organized by the Philippines-based Ancestral Land/Domain Watch (ALDAW) and the Centre for Biocultural Diversity (CBCD) at the University of Kent demonstrated how the ecological balance and the survival of vulnerable indigenous communities on Palawan Island (a “Man and Biosphere Reserve” program of UNESCO) is being threatened by the ongoing mining rush.

The mission’s actual ‘matching’ of collected GPS data to photographs shows that the Mineral Production Sharing Agreements(MPSA) of mining firms, such as MacroAsia and Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporations, overlap with precious watersheds and the so called “core zones” of maximum protection. During the mission indigenous communities were engaged in the making and editing of participatory videos. ALDAW NETWORK ask help to circulate these videos nationally and internationally, and use them to pressure the provincial and national governments. They also need more signatures for the online Palawan Campaign: These films provide powerful evidences on the entering of mining companies in “core zones” and in the ancestral domain of the Palawan. 

Tags: Land rights