Priest, "environmental hero" for defending tribal people, Filipino wins prize
Manila (AsiaNews) - Fr Edwin Gariguez, secretary of the National Commission on Social Action Justice and Peace (NASSA), won the 2012 Goldman Environmental Prize for his action on behalf of indigenous population on Mindoro Island (north-western Philippines), where mining activities are threatening their very existence. As one of a number of "environmental heroes and heroines", he received the award at a ceremony on Monday at San Francisco Opera House in the United States.
"As a Catholic priest, I take it as part of our mission of serving the poor and the marginalised," Fr Gariguez said. For this reason, "I dedicated myself to development work and promoting the rights of the indigenous peoples, farmers and fisher folk."
As a priest and missionary, "I was taught by the Mangyan indigenous peoples to care for the earth," Gariguez explained. For them, "nature is like the womb that sustains us with life."
The clergyman began his campaign against mining companies in the late 1990s, when Norway's Intex proposed to build a nickel mine in a protected area in Calapan (Oriental Mindoro) inhabited by indigenous Mangyan people, a project approved by the government.
Together with local officials and Church leaders, he co-founded the Alliance against Mining (ALAMIN), a broad coalition opposed to indiscriminate mining.
Eventually, the local government imposed a moratorium in 2002 on mining on the island, but Intex continued with business as usual.
In order to stop the company, Fr Gariguez travelled to Europe where he addressed Norwegian parliamentarians and Intex shareholders.
With the help of a Norwegian NGO, he also filed a complaint with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In 2009, the clergyman led an 11-day hunger strike until the Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) agreed to a probe into the alleged environmental and social violations of mining operations.
The results from the investigation led DENR to revoke Intex's permit in 2010 for an indefinite period, halting the mine.
During this period, various ALAMIN members received death threat for their protests and sit-ins. One of them, Ricardo Ganad, president of the Association of Barangay Captains (village chiefs) in Victoria, was murdered in 2010.
A recent report by ASEAN said that the Philippines have the largest mineral reserves in the world. However, the lack of infrastructure and anti-mining sentiments have limited their development.
Christian Monsod, a lawyer and the former co-chair of the Bishops-Businessmen's Conference for Human Development, said that the value of the country's mineral wealth is "staggering", with estimates as high as US$ 840 billion.
However, only 31 major mining companies operate in the country, mostly in nickel, gold and copper.
For Monsod, Filipinos should embrace mining as long as it is done properly, and that it leads to sustainable projects and the revenues generated are used to help in the development of indigenous communities living in mining regions.
.png)
26/05/2022 15:41
