TAO-Pilipinas

PRIVILEGE SPEECH OF IFUGAO REP. TEDDY BRAWNER BAGUILAT
House of Representatives
06 June 2010

I would like to address you today on the various violations to the civil and political and collective rights my fellow indigenous peoples in the country brought to the attention of my committee. Majority of the said cases that we investigated involves irregularities in the implementation of the FPIC requirement of many mining applications and the adverse impacts of mining to indigenous communities.

Through our strong struggle to defend our lands, we have survived the colonial rule of the Spaniards and the Japanese. But our communities have continuously been subjected to development aggression and oppressive policies that left us disenfranchised and dispossessed of our lands to which our life is rooted in. This is evidenced by the fact that indigenous communities are essentially still at the fringes of society economically, socially and politically.

In the history of our country, congress has only recently acknowledged and recognized indigenous peoples rights with the passage of RA 8371 the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997. The government also voted in favor of the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in September 2007. But even with the IPRA and the UNDRIP, our survival as indigenous peoples is all the more threatened and violated at present because of the relentless pursuit of corporations and the government for access and control over our lands, territories and resources.

At present, the government’s policy on mineral resources and its program on mining in particular is one of the biggest threats to peace and development in indigenous peoples territories. The government’s obsession for “mining at all costs” stems from the perpetuation of PGMA Executive Order 270-A issued on January 2004 which provided for guiding principles for the revitalization of the mining industry. This EO has led government agencies to violate the indigenous peoples right to Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) recognized in the IPRA but undermined by none other than the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) with their issuance and implementation of the 2006 NCIP Guidelines on Free, Prior and Informed Consent which has been criticized by indigenous peoples leaders and their support groups as more favorable to mining corporations and violative of the right to self determination of indigenous peoples. Continue Reading »

TAO-Pilipinas is looking for volunteers, preferably a group of civil engineering or architecture students who represent a university-based student organization, to work with us on the Shelter Improvement Schemes for a community in Tangos, Navotas. The project is one of the ACCA-funded small upgrading projects that TAO facilitates. What will be done by the YP Volunteer Group includes ocular assessment of houses identified for repair, interview with household members, and development of schemes for house repair with cost estimates. If your group is interested to work on this project, please email Arch. Ge Matabang .

Philippine-Misereor Partnership Inc.

19th National Coordinating Committee Meeting (NCC)

September 27-30,2010

PRESS STATEMENT

Ban Aerial Spraying now!

In the letter of Pope Benedict XVI entitled “If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation” for the World Day of Prayer for Peace on January 1, 2010, he clearly pointed out: “Environmental degradation is often due to the lack of far-sighted official policies or to the pursuit of myopic economic interests, which become a serious threat to creation…. Every economic decision has a moral consequence!” We, the Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc. (PMPI), a partnership of more than 200 faith-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs), peoples’ organizations (POs) and development associations, see this statement applicable to the practice of aerial spraying over banana plantations in Mindanao. Aerial spraying is an agricultural practice of spraying fungicides over plantations using airplanes. For the sake of short-sighted economic gains the environment is being put in danger, including the health, livelihood and welfare of many poor people living around the plantations.

We call on the government to ban aerial spraying. Many local and international studies have shown that the present practice of aerial spraying in the banana plantations has ill-effects to the life and health of people, their livelihood and to the environment. The Holy Father reminds us: “The primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is the human person in his or her integrity. The human being is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life.” (Caritas in Veritate 25) Even if it is claimed by the companies affected that the studies are not conclusive, the precautionary principle states that if there is doubt, the safety of the people and the environment should be given prior protection. Let a ban of aerial spraying be put in place, while studies are being confirmed, if this is what the companies are demanding.
Continue Reading »

TAO-Pilipinas would like to congratulate those who passed the recent board exam for Environmental Planners. We especially like to congratulate one of our research volunteers, Guinivere Lucero, for placing 4th in the recently concluded board examination. Out of the 64 examinees who took the licensure exam, 34 passed. Here are the following people who passed:

ALEJANDRO, MARIA JORQUESA PEREZ
ANGELES, JENNIFER TRAJANO
APOSTOL, ABIGAIL MARIE RAMIREZ
ARPILLEDA, NARCHITO SALADINO
AVESTRUZ, KENT DAVASOL
BITUIN, GREGORY PINEDA
BONIFACIO, DANILO LAZARO
CALEDA, MARY JEAN ARGUILLAS
CAMMAYO, CAMELLIA MAUREEN MANANZAN
CODIA, VENECIO PLANVIRGE
CRUCIO, EMMANUEL PACUDAN
CUETO, GEOFFREY LASTRILLA
CUREG, ELYZABETH FLORES
DEOCARIZA, MARIÑO STA ANA
DESLATE, JEANETTE SAYNO
DEVORA, DEBORAH MARTINEZ
FRESNOZA, ELI PAOLO ROCO
GAN, LOUWIE ARANTE
GONZALES, HANNAH BARBARA MAGPALE
GUALBERTO, DOMINADOR II HILAO
HUALDA, LUIS ANTONIO TAMORO
LAGROSA, DENISE MELANIE DU
LAMAGNA, PAUL MARIA DANGA
LOPEZ, IRWIN GABRIEL SORSOGON
LUBRICA, NATHANIEL VINCENT APILADO
LUCERO, GUINIVERE LABASTIDA
MALAQUE, ISIDORO III RAMACULA
MATIC, ANECITO SIERVO
MORALES, MARK ANTHONY MATEO
PINEDA, YRRAH JEAN ROBINOS
TANGALAN, RENE CORPUZ
VISTAN, ENRICO FRANCO LASAM
YANEZA, NOEL CHRISTIAN ALICER
ZUNIEGA, ALFEO GETES

(Source: Philippine Star, June 19, 2009)